While print classic journals have been analyzed in depth, electronic academic journals have not yet been widely studied. This dissertation looks seriously at this new form of knowledge making and knowledge dispersal in order to reveal characteristics unique to electronic journals, showing advantages and opportunities for scholarship and knowledge-making that are not afforded to print journals. With the appearance of electronic academic journals comes many questions. The three questions that I focus on are: (1) How does digital communication (specifically, electronic academic journals) sustain and advance the discourse and distribution of knowledge in the field of computers and writing? (2) What advantage(s) do digital means of distributed knowledge offer readers that print academic journals cannot? (3) What are the research and pedagogical implications of electronic academic journals for the field of English, specifically computers and writing?; The method I use to analyze electronic academic journals is interpretive, through a historical and rhetorical study. Specifically, the theoretical lens being employed to examine them is Deleuze and Guattari's concept of smooth and striated spaces. The smooth/striated continuum can be used in all areas of discourse analysis, the model is simple and inclusive. It provides a tool for looking back at the rhetorical spaces already created while at the same time provides a guide for the development of new electronic spaces.; Electronic academic journals have the potential for a broader audience than print academic journals, they are more economical to produce than print academic journals, and they are also quicker to respond to current issues than print academic journals.; There are many implications of electronic academic journals for the field of English. One implication for the field is that research needs to adapt to the medium of electronic communication. Second, pedagogy must take into account electronic environments. Third, there needs to be new ways to create rhetorical space in this new medium. Fourth, the face of the beginning professor is changing--he/she will need to know how to navigate successfully in the new medium.; On a broader level, publishing companies will be changed by the demand of electronic technology. Finally, another implication for all societies using electronic communication is the issue of cultural differences and the Americanization of the World Wide Web.
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