community literacy journal 110 Community Management Jennifer deWinter Worcester Polytechnic Institute Keyword Essay Community literacy oten engages with literacy practices—written, oral, visual, technological, social, and so forth—that occur and are scafolded outside of traditional educational institutions. he writing done in community literacy projects, according to Peck, Flower, and Higgins, works to promote action and relection while enabling people to work collaboratively and productively. In recognition of the multiple forms of literate practices and the types of community support that are needed and developed, a number of universities in the US have created community literacy programs. Carnegie Mellon University’s Community Literacy Center, a notable example of this type of program, organizes the purposes and structural collaboration thusly: “At the Community Literacy Center (CLC) urban teens and adults, with the support of their Carnegie Mellon student mentors, use writing and public dialogue to take action and to address the dreams and problems of our urban neighborhoods. CLC writers produce powerful texts—petitions, plans, proposals, and newsletters” (“Hands On”). he beneit to both university students and community members is a collaborative workgroup dedicated to place-speciic social action. Non-proit organizations have also formed, providing literacy support to particular communities, from Community Literacy Centers, Inc, which teaches adults to read, to Chicago’s Open Books, which runs a volunteer bookstore and provides reading and writing programs. In the above examples, the underpinning deinition of community is spatially deined; thus, community literacy programs belong to a particular city, neighborhood, or group of people. he challenge is attending to opt-in communities that are not geographically deined—communities that form in large part because of Internet access and continuous involvement in online, virtual spaces rather than material locations. Centers, then, are replaced by forums, wikis, and avatar-mediated conversations, and in this environment, community center teachers and organizers are replaced by community managers, those people who work at the intersection between IP holders and players, mediating literate practices, mentoring new people, and working with players to efect changes to the system. Community managers, as the title indicates, emerge from the business world in attempt to build and maintain brand loyalty through cultivating a dedicated community through social media and live social events. In discussing the evolution of the community manager, Michlmayr writes, “he beneits of communities and the need to facilitate and manage them have given rise to the community manager position. [… he community manager] ensures that there is a healthy community around Book and New Media Reviews