Academics are always fretting about agency and social change, whether agency is actually possible. Yet they write articles that few will read and teach their students, hoping that they will sally forth one day as critical gadflies, rejuvenating a waning democracy. Within computers and composition, much talk occured a decade ago about writing teachers designing software tools. Now most of us are happy to take any scraps that fall from the master's table, the master being microsoft.

Mozilla, the open source browser, is one project that could benefit from faculty input. Open-sourcers actually implement features. Sometimes Mozilla seems like an ever receding dream, especially when I try to install cool plugins like "composite" that let one control text within browser formboxes and it doesn't work. Yet, like many, I've adopted a deterministic stance towards all of this, telling myself that eventually the bugs will get worked out. and everything will word.