Welcome to the Open Educational Resource (OER), Writing and Publishing in Digital Environments! As the editor of this collection, I am excited to briefly tell you how my idea for this book came about. I have been teaching college-level writing courses for twelve years, and one of my favorite courses to teach is one I developed, which I call “Writing for Digital Environments.” Students usually love the class and find it practical, applicable to their future career interests, and fun. However, the irony of the course is that I always teach it with a print textbook because I have never been able to find a digital resource that addresses all the competencies that are important for learning how to write for the web.

Cue…Writing and Publishing in Digital Environments (WPDE). 

This book is not only a practical resource for student writers, but it also practices what it preaches. You will find, as you read this OER, that the authors have worked hard to implement the best practices for web writing that they explain to you throughout the text.

I sought writers from across the country to add sections to this book, and I think you will truly enjoy listening to their perspectives, in their voices, from their points of view. As such, you will notice that I have not edited this book to sound like one author composed the whole book. Instead, I encourage you to embrace the different voices and styles, exploring what you enjoy–what works for you and what doesn’t in online writing.

We all hope you enjoy and appreciate this text and have as much fun interacting with the text as we had making it.

Cheers,

Jenna Pack Sheffield, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs & Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Salem College

Associate Professor of English