Clearly, writing works differently online. How it is produced, how it is distributed, how it is accessed, how it is read--all of these processes are changed when writing becomes virtual. However, the processes we use to write at "the print interface" and the ways we read print documents are not obsolete by any means--but they certainly have changed. A writer working with "the digital writing interface" faces a dramatically different kind of writing task. Writing is more than words in sentences and paragraphs. "Writing" in digital environments also includes the graphic, visual, audio, video, and multimedia aspects of online production. Michigan State University is launching new projects devoted to electronic writing, research, and teaching. During the fall 2003 semester, the Writing in Digital Environments (WIDE) Research Center at the university opened its (virtual) doors (http://www.wide.msu.edu). Initially funded by the Michigan State University Research Foundation, the WIDE Center supports faculty research focused on understanding how writing works in online environments. The focus of the WIDE Center is quite broad, ranging from projects on understanding "digital audiences" to a project on digital poetics. Through these research and development projects, WIDE hopes to help teachers change how digital media technologies are used.