Computerized writing technologies impact how and what we write, the ways in which we teach and learn writing, and, certainly, computers and digital spaces affect our research approaches. However, the field of computers and writing has examined methodologies and research-related ethical issues with a limited approach--primarily via brief passages, appendices, and notes in articles, or, occasionally, in a single chapter in a research collection. The few collections and authored books in our field addressing research more fully often do so by focusing on one particular site of research or one particular methodological/ethical approach. Our field needs a resource that presents various perspectives on diverse methodologies and multiple sites as a means to examine more fully how research with, on, and through writing technologies is similar to and different from research in composition and rhetoric and other related fields.

Digital Writing Research thus focuses on how writing technologies, specifically digital technologies, affect our research--shaping the questions we ask; the sites we study; the methodologies we use (or could use); the ethical issues we face; the conclusions we draw; and, thus, the actions we take as scholars, researchers, and teachers. Digital Writing Research analyzes research in computers and writing, reflecting upon broader implications for the field of composition studies, and the complexities of researching in spaces that 5 or 10 or 20 years ago did not exist and that several years from now will more than likely have changed shape.

The chapters in this collection will not be research reports focusing on the results of a particular study. Although the chapters will discuss studies conducted by (or reviewed by) authors, chapters will focus on articulating how research practices have evolved--and will continue to evolve--with changing writing technologies. The chapters will provide experienced researchers with a means to reflect upon various aspects of their research and will offer researchers new to composition studies or new to computers and writing research an introduction to possible approaches and related methodological and ethical issues.

Some questions authors have been encouraged to consider include, but are not limited to:

• How have researchers adapted research methodologies for online spaces? For example, how do we conduct ethnographies in online communities? In what ways are virtual case studies different from (and similar to) traditional case study approaches?

• How is a particular writing technology--for example, the web, online instruction spaces, OWLs, handheld devices--being researched by computers and writing scholars?

• How are particular issues--for instance, race, gender, class, sexual orientation, genetic/bio technologies--being researched by computers and writing scholars?

• What methods are being used by computers and writing researchers studying sign systems beyond the textual? What research is being conducted on visuals? On sound? On multimedia or new media writing?

• What constitutes appropriate human subject research in online environments? When is consent needed? What new issues related to participants/human subjects do digital technologies create?

• What issues arise in representation of online participants and in the use of participants' digital writing (e.g., within chat spaces, on blogs, on web sites)? How are computerized technologies raising new (or remediating old) ethical issues for writing researchers related to privacy, individual rights, and representation?

• How have computers and digital spaces changed collaboration among computers and writing researchers? How have they changed collaboration among researchers and participants?

• How have electronic journals and other methods of publishing composition research influenced our research directions and our distribution of research findings?