I am currently a doctoral student in the Composition and Cultural Rhetoric program at Syracuse University where I study  technical communication, digital piratical communities, academic literacies, and transnational composition.  In addition to researching, I teach courses in the Syracuse University Writing Program.   I’m in my third year and will be taking exams, prospectusing, and dissertating in 2011-2012!

Currently my research considers the piratical motivations of individuals participating in private, invite-only bittorrent communities.  In so doing, I hope to draw attention to the ways that piracy networks challenge the neoliberal capitalist distribution and circulation of information products – especially academic publications; furthermore, I also consider the relationship among postindustrial, industrialized, and developing economies with respect to international trade and intellectual property agreements in a globalizing world.  In addition to studying IP, I also take up the ways textual artifacts and various forms of “technical communication in the wild” organize and coordinate piratical communities, aiding in the tactical development of vast electronic archives and New Media tools for negotiating data-saturated digital environments.

My education here in CCR is also centrally concerned with the practice of English language writing instruction at the post-secondary level outside of the United States.  My research in this area focuses on the function of transnational composition theory in relation to academic writing practices in international contexts.  If you have any questions contact me here:

email – jlewis04 [at] syr [dot] edu

twitter – @justalewis

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