As writing teachers and researchers of computers in composition studies, many of us decided early on that courseware for improving our students' writing was often deficient--that it fit into old instructional patterns contributing neither to good teaching nor to good learning. Many of us looked instead to the applications--word-processing programs, database software, and communication programs--that could be used innovatively in our classes.

With our April issue, we return to considerations of software, this time from the perspective of the 1990s. Paul LeBlanc, in the lead article "Competing Ideologies in Software Design for Computer-Aided Composition," argues persuasively that as cultural artifacts, software programs embody our values and ultimately make a statement about our view of the writing process and the ways in which our students learn. Unless members of the profession play a vital role in shaping software for the future, LeBlanc asserts, and tie CAC software development to research goals, effective courseware programs, along with their authors, are likely to remain marginalized in academe. Laura Brady then demonstrates in "Overcoming Resistance: Computers in the Writing Center" how an authoring program such as ACCESS, by giving software design control to instructors, enables compositionists to create more effective CAC. She also explores how the power to design software might well influence instructors' teaching approaches.

In our new section highlighting Computers and Research, we feature Janis Forman and a study that she conducted at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. Forman argues that by looking at how student-work groups select software, we can begin to assess ways in which electronic technology contributes to collaborative writing. Geoffrey Cross then presents a study in which he explores how much instruction in word-processing techniques is appropriate for basic writers.

In our Computers and Controversy section, Charles Moran also touches upon issues of software. He warns us that despite our best intentions, network software and its application to writing classes might reinforce our old hold on traditional authority structures. Add to this collection software reviews of TEXTRA 2.0 by Thomas Maik and WORD 5.0 by C. J. Wallia; Ellen Barton's review of our new book, Creating a Computer-Supported Writing Facility, by Cindy Selfe; and Ken Autrey's review of The Electronic Text by William Costanzo; and we have a fine April issue. To fully appreciate it, however, you must turn immediately to Louie Crew's provocative poem, "Autumn at Shum Shui Po." Computers and Composition is not, after all, without a touch of the exotic. Adding further to our poetry selections is a piece by Mary Jane Van Meter, "Remember to Clear the Screen."

We hope you enjoy this issue, and we invite your comments on various points of agreement and disagreement you might have with our authors. Although we regularly feature this letter from our editors, we have never received a letter to the editors. We shall be happy to feature your responses to Computers and Composition in future issues.