Article Notes

"Knowledge was no longer seen as a god-given gift but rather the culmination of a multitude of social forces that push on individuals, that define who we are, what we think is possible, and who we want to be."
"As rhetoricians, we understand that we need to look at literacy practices on an evolutionary scale. Throughout time, we know definitions about literacy have evolved. While once being able to navigate a bus map reflected basic literacy skills, now the ability to navigate the Internet is an indicator of basic literacy."
". Wikis have been slower to catch on, but the "wiki way" has the potential to change the ways we understand issues like ownership, authorship, intellectual property and copyright."
"Unless our educational practices are revised to account for the realities of the new literacices that are transforming the creation and sharing of knowledge, we risk advocating anachronistic literacies."
"Generally speaking, at all levels of education, the message regarding the nature of writing is clear: It is a solo effort."
"Clearly, society (and its educational systems) reinforces the solitary writer as the prototype, yet outside of Composition, outside of academia, communities are exploring new ways to collaborate, to construct knowledge, in truly revolutionary ways. The realization of collaborative theory has been largely made possible by increasing connectivity to the Internet around the world. As accessibilty to the World Wide Web grows, so does the "conversation.""
"As compositionists, we can learn from encyclopedic enthusiasts, musicians and news junkies who are testing the limits of new literacy tools. We need to revise our courses and practices to better account for the demands of new collaborative literacies. Because environments like the ones we listed above thrive all over the Internet, we should encourage our students to write in them; we can use social networking tools to move away from the "teacher as examiner" audience and the arhetorical, busywork that has undermined our efforts."
"The collaborative wave, empowered by social networking communities that democratically construct and create knowledge, is today challenging the traditional notion of the solitary writer."
"In the past, teachers may have shared "teacher lore" in the hallways but thanks to today's social networking tools we are able to focus teachers' and students' innovative ideas."
"Yet as community develops around our efforts, as the technologies become transparent, allowing for a vital focus on community, resistance becomes thoughtful reflection on what we need to do next as well as a thoughtful space for exploring future literacy evolutions."
"Yet we have also learned that when dissensus is permitted groups of people can be wiser than individuals."
"In turn, we argue that social networking tools constitute a major new way to construct and disseminate knowledge."
". . . we want the emphasis on individual achievement to be balanced with an appreciation of and rewards for collaborative work."
"we believe we need to revise our writing classrooms so students have access to the collaborative writing tools and practices that are required to be literate in the 21st Century."