Bracewell and Witte – Tasks, Ensembles, and Activity: Linkages between Text Production and Situation of Use in the Workplace

Bracewell, Robert and Stephen P. Witte.  “Tasks, Ensembles, and Activity:  Linkages between Text Production and Situation of Use in the Workplace.”  Written Communication 20 (2003): 511-559. Abstract: This article is concerned with characterizing literacy activity as it is practiced in professional workplaces. Its starting point is activity theory, which grew out of the work of Vygotsky and has been subsequently elaborated in Russia... Read More

Spinuzzi, Hart-Davidson, and Zachry – Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing

Spinuzzi, Clay, William Hart-Davidson and Mark Zachry.  “Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing. Abstract:  Studies of knowledge work tend to take one of two research foci: either on communication (the transactional,  intersubjective exchange of information, thoughts, writing, or speech among participants, performed in serial chains) or mediation (the nonsequential,... Read More

Geisler – Selections from Analyzing Streams of Language

Selections from Analyzing Streams of Language Cheryl Geisler From Chapter 3:  Segmenting the Data Summary:  In this chapter, you will segment the data you have selected for analysis into  units appropriate for analysis. After learning about how the units characterize various kinds of verbal data, you will use one or more of these units to select and segment your data. The unit of analysis is the level at which the phenomena of interest occurs. ... Read More

Dartmouth Seminar on Writing Research – Days 1 & 2 – Reflections

Reflections on the Dartmouth Seminar – Days 1 & 2 Things to Consider: 1.  Look into the methodological work that’s already been done on digital ethnography.  Who are the major voices?  What works have been key in establishing this method of inquiry?  Beyond the ethical treatments and discussions of digital ethnography found in the work of McKee & Devoss’ collection Digital Writing Research and embodied by Gurak’s... Read More

Nardi – My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft

Nardi, Bonnie A. My Life as a Night Elf Priest : An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press : University of Michigan Library, 2010. Print. Part I: Introduction to World of Warcraft Prologue According to N. the goal of this book is to develop an argument that examines play as an “active aesthetic experience” in World of Warcraft.  To achieve this end N. relies on the activity theoretic framework... Read More