Throughout his introduction, Dobrin briefly summarizes the main arguments from many scholars in ecological theory, systems theory, network theory, and complexity theory. He does this (a) to give the reader a brief introduction into the history of ecocomposition and (b) more importantly, to argue that we do not yet have a comprehensive and flexible enough theory to fully studying writing in the digital age:
Writing, of course, is an ecological phenomenon. It is spatial, relational, and complex, and thus requires that writing specialists develop complex theories in order to attempt to understand its intricacies, functions, and possibilities (2)…Writing studies requires a complex notion of ecological methodologies in order to account for the complexity of writing as system, particularly as the current hyper-circulatory conditions of writing now demands more complex theories than composition studies has previously provided (7-8)…[Additionally,] as we turn to complexity theories, systems theories, and ecological theories: none of the theories we employ to further develop theories of writing can be taken as face value or independently. (10)
He also asserts, “One of the things that becomes evident in making theories about ecology and writing is that unlike many scientific variations of ecology, writing studies’ ecology is individual from technology and, in the same breath, that new media studies and writing studies [are] inseparable, if not indistinguishable” (13).