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The increasing presence of digital media, personal computers, and technology networks in homes, workplaces, communities, and schools has brought about dramatic changes in the ways people around the world create and respond to information, undertake studies in the humanities, combine modalities of expression, and relate to other people. In the United States, for example, the ability to read, compose, and communicate in digital environments — called variously technological, digital, or electronic literacy — has acquired immense importance not only as a basic job skill but also, every bit as significant, as an essential component of literate human activity. Today, if U.S. students cannot compose in multiple modalities for the screen — if they cannot design, author, analyze, and interpret material on the Web and compose multimodally in digital media environments — they will have difficulty in completing a humanities education at the postsecondary institution and in functioning effectively as literate citizens in a growing number of local and global spheres. This panel provides four different perspectives on the related topics of digital literacy, media literacy, and multimodal communication — complex practices now valued within Humanities curricula in the U.S. Panel Presenters include Cynthia L. Selfe, Michigan Technological University Marilyn Cooper, Michigan Technological University Gail Hawisher, University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana Richard J. Selfe, Michigan Technological University

Stream: Cyberspace, Technology

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Cynthia L. Selfe is Professor of Humanities in the Humanities Department at Michigan Technological University, and the co-editor, with Gail Hawisher, of Computers and Composition: An International Journal. In 1996, Selfe was recognized as an EDUCOM Medal award winner for innovative computer use in higher education — the first woman and the first English teacher ever to receive this award. In 2000, Selfe, along with long-time collaborator Gail Hawisher, was presented with the Outstanding Technology Innovator award by the CCCC Committee on Computers. Selfe has served as the Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and the Chair of the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English.