The article written by Selfe and Selfe discussed many key points that really made me pause and reflect on the ways that English is used as the default on most computer webpages. While I do agree with their claims that computer interfaces can represent maps that certainly enact colonialism, at the same time, I do not concur with that it always does so, even when English is set as the norm. While I concede that cartographers often have a focus that serves to further perpetuate Western patriarchal focus, I also think that this article, perhaps as it was published nearly twenty years ago, fails to adequately consider the influence of World Englishes, or the notion that English "belongs" to non-native speakers just as much as it belongs to those for whom it is a first language. Considering that a greater percentage of the speakers of English reside in countries where the language is as spoken as a second, third, fourth language, challenges the extent to which English "belongs to" the western countries. Furthermore, as English is now widely recognized as the lingua franca, to view the relationship of English to nonnative speakers as solely influenced by colonialism is a bit shortsighted, especially if we consider ways how speakers in the outer and expanding circles not only speak English, but really own the language and have appropriated it for their own purposes, making it so the language can no longer be reduced to merely "the language of the colonizer." While it may be tempting to do so, to suggest that English is not "the" or even "a language" of nonnative speakers and those from previously colonized countries, only serves to further oversimplify the complicated relationship that nonnative speakers have with English and how their proficiency in the language constitutes an important part of their identity.
Similarly, in teaching English in Indonesia for five years, I understand that discomfort and potential danger of what the authors are referring to, that over-emphasizing or a sole focus on English, as doing so may minimize, diminish or devalue other languages of our students. We should want other languages to have presence on webpages and under titles far more respectful and encompassing than under a category of "other." However, this is a fine balance, between acknowledging the reality of our globalized world in that English proficiency does allow for greater mobility, potential development and growth, and not encouraging or further perpetuating such beliefs.
Nevertheless, Selfe and Selfe's piece did push me to question the ways in which educators are rarely taught to critique technology, especially with digital media and technologies in their classroom practices and in their curriculum. I applaud how these scholars invite teachers to involve students in their critiquing, similar to Palmeri's argument, with his emphasis on inviting students to not only consume technology but to produce it. I would argue, evaluating critically, perhaps with the criteria set forth from Galin and Latchaw, the 7 C's, may be a useful standard.
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