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A quantitative, computational investigation of Computers and Composition: Using topic modeling over time to reveal patterns in textual data.

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Title: A quantitative, computational investigation of Computers and Composition: Using topic modeling over time to reveal patterns in textual data.
Authors: Deets, Stuart1 (AUTHOR) deets008@umn.edu
Source: Computers & Composition. Jun2026, Vol. 80, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Subjects: Artificial intelligence, Word processing software, Digital inclusion, Scholarly periodicals, Content analysis, Text mining, Authorship
Abstract: • Using a distant reading, the approach reveals trends over 40 years. • Trends include decline of word processing and rise of artificial intelligence. • Journal's consistency of approach to technology: critical reflection. This computational study examines 1607 articles published in Computers and Composition from 1983 through 2025, using Structural Topic Modeling to analyze the journal's 40-year intellectual trajectory. Employing STM with temporal covariates, I identified 20 distinct topics and tracked their evolution across four decades of scholarship. The analysis reveals how the field has continuously negotiated relationships between technology and writing through recurring themes: automation anxieties, digital equity and access, and questions of authorship and originality. While technological platforms have shifted dramatically—from word processing to hypertext to social media to generative AI—the fundamental concerns remain consistent. Topics such as word processing, once dominant in the 1980s, have declined to near invisibility as these technologies became ubiquitous, while newer topics like artificial intelligence show unprecedented rapid growth. The field's response patterns demonstrate neither uncritical adoption nor reflexive resistance, but rather sustained critical engagement that interrogates technological change while remaining attentive to writing's human dimensions. This distant reading approach surfaces both dominant trends and marginalized areas of inquiry, revealing how Computers and Composition has developed sophisticated frameworks for understanding technology's role in writing—frameworks that remain essential as the field navigates an increasingly computational future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Engineering Source
Description
Abstract:• Using a distant reading, the approach reveals trends over 40 years. • Trends include decline of word processing and rise of artificial intelligence. • Journal's consistency of approach to technology: critical reflection. This computational study examines 1607 articles published in Computers and Composition from 1983 through 2025, using Structural Topic Modeling to analyze the journal's 40-year intellectual trajectory. Employing STM with temporal covariates, I identified 20 distinct topics and tracked their evolution across four decades of scholarship. The analysis reveals how the field has continuously negotiated relationships between technology and writing through recurring themes: automation anxieties, digital equity and access, and questions of authorship and originality. While technological platforms have shifted dramatically—from word processing to hypertext to social media to generative AI—the fundamental concerns remain consistent. Topics such as word processing, once dominant in the 1980s, have declined to near invisibility as these technologies became ubiquitous, while newer topics like artificial intelligence show unprecedented rapid growth. The field's response patterns demonstrate neither uncritical adoption nor reflexive resistance, but rather sustained critical engagement that interrogates technological change while remaining attentive to writing's human dimensions. This distant reading approach surfaces both dominant trends and marginalized areas of inquiry, revealing how Computers and Composition has developed sophisticated frameworks for understanding technology's role in writing—frameworks that remain essential as the field navigates an increasingly computational future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:87554615
DOI:10.1016/j.compcom.2026.102998