Written Communication Jul 2018

Tools Matter: Mediated Writing Activity in Alternative Digital Environments

Kory Lawson Ching University of California, Davis

Abstract

This study examines the experiences and perceptions of writers who composed text using “distraction-free” writing tools that stand as alternatives to standard word processing programs. The purpose of this research was to develop a clearer understanding of how digital writing tools may shape the activities and practices of writers, as well as what writing with unfamiliar tools and technologies might reveal about writing processes. Analysis of study participants’ reflective narratives of their composing experience suggests the extent to which writing tools and technologies influence routine practices, assist writers as they try to direct their attention (and avoid distraction), motivate writing, and impact writers’ “text sense” as they compose. Moreover, findings indicate how different tools and technologies may be viewed as more or less useful for different writing tasks. This article ends with a call for writing researchers, writing teachers, and software developers to attend more critically to the ways writing technologies shape the practices of writers.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2018-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088318773741
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
digital rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

  1. Overstreet et al. (2026)
    Time, Space, and Tools: A Materio-cognitive Model of Digital Writing Process De…
    Written Communication
  2. Bowen et al. (2025)
    Trusting Each Other, Trusting Machines: Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of …
    Writing and Pedagogy
  3. Shivener et al. (2025)
    Writing in Virtual Reality: Understanding Invention, Collaboration, and Frictio…
    Written Communication
  4. Hlavaty et al. (2025)
    All the attention, all the time: How first-year students experience writing in …
    Computers and Composition
  5. Markey et al. (2024)
    Dense and Disconnected: Analyzing the Sedimented Style of ChatGPT-Generated Tex…
    Written Communication
Show all 11 →
  1. Ching (2023)
    The uses—and limits—of distraction-free writing
    Computers and Composition
  2. Overstreet (2022)
    Writing as extended mind: Recentering cognition, rethinking tool use
    Computers and Composition
  3. Gallagher et al. (2021)
    Phenomenology of writing with unfamiliar tools in a semi-public environment: A …
    Computers and Composition
  4. Overstreet (2020)
    Writing at the Interface: A Research and Teaching Program for Everyday Digital …
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  5. Frith (2020)
    Technical Standards and a Theory of Writing as Infrastructure
    Written Communication
  6. Kessler (2020)
    Technology-Mediated Writing: Exploring Incoming Graduate Students’ L2 Writing S…
    Computers and Composition

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CrossRef global citation count: 19 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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