Utopic visions, the technopoor, and public access: Writing technologies in a community literacy program

This article is about access to writing technologies in nonschool settings and sees access as perhaps the most fundamental and complex issue related to writing with computers. The discussion is framed in terms of writing with computers outside the composition classroom, using an Adult Basic Education program as an example. This article considers issues related to community literacy programs, workplaces, work, and class in an explicit attempt to expand the scope of work outside the composition classroom. This article argues that public access to computer writing technologies is a significant public policy and educational issue, and that computers and writing specialists have the expertise and experiences to contribute usefully to policy making, research, and teaching in nonschool contexts, thereby, hopefully, expanding public access to writing technologies.