About the reviewer...
Kate Coffield is a first-year-composition instructor and computer classroom
coordinator at the American
University in Cairo, Egypt, where she has taught in the Freshman Writing
Program, Department of English and Comparative Literature, since 1984.
Her educational background includes a B.A. in English and an M.A. in TEFL,
and she has been actively involved in the Computers and Writing community
since 1994. This is her first submission to Kairos and first attempt
at writing a hypertext.
Reviewer's notes...
Initially, I felt hesitant about reviewing Electronic Literacies,
feeling it was too scholarly, too important, beyond my capabilities to
do it justice--and perhaps in some ways it was. The list of references
alone is daunting, covering seminal and little-known works in several disciplines--an
impressive accomplishment apart from the primary
field research. Yet the book was written to be read by educators who
may or may not be active researchers, and Warschauer has avoided the traps
of obscurity and density that too often characterize academic works--his
prose is rich, honest, and accessible, and while the ideas are profound,
the book is a fast-moving and engaging read. Transitions between case study
narratives and relevant literature are occasionally rather abrupt, though
generally smooth and logical. The only potential source of confusion I
found, particularly in the conclusion, was in usages of such terms as "hypertext",
"hypermedia", "reading the Web", and so forth. While the author's awareness
of the distinctions is evident, a reader unfamiliar with the terms (or
the forms) could be misled into thinking they are interchangeable, or that
they represent similar cognitive processes (e.g., using a search engine
vs. reading a feature article in Kairos). As is clear from the review,
however, these criticisms are extremely minor in light of the penetrating
analyses and rewarding insights with which this book abounds.
Main Page
Introduction
Methodology
Conclusions