Post for 11/2: Reading and Thinking Blog 30

Reading and Thinking Blog 30

Yancey, Kathleen Blake. "Looking for Sources of Coherence in a Fragmented World: Notes toward a New Assessment Design." Computers in the Composition Classroom. Eds. Michelle Sidler, Richard Morris, and Elizabeth Overman Smith. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2008. 293-307. Print.

Electronic Representation:
Link to article

Comments:
Yancey discusses the concept of coherence in relation to traditional and digital texts. In terms of traditional texts, we are taught to tie our ideas together and create relationships that will guide our reader and provide the appropriate context, explanation, and innovation. This process can become formulaic for seasoned writers, no matter the genre. Digital texts offer a difference kind of coherence. Digital texts afford fragmentation, random order, and give the reader more power over the experience. That being said, digital texts are also coherent and use different strategies to achieve this as discussed by Yancey.

I appreciated Yancey's explanation of assessment in regards to digital texts. From the production stage to reception, the text is being assessed. Word processors use spell and grammar check, programs limit or guide the structure, and emails can flag content thus predisposing the audience. This situation requires an assessor to be aware of how technology shapes and can restrict a final product.