(see CV for complete list of publications and presentations)
• In September Jim will be presenting a paper on "Digital Economies, Social Networking, and the Changing Nature of Professional Writing" at the University of Wyoming.
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In Fall 2008 Jim's article "Recovering Delivery for Digital Rhetoric and Human-Computer Interaction" will appear in the journal Genre . —> PDF version of article
• The 3rd edition of Professional Writing Online — co-authored by James E. Porter, Patricia Sullivan, and Johndan Johnson-Eilola — is due for release in August 2008. |
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• Jim's article on "The Ethics of Digital Writing Research: A Rhetorical Approach" — co-authored with Heidi McKee — appeared in the June 2008 issue of College Composition and Communication.
Research Profile
My particular specialties include:
• Rhetoric theory and history (especially modern and postmodern theories, critical methodology, Internet research ethics, invention, audience, delivery, intellectual property, and economies of writing)
• Digital rhetoric (rhetoric theory for digital writing, Internet research ethics and methodology, law and public policy, classroom design, intellectual property)
• Business and technical communication, including mentoring new teachers
My research focuses broadly on digital rhetoric -- that is, the art of communicating with/within computer-networked environments and in technical/professional writing contexts. I am especially interested in exploring how writing in digital environments requires us to develop new rhetoric theories, to modify our professional writing practices, and to redesign our writing pedagogies. My recent research focuses on digital communication ethics (particularly digital research ethics); the economics of digital delivery and distribution; and the impact of copying, downloading, and filesharing on writers' notions of intellectual property and authorship, on their composing processes, and on their ideas and approaches to plagiarism.
One theoretical question I am pursuing has to do with the role of rhetoric as a type of knowledge. What does rhetoric DO? -- as a discipline, as a field of knowledge, as a mode of analysis, as a methodology? For most of the history of liberal education, rhetoric was the center of the liberal education curriculum. But why is that no longer the case? Why does the modern university, even communication studies, neglect rhetoric? Is it because rhetoric has no function or useful role in the modern research paradigm? My historical and theoretical research argues that rhetoric IS a type of knowledge with much to offer, particularly to the understanding of digital written production.