Cooper's Ecological Framework

Writing has historically been seen as an act of solitary genius, rather than a product of social exchange. In 1986, Marilyn Cooper proposed that all writing occurs within an ecology, and by examining writing through ecological frameworks, Writing Studies scholars can illuminate the dynamic, social nature of the writing process ("The Ecology of Writing"). Cooper's ecological model attempts to explain the interconnected nature of writing through "dynamic interlocking systems that structure the social activity of writing" (7).

I would like to propose...an ecological model of writing, whose fundamental tenet is that writing is an activity through which a person is continually engaged with a variety of socially constituted systems...an ecology of writing encompasses much more than the individual writer and her immediate context" (Cooper 6)

As Cooper says, these systems are constituted by social exchange. As Simmers travel the ecology's web of connections or "strands," they interact with each other and other texts. This continual interaction shapes both their writings and the systems' components.

Visualizing the ecology as a spider web helps us to comprehend how contact or movement in one section can impact writing in other locations.

According to Cooper, Writing Studies ecologists must explore "how writers interact to form systems" (7), and by doing so in this site, we can uncover the highly interactive forces behind networked, multimodal writing. Therefore, our primary question is the following: How do ecological systems enact influence on Simming content creation?

In applying this framework to The Sims 4's networked production, I attempt to make coherent the otherwise intangible, perpetual motion of the Simming Ecology. As I will demonstrate through this project, the Simming community is a Writing Ecology. Writing Studies scholars can apply this ecological framework to newer sites of writing, composing, or "content creation." Fleckenstein et al. argue that ecological frameworks such as this one are useful for "messy" sites or phenomenon (389). They draw from sociologist John Law, arguing that ecological frameworks are a means to effectively "find ways of knowing the indistinct and slippery without trying to grasp and hold them tight" (Law 3 qtd. in Fleckenstein et al. 389). I posit that this framework, as Fleckenstein et al. said, provides us with a means to know the "slippery" as it lives, rather than smothering it in a killing jar and pinning it to a board where we can speculate as to how its wings might've moved and why. In the case of the Simming network, where the constant exchange and development is difficult to examine with more static frameworks, we need a means to see the "mess" in action.