About NCoW

Our vision

Public discussions about writing and writers rarely focus on the writing that people do, and read, in their everyday lives. Such incarnations of literacy, and the importance of literacy education, gets little attention other than sensationalist stories that tout why “Johnny Can’t Write.” Because the wider message is largely absent, popular conceptions of writing and writers remain somewhat disconnected from their importance in everyday life and work, and so are neglected in public policy discussions as well. this neglect affects not just the ways that writing is taught and learned, but has long-term implications for the future of literacy education and who is included in–and who is excluded from–the discourse of American Democracy.

After all, everyone needs a voice.

The Network for Media Action has been working to change these conversations by reminding those around us that not only does everyone need a voice, but that

Everyone is a writer.

Our most recent initiative is the National Conversation on Writing (NCoW). NCoW will provide resources and a public forum for multimodal conversations about writing to be conducted in many locations across the United States, conversations that will then be distributed to promote the importance of writing and writing instruction.

How You Can Participate (and we hope you will!)

• Talk with us: We’d be very interested in hearing about your experiences with writing. If you’d be willing, this is in some ways the most important thing you can do to help. The conversations will be informal, and will just give you the chance to help us create a well-rounded picture of how, why, and when people write–and why they find it useful, therapeutic, difficult, inspiring, and so on….
• Create a video: If you’d like to join in the conversation in another way, you can send us your videos of conversations about writing. It doesn’t require lots of expertise or equipment, and many of us have enlisted the help of communications students and faculty who have special expertise in these technologies. Some suggestions to get you started are included below–but feel free to be creative.
• Audio Tape interviews or writers reading from their writing. One of the misconceptions about writing is that people are writing less than they used to. But that is only true if we use a very narrow understanding of writing. A good way to overcome this shortsighted understanding of the state of writing is through examples. So, interview people from all walks of life about how writing enhances their life, their work, or their relationships. Encourage them to think about the composing they do in many modes–electronic and visual as well as text-based. Or, you might ask people to read from their work. Both interviews and readings can be collected using widely available and inexpensive digital audio recorders that create easily distributed sound files.
• Collect written examples of people reflecting on the writing, in all its forms, they do in their/our daily lives. We’ll provide a form for showcasing these reflections, showing how omnipresent the art of writing remains.
• Sponsor local writing initiatives, and then tell us about them. Consider developing a writing festival, workshop, discussion group or reading in your area, and document that event in writing, through news coverage of the event, or by video or audio taping. NCoW will provide a central location to showcase these events. We envision videos or still photographs of the events posted to our site, pdf files of news stories, and narratives about the events.
• Sponsor a writing context, and let us help publicize it. Writing contests can provide initiatives for writing of all sorts, so don’t limit yourself to “creative writing” (what writing isn’t creative, after all?). Think about essay contests, letter writing contests (including letters to the editors), editorial and political writings, literacy narratives (in which people talk about their own experiences learning to write), etc.
• Share innovative writing projects with other teachers. We’ll provide a space for teachers to exchange on ideas on innovative assignments and methods.
• Be Creative. The above are just some examples. Come up with more on your own and tell us about them!

NCoW Contacts:

Shannon Carter: Shannon_Carter@tamu-commerce.edu

Dominic Delli Carpini: dcarpini@ycp.edu