Narratives of self in networked communications

Although theorists have claimed that network technologies challenge traditional concepts of self and writing, many fail to point out that these revolutionary potentials are not intrinsic to the technologies. My experiences using Daedalus INTERCHANGE in composition classrooms point to the need for critical engagement with technologies in order to question humanist conceptions of a self writing. If we do not actively teach our students to use technologies critically, they will map their traditional concepts of self and writing onto the new technologies, and thus rely upon humanist notions of the author. Unless we critically address students' perceptions of writing and specifically address ways that technologies change this notion, we will replicate the same classroom structure the new technologies supposedly challenge.