Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, by Stuart A. Selber. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004. 240 pages.

Reviewed by Kim Donehower, University of North Dakota According to its mission statement, the Studies in Writing & Rhetoric series addresses an audience of general compositionists, a diverse group that shares certain broad interests and commitments. One of the latest entries in SWR exposes what is perhaps the area of greatest diversity, and inequity, within this group: familiarity with, and access to, technology. In Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, Stuart A. Selber argues persuasively that computer literacy is rightly the purview ( , , " ") of the humanities, and, more specifically, of English studies. Selber lays out an ambitious and comprehensive agenda for achieving this end, arguing that a computer literacy program must address functional, critical, and rhetorical literacies. It is impossible to read Multiliteracies without interrogating one s own relationship with technology in the composition classroom. Selber s book highlighted for me how my own career has moved from hand-coding department websites in HTML as a graduate student and asking my students to experiment with writing hypertexts, to adjunct work in a program with networked computer classrooms, to two positions at universities in which the English department has not had a single computer classroom dedicated to it. One of Selber s key points is that those of us in the humanities must have a say in establishing standards and pedagogies for computer literacy because access to technology is a social problem. The vast inequities in our own field bear out his point. If many of us find ourselves teaching in environments with no or limited support for integrating computer literacy into our classes, what, then, can we get from reading Selber s book? Selber s argument that English departments must take up issues of computer literacy is compelling. As Selber notes, for better or worse, computer environments have become primary spaces where much education happens, and given this fact, we should not cede the definitions of what constitutes reading and writing in these new environments to those outside the humanities (3). In Selber s words, this would naturaliz[e] a set of literacy perspectives that fails to support the pedagogical practices teachers of writing and communication find most effective (11). In addition, Selber argues that humanistic values, which he defines as justice, equality, civic action, public service, and social responsibility, must be brought to bear on a topic that lies at the heart of unequal access to civic participation, educational development, and economic advancement (86). What Selber promises, and delivers, is a detailed agenda for the humanities, and specifically English departments, to intervene in computer literacy education. Selber argues that leaving computer literacy to the computer sciences can mean an undue emphasis on functional models of technological literacy, with these models inherent lack of critical self-reflexivity. The functional model encourages us to see computer literacy as a neutral technology, in the same way that print literacy is seen

as a neutral technology under the autonomous model derided by Brian Street. As composition and literacy studies has shifted generally toward Street s ideological model of print literacy, seeing it as primarily a social practice, it seems only right that we should understand computer literacy as a social practice as well. Selber does not want us to wholly jettison the functional model of computer literacy, however. If we were to ignore the fact that computers do function as tools on one level, and that students must be taught to use those tools, we would undermine the entire computer literacy enterprise. One of the strengths of the book is Selber s own constant critical self-reflexivity, which he terms a postcritical stance. He takes strong, yet nuanced positions on a host of thorny issues, and he is never ready to indulge in a false dichotomy or overgeneralization about both the perils and promises of technology. Essentially, Multiliteracies has three interwoven components. The first is Selber s convincing theoretical argument that espouses housing computer literacy in English departments. The second is a useful pedagogical roadmap for enacting this mission. The third is a specialized discussion of computer rhetorics and other issues related to technology and literacy, which are likely to be of interest primarily to those already deeply involved in the study of computer literacy. In trying to address a general audience, Selber offers something for readers at all levels of technological expertise. This renders the reading experience somewhat uneven, as readers will find Selber s specialized discussions (embedded in chapters 2 through 4) more or less easy to digest depending on one s level of technological expertise and commitment. While chapter 2 interrogates the liabilities and possibilities of a functional model of computer literacy, chapter 3 lays out a framework for a critical computer literacy, guided by theoretical work in and critiques of constructivist pedagogies as well as theories of critical literacy education. Selber is a deeply thoughtful and well-read pedagogue who provides useful heuristics for teaching. Here he uses the work of Bryan Pfaffenberger to demonstrate how students might be taught to analyze power moves inherent in various technologies and their uses. Perhaps the book s greatest strength is Selber s ability to lay out frameworks for teaching with examples from his own practice that serve to illustrate, but not overshadow, the promising methods he describes. Selber gives teachers ways to think about achieving the goals of functional, critical, and rhetorical computer literacies, rather than specific prescriptions, and he demonstrates well how the heuristics he offers have the potential to energize the teaching of reading, writing, and technology. In chapter 4, Selber offers similarly useful ways to think about teaching the rhetorical elements of computer literacy, identifying strengths and weaknesses in classical, symbolist, and institutional perspectives on rhetorical analysis and laying out clear parameters for the qualities of a rhetorically literate student in a digital age. Given its subject, this is perhaps the chapter of broadest appeal to general compositionists, but it also illustrates the difficulties Selber faces in trying to address a broad audience on a highly specialized topic. The chapter begins with an accessible and well-researched discussion of pedagogical goals for rhetorical literacy, followed by an analysis of the textual nuances of hypertextual media. The latter, while helpful for

the novice, is daunting in its exposure of just how much those of us who have been out of the technological loop must come to understand should we embrace Selber s call to claim technological literacy for the humanities. Chapter 5 can likewise be both inspiring and frustrating. In it, Selber s stated goal is to give teachers some idea how to develop a program such as he describes, even if their departments do not have a specialist in literacy and technology on the faculty, and even if some department members are rather fearful of technology (184). As my own teaching context fits the description here, I can attest that Selber gives a very detailed idea of how to develop such a program. Resisting the temptation to simply offer examples of classroom pedagogy though he does offer descriptive, helpful ones in this chapter Selber identifies the types of changes that must occur at the technical, pedagogical, curricular, departmental, and institutional levels to achieve the type of program he envisions. He also offers Donald Ely s eight conditions for technological change as a way to evaluate a department s and institution s readiness to embrace such a program, and as a heuristic for assessing the health of programs already in place. Ely s guidelines, like Selber s, are both extremely helpful in their clarity and comprehensiveness, and sobering in their ability to expose the hurdles many English departments must overcome should they aspire to the kind of computer literacy program Selber advocates. For readers whose technological, departmental, and institutional resources are more felicitous, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age offers a clear and comprehensive means of evaluating and expanding existing computer literacy programs. There is much in the book for both the tech-savvy and the tech-impoverished general compositionist ; this is both its strength and its weakness. In trying valiantly to address the broad spectrum of compositionists on this issue, Selber shifts from offering entry points into this discussion to more advanced analyses of specific technical issues and back again. Readers, especially those who are just beginning to engage in these topics, must read Multiliteracies with patience, identifying the best places to start engaging with the issues Selber describes. It is especially important not to let oneself be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project he lays out, for his argument that English departments must take up technological issues as literacy issues is hard to deny. In a time when instrumentalist notions of computer literacy have permeated discussions of how to improve public education, it is vital for literacy professionals to attack such notions with the same vigor with which we have fought instrumentalist notions of print literacy. Selber provides a well-documented and pedagogically compelling means to this end.