Considering the Comments: Theorizing Online Audiences as Emergent Processes

Prompted by an in-depth case study of a web-writer, this article argues that audience may be understood as an emergent process for web-writers who consider their comments. Rather than a group of people or demographic that is prefigured to exist, this article posits that audience might be a concept used throughout the composing process, including production and distribution processes. Such an approach is useful for digital pedagogies that involve online comments because it allows audience to be considered before, during, and after writers' production processes.