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
Swarts – Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks from Reusable Content
Swarts, Jason. “Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks from Reusable Content.” JBTC (2010): 127-163. Abstract: Drawing on a study of writers reusing content from one document to another, this study examines the rhetorical purpose of reuse. Writing reuse is predominantly studied through the literature on single sourcing and enacted via technologies built on single-sourcing models. Such theoretical models and derivative technologies... 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
Becker – Writing for Social Scientists – Chapter 8: Terrorized by the Literature
Howard Becker – Writing for Social Scientists – Chapter 8: Terrorized by the Literature B. begins by noting that students often “choose” a method; however, they really didn’t have a real free choice of theories. In fact, by the time the writing of the research occurs, most have already chosen what questions to investigate, how to gather their information, the technical and procedural alternatives of their work (who... Read More
Abbott – Methods of Discovery – Chapters 1 & 2
Abbott – Methods of Discovery – Chapter 1 Chapter 1: Explanation A. begins by noting that traditional social science is much like a monologue . . . it is patterned and consistent.1 A. notes that this work is a heuristic. . . a book “of aids to the social scientific imagination” (4). A. also notes that explanation is the purpose of social science (again, Latourian inferences). This perspective on social science method requires... Read More
