Institutional practices and English departments: Technology production

This dissertation traces the development and implementation of computer technologies by the Department of English at Utah State University (USU) between 1982 and 2008 in the context of the university's history as a land grant institution and the gradual consolidation of its Information Technology Department. Such technologies included Virtual Address Extension (VAX) terminals and Writer's Workbench, the Internet and a homegrown course management system called SyllaBase, and Internet Protocol (IP) video technology. In contrast to information technology departments on university campuses, English Departments are not traditionally considered to be primary sites of production and deployment of technology. However, the English Department at USU successfully produced and/or deployed technology in the service of its curricula, and for a time was considered to be an authority on technology for distance education at the university.;Drawing from Foucault's theory of discourse, Andrew Feenberg's critical theory of technology, and arguments in rhetoric and composition studies that advocate greater participation in the development of technologies that teachers use in writing classes, this qualitative case study seeks to articulate the practices in the institutional context of Utah State that both enabled and constrained the ability of faculty to participate in the production and implementation of technology. To do so, this work produces two things: The first is a narrative account of the Information Technology Department's gradual (and ongoing) consolidation as it has become the primary provider of technology and support on the campus, as well as the English Department's development and deployment of the technologies mentioned above. The second is an analysis of the institutional practices revealed in those narratives that have influenced the opportunities for faculty in the English Department to participate in the production and/or implementation of computer technologies. Scholars in rhetoric and composition studies have advocated direct participation in the development of and the production of knowledge about technology as ways to gain the discursive (and thus disciplinary and institutional) influence necessary to shape the technologies that are used to teach writing and rhetoric; the research from this case study expands those endeavors to include careful analysis of institutional practices in the hope that such efforts can be further enabled.