Dear Readers,

We are excited that the interest in our newsletter has grown so that we too can grow. In this issue we begin our new format--longer articles as well as reviews and announcements. We hope the longer articles will encourage those of you discovering and using word processing and other computer applications in your writing courses to reflect at greater length on connections between research and theory, practical limitations and applications in the classroom, new directions for software and research on its effectiveness, and so on. We still welcome shorter announcements, reader queries, notes, and other contributions. We are especially pleased to have this collection of essays for our first issue. Helen Schwartz opens our issue with reflections on the role of the humanist in learning about and teaching with computers. The following article by Craig Etchison reminds us of the appropriate place of word processing--or any new technology--in our teaching: to benefit students. Elizabeth Sommers and James Collins then follow with similar concerns and practical reminders about using computers to teach writing. Two papers based on research complement the more

theoretical papers: Carole McAllister and Gerard Daglish report on how microcomputers affect our reading of papers and teaching of ESL students. Finally, Cindy Selfe and Billie Wahlstrom complete this issue with a paper focused in part on the appropriate limits of computers in writing instruction, but they concentrate on the language barriers created for humanists by the militaristic metaphors of computerese.

In addition, we will begin a regular column of reviews--PRINTOUT by Ken Autrey of the University of South Carolina. Moreover, our review section will still include reviews of software (so don't forget to send in your evaluation of software you've loved, hated, or used reluctantly).

We will publish only three issues annually in the new format, but we hope to include articles that will stimulate your thinking and teaching. Our thanks to our editorial review board for helping us meet these goals. And our special thanks to our readers for helping us shape what think will be an even more useful and provocative journal.

Kate Kiefer

Cindy Selfe