{"title":"For the record: Practicing critical software literacy in writing centers","authors":"Matthew Bryan","doi":"10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102846","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>While “big data” approaches to writing center research represent promising angles from which to understand the intellectual labor happening during tutorials, aggregation strips away the context in which writing center texts and data are originally constructed. In fact, new methods such as the large-scale corpus analysis of writing center session notes highlight the need for more critical analyses of the administrative software used to generate, archive, and distribute these texts. Drawing on <span>Bogost's (2007)</span> conception of procedural rhetoric and <span>Manovich's (2013)</span> understanding of softwarization, this article seeks to address this gap by recontextualizing writing center session notes within the layered arguments constructed by TutorTrac, a scheduling platform used by many centers. I argue this software advances a rhetoric of recordkeeping that, left unrecognized, risks shifting center practices away from stated commitments and values. In demonstrating how writing center practitioners can employ an understanding of procedural rhetoric to interrogate such applications, this study suggests more attention be dedicated to critical readings of software in writing centers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":35773,"journal":{"name":"Computers and Composition","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 102846"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computers and Composition","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461524000227","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While “big data” approaches to writing center research represent promising angles from which to understand the intellectual labor happening during tutorials, aggregation strips away the context in which writing center texts and data are originally constructed. In fact, new methods such as the large-scale corpus analysis of writing center session notes highlight the need for more critical analyses of the administrative software used to generate, archive, and distribute these texts. Drawing on Bogost's (2007) conception of procedural rhetoric and Manovich's (2013) understanding of softwarization, this article seeks to address this gap by recontextualizing writing center session notes within the layered arguments constructed by TutorTrac, a scheduling platform used by many centers. I argue this software advances a rhetoric of recordkeeping that, left unrecognized, risks shifting center practices away from stated commitments and values. In demonstrating how writing center practitioners can employ an understanding of procedural rhetoric to interrogate such applications, this study suggests more attention be dedicated to critical readings of software in writing centers.
期刊介绍:
Computers and Composition: An International Journal is devoted to exploring the use of computers in writing classes, writing programs, and writing research. It provides a forum for discussing issues connected with writing and computer use. It also offers information about integrating computers into writing programs on the basis of sound theoretical and pedagogical decisions, and empirical evidence. It welcomes articles, reviews, and letters to the Editors that may be of interest to readers, including descriptions of computer-aided writing and/or reading instruction, discussions of topics related to computer use of software development; explorations of controversial ethical, legal, or social issues related to the use of computers in writing programs.