In 2010, writing is in motion as never before: students text one another on the go and around the clock; colleagues and friends use wikis to brainstorm and to co- author important documents; choreographers and filmmakers use motion capture technology to “write down” movement and gesture; and poets invent new multimedia poetic forms. The places we write, and the features of writing we value, are today more varied – and often more contested – than ever before.

One especially prominent dimension of these changes is a reconfiguration of public and private space. A single ordinary writing activity today may traverse any number of borders. Classrooms connect with authentic audiences via public electronic portfolios and blogs; private companies partner with public universities to digitize library holdings; personal emails and business memos are archived in the NCTE National Gallery of Writing; faculty share course materials with students on other continents.

The University of Michigan and the Sweetland Writing Center are the site of vibrant and varied scholarship and dialogue around these new writing technologies and practices. Exciting work in multimedia pedagogy and production, open source technologies, digital humanities, and new media performance make Ann Arbor a vital and welcoming destination for the 2011 Computers and Writing conference.