OU professor co-edits book spotlighting digital research on social issues in writing and rhetoric
July 20, 2023
Crystal VanKooten, acting chair and associate professor in Oakland University’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric, is co-editor of a new book called “Methods and Methodologies for Research in Digital Writing and Rhetoric.”
Featuring the work of scholars from around the country, the two-volume set explores how digital technologies can be used to solve problems, challenge the status quo and address inequities. The authors provide methodological narratives that address important social issues and questions related to writing and rhetoric.
Diverse topics comprise 18 chapters, including, “Social Network Analysis and Feminist Methodology”; “Developing a Black Feminist Research Ethic”; “Reflections on a Hip-Hop DJ Methodology”; “Trauma-Informed Scholarship in Digital Research and Design”; and “Language Policing to Language Curiosity.”
Both volumes are published online by the WAC Clearinghouse, an open-access educational website supported by more than 150 charitable contributors, institutional sponsors, and roughly 180 volunteer editors, editorial staff members, reviewers, and editorial board members. Print copies are available for purchase from the University Press of Colorado, as well as on Amazon.
Along with Dr. VanKooten, the collection is edited by Victor Del Hierro, assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Florida. Dr. Del Hierro is associate director of the department’s TRACE Innovation Initiative, a research endeavor that highlights scholarly contributions at the intersection of writing, digital media and ecocriticism.
Dr. VanKooten teaches courses in the Professional and Digital Writing major and in first-year writing at Oakland University and serves as co-managing editor of The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects (JUMP+). Her work focuses on digital media composition, exploring how technologies shape composition practices, pedagogy, and research. She has been published in scholarly journals including College English, Computers and Composition, Enculturation, and Kairos.
In 2020, Dr. VanKooten published a digital book, “Transfer across Media: Using Digital Video in the Teaching of Writing,” which is available online from Computers and Composition Digital Press. The book is a qualitative research project that provides an in-depth look at the experiences of 18 first-year students as they completed different kinds of video composition assignments in their writing courses.
Learn more about Dr. VanKooten’s work at her faculty web page.
