The Home Page for the ACW-L, the listserv for the Alliance for Computers and Writing, proclaims that it "is designed to make research using [online] discussions easier and more accessible, as well as blur the boundaries between discussion and publication." In answer to the question why the Alliance for Computers and Writing created this archive for the ACW-L discussion list, the author says:
We are members of a hybrid community, existing both on-line and off, and need bridges between on and off line scholarship. It is a translation from one established realm into another, perhaps less developed one. The archive successfully, in my estimation, bridges the needs of print based scholars for a stable, accessible, navigable resource to consult when writing print scholarship. It does this by providing a web-based interface which mimics print anthologies as it provides contextualizing text which will help guide the researcher or casual reader to the conversations desired.