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Invention, Textual Reuse, and Critical-Creative Tinkering
Textual reuse describes any practice of appropriating old writing for new purposes. My research examines reuse in literature, historical textbooks, student writing, workplace writing, and Internet culture. I take a new approach in bringing together many versions of reuse to identify textual procedures common to them. I demonstrate how manipulations like combination, substitution, and rearrangement promote invention. This concern for invention orients my inquiry toward future composition and pedagogy. I outline how writers can reuse texts in productive ways and advocate a practice I call critical-creative tinkering: an open-ended method of dwelling inside texts by rewriting them. Tinkering encourages an interactive, generative orientation toward textual activity that I argue should be central to the teaching of reading and writing.
I am currently at work on a couple article projects that investigate textual reuse and critical-creative tinkering. "Scrap Writing in the Digital Age: The Inventive Potential of Texts on the Loose" examines websites that feature scraps of found writing, such as handwritten notes, lists, and signs discovered in books, boxes, and school hallways. I trace opportunities for invention as scraps move throughout the world, from their initial production, to their capture by a third party, to their appearance on the web. I argue that scrap writing in the digital age is a rich literacy practice that models invention as a distributed, collaborative, and ongoing endeavor. "Tinkering with Resumes" promotes a critical-creative tinkering assignment called the creative resume, in which students create a new version of their traditional resume or cover letter in an alternative format or style. Students have produced Power Point presentations, spreadsheets, infographics, and even physical objects such as t-shirts. Through the process of tinkering with their writing, students gain critical insight into professional genres, expectations, and norms while engaging in creative activity that promotes self-discovery essential to the job search process.
Textual reuse describes any practice of appropriating old writing for new purposes. My research examines reuse in literature, historical textbooks, student writing, workplace writing, and Internet culture. I take a new approach in bringing together many versions of reuse to identify textual procedures common to them. I demonstrate how manipulations like combination, substitution, and rearrangement promote invention. This concern for invention orients my inquiry toward future composition and pedagogy. I outline how writers can reuse texts in productive ways and advocate a practice I call critical-creative tinkering: an open-ended method of dwelling inside texts by rewriting them. Tinkering encourages an interactive, generative orientation toward textual activity that I argue should be central to the teaching of reading and writing.
I am currently at work on a couple article projects that investigate textual reuse and critical-creative tinkering. "Scrap Writing in the Digital Age: The Inventive Potential of Texts on the Loose" examines websites that feature scraps of found writing, such as handwritten notes, lists, and signs discovered in books, boxes, and school hallways. I trace opportunities for invention as scraps move throughout the world, from their initial production, to their capture by a third party, to their appearance on the web. I argue that scrap writing in the digital age is a rich literacy practice that models invention as a distributed, collaborative, and ongoing endeavor. "Tinkering with Resumes" promotes a critical-creative tinkering assignment called the creative resume, in which students create a new version of their traditional resume or cover letter in an alternative format or style. Students have produced Power Point presentations, spreadsheets, infographics, and even physical objects such as t-shirts. Through the process of tinkering with their writing, students gain critical insight into professional genres, expectations, and norms while engaging in creative activity that promotes self-discovery essential to the job search process.
