Words 2.0

With satellites now enveloping our world, empowering a seemingly infinite suite of options for connecting, we have officially entered a new frontier of communications. In this unexplored wilderness, the rules have yet to be written. Is this new landscape helping or hurting us in the long run? Today’s guest is Carl Whithaus, noted author and one of the country’s foremost authorities on writing technologies and digital cultures. He joins us to discuss how it’s going so far, where we might go, and what we need to be mindful of as we move ahead.Bio and Publications: Carl Whithaus is the author of Swarms, Viral Writing, and the Local: Rhetorical Dynamics across Networked Publics (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025) and Teaching and Evaluating Writing in the Age of Computers and High-Stakes Testing (Erlbaum, 2005), and Writing Across Distances and Disciplines (Routledge, 2008). He is the co-editor of three essay collections: Multimodal Literacy and Emerging Genres in Student Compositions (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013), Considering Students, Teachers, and Writing Assessment: Volume One, Technical and Political Contexts (University of Colorado Press, 2024), and Considering Students, Teachers, and Writing Assessment: Emerging Theoretical and Pedagogical Practices (University of Colorado Press, 2024).He has held national leadership roles in writing studies, including service on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing Standards Framework Planning Committee, the NCTE Best Practices for Online Writing Instruction Committee, and the editorial board of Kairos. He was the editor of the Journal of Writing Assessment from 2015 to 2025. He has been the principal investigator for Splash! milk science update since 2017, a core researcher with the Wayfinding Project, and a principal investigator for Peer and AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR), a multi-institutional initiative examining the integration of AI-supported peer review in writing instruction, funded by the California Education Learning Lab.His current research projects explore viral and “swarm” writing across networks; wayfinding as a framework for understanding early-career professional writing development; and the rhetorical relationships among claims, evidence, and platforms in scientific and social media writing.