writing as technology

12/16/2009 ashleyu7
Tags: book, culture, now, technologies, writing

Writing, writing, writing. This used to mean pen and paper. Jotting down grocery lists, phone numbers, college notes. Oh how writing has evolved over this century. It seems once it got momentum there was no stopping it, and there’s still no stopping it. Writing has moved on to bigger, better things involving the internet. We now have writing spaces and domains that represent us as individuals and collaborators. We can communicate in ways that were only considered in science fiction. It can be controversial whether this is a good or bad things, but it’s changing the way we see ourselves and society, so we have no choice but to embrace it.
Take for example a book. The writing is confined to that space. Sure it documents what this person’s imagination invented at this point in time, but access to it holds it back. A book is a way to lose yourself in reality, but now you can lose yourself in virtual reality. Books can get lost or misplaced, and without another copy could get lost forever. Written materials on the internet are chronologically saved and have a wider audience. Not only that but you could videotape yourself reading said book, and post that on the internet. It gives it a new life and a new meaning, as you read the book with infliction and tone.
Writing spaces are changing the way we view writing completely. Bolter’s article “Writing as Technology” discusses this much further, but, the World Wide Web is seem by some to be “an extension of man”. Technological determinism is a theory that presumes that a society’s technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. Does this mean that without our involvement in technology we are missing a vital part of our culture? Or that without this extension we aren’t living our culture to it’s full potential. In technological determinism there is no escaping technology once it’s introduced, and it’s now rooted in our society. Therefore we have no choice but to participate in this growing trend of the web, because without being able to use it we’ll be left in the dust.
Another important aspect in Bolter’s article is remediation. Remediation is when a newer medium takes the place of an older one. This is constantly happening everywhere. Cars instead of horse and buggies, bathrooms instead of outhouses, etc etc.. I wonder if one day the computer will completely take over physical writing. If we will one day have no need to waste paper and our time writing things down. If everyone would have an electronic hand-held notebook that would serve as a transportable Microsoft Word. “Remediation is a process of competition between or among technologies” according to Bolter, and it seems that electronics are in the lead. It’s obvious that writing technologies change over time, that writing is a part of our culture, and that technologies are agents of our culture. The computer used to be not seen as a writing technology, and now we see it as immoveable from our society. I’m interested to see how we will continue to shape this technology as it continues to shape us.

Entry Filed under: reading response

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