Kevin B. Miller

millerke@ferris.edu

The authors of the articles we present in this issue of The Journal of Literacy and Technology suggest the wide range that is implied by the critical nexus of literacy and technology as revealed by the sites in which these authors situate their research. From deploying technology across an entire school, to exploring the impact of online writing in an individual classroom, to the challenges facing a nation in its attempt to become a global influence in information technology—each of the articles in this issue develops exciting insights into the complex ways that technology and literacy are intertwined. In this way, these authors remind us that whether literacy and technology are explored at a local or at a global level they remain a potent critical lens through which to view the world.

Vanessa Domine examines the challenges of implementing and supporting the deployment of education focused technology in her article, “‘We’re Wired! Now What?’: A Holistic Approach to Technology Planning in High Schools.” Informed by her experience as a “media and technology consultant in New York City during the late 1990s,” Domine explores the role that a technology planning document plays in the successful fusion of new technology with a school’s present and future educational goals. Domine argues that the technology planning document is an essential aid to successful integration of new technology with a school’s existing goals but only when that document maintains a holistic perspective that looks beyond the installation of the “equipment itself” and that instead seeks to act as both a “catalyst and a map” to activities and practices that “teachers can realistically implement in the classroom for that particular school year.”

In “Coping with a Fear of Language: My Experiences With Writing about Self and Culture on Daedalus,” author Claire Lawrence focuses on the role that her students’ online writing played in her students’ explorations of identity and culture in their sophomore level multicultural autobiography class. Lawrence looks at the complex ways in which responding online both enhanced and suppressed the students’ examinations of their responses to race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and her findings illustrate the intricate ways that technology and literacy—in this case multicultural and self literacy—play off one another.

Alessia Bogaevskaia and Olga Smirnova address an even wider set of challenges in their article “Social Transformations in Russia: Peculiarities of Information Technology Development,” and as the title of their article suggests, the authors detail how pre-existing social, political, and economic structures complicate the wide-scale development of information technology in Russia. Bogaevskaia and Smirnova detail a comprehensive range of factors to address in order for Russia to achieve its potential in the global information technology race. Among other things, the authors describe the importance of maintaining and expanding skills in and literacy with information technology in conjunction with the development of an infrastructure that will assure that average citizens have access to the telecommunications networks that support information technology.

Finally, in “Genesis of an E-Journal: The Origins of JLT,” Executive and Founding Editor Jonathan Taylor discusses the founding and ongoing development of The Journal of Literacy and Technology, and our own experiences with constructing a virtual space where people can share their ideas about literacy and technology. In addition to what we’ve already done, Jonathan reviews some of the features that we are considering adding to the journal to make it more responsive to and comprehensive for its users.

Whatever the future might hold, The Journal of Literacy and Technology will continue to be a conduit for authors who wish to share their insights on our namesake’s twin areas of inquiry, and if the articles in this and past issues are any indication, it should continue to be a stimulating experience.