Lisa Dush, “When Writing Becomes Content”

Lisa Dush’s article “When Writing Becomes Content” explores how the digital environment has reshaped the way writing is produced, valued, and understood. Published in College Composition and Communication, the piece argues that writing is increasingly treated as “content,” a term loaded with implications about workflow, strategy, and commodification. Dush’s central claim is that this shift challenges traditional ideas about authorship and rhetorical agency, especially in professional and digital contexts (rhetorical agency explained).

Dush begins by unpacking the rise of the term “content” in digital industries, showing how it’s used to describe everything from blog posts to videos. She contrasts this with academic views of writing as a rhetorical act, highlighting how digital workflows, such as SEO, templates, and analytics, can limit creative control. Through interviews with content professionals, she illustrates how writing often becomes procedural, collaborative, and shaped by strategic goals rather than individual voice.

She introduces the idea of “content work,” which emphasizes efficiency and systematization over originality. Dush connects this to broader questions about labor, ethics, and the writer's role in corporate settings. Her research blends rhetorical theory with qualitative methods, offering a grounded look at how writing functions in today’s digital ecosystems (see original article).