My interest in born digital literature is born out of a fascination with creative uses of computing technologies for the purpose of human expression. This same interest extends to tools produced for teaching the foundations of that expression––namely born digital multimedia and interactive software for composition and literature college classrooms.
Last week we received a donation of such media from my long-time Computers & Writing colleague, Janice Walker, who recently retired from teaching. The box she sent was full of software many of us used––and created––from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s when book publishers and independent producers were all leaping (or putting their toe) in the multimedia waters that emerged following the adoption of computers in the college classroom. It was also a time that coincided with the introduction of robust media presentation and dissemination made possible, first, by CD-ROMs and quickly following it, the web browser.
Opening up the box of The Daedalus Group’s DIWE demonstration software on 3.5-inch floppy disks, McGraw-Hill’s AllWrite! CD-ROMs, the elegantly designed box containing The Mercury Reader and presentation folder for Michael Day’s Stylex, numerous cardboard folios for a slew of software programs just waiting for first-year composition students to log in with the secret number found on their “access code card” brought back memories of a weekend getaway with Becky Rickly, Joyce Carter, Susan Lang, Judy Kirkpatrick, Michael Day, and John Barber following a CCCC conference; a dinner with many of these same people in Honolulu during a CW conference; and a symphony experience with McGraw-Hill executive Lisa Moore at yet another CCCC. Nostalgia aside, The Janice Walker Collection of Educational Media tells an important story about an important time in cultural history when we had to teach students how to compose on a computer and essentially use computers for their educational experience and beyond. Such lessons seem to be no longer needed today in a world where our students are never without a computing device in their hands. But in terms of the fundamental issues these software programs essentially address––that is, the connections among the ethical, theoretical, and practical uses of computers as tools of production––they remain crucial to the survival of our democracy.
Needless to say, as I was inventorying the contents of the box yesterday, I thought of a dozen topics for dissertations and master theses for composition and educational technology scholars just waiting to be written. Look over the list yourself and see if you can identify a few. You may even recognize the names of a few people. . .
The Janice Walker Collection of Educational Media
- Educational Learning Tools for the College Composition/Literature Classroom
Addison Wesley and Longman
Take Note, 2000
For Macintosh and Windows 95 and higher
Folio with CD-ROM and Manual (called a Primer), includes a personal letter to Janice Walker from Lynn Huddon.
CoreText Online: A Handbook for Writers, by Maxine Hairston, John Ruszkiewicz, and Dan Seward, 1997
For Macintosh and Windows
Plastic presentation book environment containing four 3.5-inch floppy disks and User’s Manual.
Allyn & Bacon
Information in Action, Second Edition, World Wide Web Edition, by M. Jimmie Killingsworth and Jacqueline S. Palmer, 1999
Plastic CD-ROM sleeve with CD-ROM, includes licensing agreement.
Q Notes: The Essential Online Note-Taking Tool, 1997
For Windows
Cardboard mailer with one 3.5-inch floppy disk, with 8-page User’s Manual License Agreement.
Bedford/St. Martin
Bedford Guide for College Writers: Interactive Writing Software and Interactive Grammar Exercises, by X.J .Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Sylvia A. Holladay, 1999
For Windows
Unopened package.
IX Visual Exercises for Visual Rhetoric, by Cheryl E. Ball and Kristin L. Arola, 2004
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM folio with a CD-ROM.
IX Visual Exercises for Technical Communication, by Cheryl E. Ball and Kristin L. Arola, 2006
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM folio with a CD-ROM.
iClaim: Visualizing Argument, by Patrick Clauss, 2005
Cardboard CD-ROM folio with a CD-ROM.
LiterActive
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer with CD-ROM of content aimed at accompanying seven different textbooks.
Research Assistant Hyperfolio, by Mike Palmquist, 2002
For Macintosh and Windows
DVD folio containing one CD-ROM and a 32 page manual.
The Daedalus Group
Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment, Version 5.010, 1996
For Windows
Manilla folder with plastic notebook insert with seven 3.5-inch floppy disks: 1) Guided Tour, 2) Demonstration Diskette, 3) five installation disks, with a 22-page Installation Guide. Include personal letter to Janice Walker dated 27 September 1996 from the Director of Marketing and Sales, Susan Meigs. The original envelop has been retained.
DIWE 2002, Version 6.0, 2002
For Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer with one CD-ROM.
DIWE 7 Demo CD, 2003
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer with one CD-ROM, with sticker announcing 15% discount for CCCC conference attendees.
DIWE 7 Demo CD, 2003
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer with one CD-ROM.
Eloquent Inc.
Eloquent, Demonstration CD-ROM, 1999
Unopened cardboard mailer for CD-ROM, includes a letter addressed to Janice Walker from the VP of Sales, Marc Schnabolk.
Harcourt Brace
Harbrace Online CD-ROM, Demo, Version 1.0, by Winifred Horner, Suzanne Webb, and Robert Miller, 1998
For Windows
Plastic CD-ROM sleeve with CD-ROM and brief informational flyer.
Writer’s Resources, by Julie Robitaille and Robert Connelly, 2002
For Macintosh and Windows
Plastic CD-ROM sleeve with CD-ROM and brief informational flyer.
Harper Collins
Stylex 2.1.1, by Michael Day, 1996
For Macintosh
Presentation notebook with one 3.5-inch floppy disk with accompanying documentation.
The Writer’s Workshop, Windows Version 2.0, 1996
For Windows
Cardboard presentation folder that includes two 3.5-inch floppy disks and a user’s manual.
Houghton Mifflin
Expressways: Computer Modules for Writing Practice, by Sharon Shaloo, 1993
For IBM PC and Compatibles
Cardboard packing box with seven 3.5-inch floppy disks, 22 page manual, and flyer showing the correlation to the textbook, The Writer’s Express, Second Edition by Kathleen McWhorter.
IBM
IBM Blue Pencil: Strategies for Successful Writing, Fifth Edition, by Reinking et al
For IBM
Unopened white cardboard folio containing removeable disk.
International Thomson Publishing
Teach the Way You Want to Teach, Instructor’s Support Materials for New Perspectives Series Textbooks, 1998
For Windows
Cardboard folio with CD-ROM.
Teach the Way You Want to Teach, Review Pack for New Perspectives Series Textbooks, 1998
For Windows
Cardboard folio with CD-ROM.
McGraw-Hill
Primis Online, iDeal Starter Kit
Plastic presentation folder containing one CD-ROM, 104-page User’s Manual, and faxable order form.
AllWrite!, Version 2.0, by Chris W. Ducharme and Santi V. Buscemi, 2000
For Macintosh and Windows
The CD-ROM and accompanying User’s Guide.
Microsoft
Online Learning Resource Kit, Volume 2, Spring 1999
For Macintosh and Windows
Folio containing three CD-ROMs. An additional CD-ROM not part of this original set put into the folio.
Modern Language Association
Editor5: The Style and Language Checker from the MLA, by Elaine C. Thiesmeyer and John E. Thiesmeyer, 1995
For IBM-PC
Cardboard folio containing a 132 page booklet, two 3.5-inch floppy disks, installation notice, and registration mailer.
Norton
TextraConnect, Demonstration Package
Cardboard mailer containing removeable disk
Also included in the collection is the promotional mailer about the software sent directly to Janice Walker.
Pearson Education
College Writing Online, Access Code Card by Joe Moxley, 2004
Unopened cardboard package containing the access code card for College Writing Online.
CourseCompass, Access Code Card, 2002
Unopened cardboard mailer containing Access Code Card required for access to online course materials.
The Longman ExerciseZone and Avoiding Plagiarism CD-ROM, 2002
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer with CD-ROM.
The Mercury Reader, 2001 Edition, 2001
Unopened boxed set of materials advertised as the “Pearson Custom Publishing Book Building Kit.”
Professional Writing Online, Version 2.0, by James E. Porter, Patricia Sullivan, and Johndan Johnson-Eilola, 2004
Unopened cardboard mailer containing Access Code Card required for access to online course materials.
Prentice-Hall
Writer’s Helper, Version 4.0, 1997
For Windows”
Unopened box of 3.5-inch floppy disks and other materials.
Scott, Foresman
Scott Foresman Handbook Rhetoric Online, Demonstration Copy for Evaluations and Reviews Chapter
For Macintosh and Windows
Unopened cardboard folio containing removeable disk.
Simon & Schuster
Multimedia Handbook for Writers, by Lynn Quitman Troyka, 1997
For Windows
Box set of two CD-ROMS, User’s Manual, and two copies of the Minimum Requirements flyer
Special note: The second CD-ROM is extra and not part of the original packaging.
South-Western Thomson Learning
Survivor’s Guide to Technical Writing, 1.0, Instructor’s Resource CD, 2001
For Macintosh and Windows
Unopened cardboard folio containing CD-ROM.
Survivor’s Guide to Technical Writing, 1.0, ExamView Pro, 2001
For Macintosh and Windows
Unopened cardboard folio containing CD-ROM.
Term Perfect
Term Perfect Standard Edition
Paper sleeve containing CD-ROM with cardboard packaging material with notes in Janice Walker’s hand.
Thomson/Wadsworth
Composition in the 21stCentury for Frames of Mind, 2005
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard CD-ROM mailer for CD-ROM. It includes the InfoTrac College Edition passcode.
- Media for Other Contexts
Electronic Arts
Mind Mirror, by Timothy Leary, 1986
For IBM PC
Cardboard folio containing 5.25 floppy disk.
D. Irwin, Inc.
CompuTest 4: Microcomputer Testing System, 1994
For DOS
Cardboard mailer containing 3.5-inch floppy disk 58-page Manual.
MCMXCIII
Make Presentations Work for You.
VHS Cassette in original case.
South-Western Thomson Learning
The Business Communicator: Module 3, Using Visual Aids in a Business Presentation, by Michael Netzley, 2000
For Macintosh and Windows
Cardboard folio containing CD-ROM.
Video Series to Accompany Business Communication Anniversary Edition, 2002
VHS Cassette in plastic case.
Independent Producers
Perspective: A Student Unit, by Michael Carlson Kapper, Jennifer M. Consilio, 2004
Plastic sleeve containing a CD-ROM for the 2004 CCCC conference in San Antonio, TX.
Trosper, by Jim Woodring, music by Bill Frisell, 2001
Fangraphic Books, Seattle, WA
A children’s book with accompanying CD-ROM.
Wholphin: DVD Magazine of Unseen Things, No. 1, 2005
DVD magazine aimed at documenting important media (i.e. film, TV)
DVD case with one DVD, accompanying 22-page zine, and subscription card.
- Various Software Programs