1945 to 1994 and Beyond

As We May Think, published in the July 1945 Atlantic Monthly magazine sometimes reads like a Flash Gordon episode with plastic guns and really bad costumes.  But one thing is clear, Vannevar Bush was certainly looking into the future with a keen eye.  When you consider that this was penned right before the “industrial revolution” that took place after World War II, this is really fascinating stuff.  In comparing it to the World Wide Web article, (Berners-Lee, Cailliau, Luotonen, Nielson and Street, 1994) it seems as though they are almost writing about different things.  Bush sometimes uses unfamiliar language so it tends to seem foreign to us.  On the other hand, the Web article is using terms we have all heard and are familiar with.  To go a step further, these are not only familiar, but in some cases we have already gone beyond a lot of the discussion of where the web could go.  It took from 1945 to 1994 to get from one article to the other and in the fourteen years since the Web article, we are seeing changes like completely wireless networks and streaming video as everyday things.  Publishing on the web has also never been easier, not to mention sites like U-Tube, MySpace and Face Book which were probably not even considered in the mix when discussing information transfer. It makes you wonder if some of the articles we write today will seem like Flash Gordon episodes in 2045.

Rowan University Literary Awards

On Friday April 11, at 7:30 PM in the Westby Gallery, the winners of the Rowan University Literary Awards will read from their winning entries, and it’s free! We support so many “guests” to the campus, but we shouldn’t forget our own writer’s. So, come out and support the writers that are right here on campus. Since this blog is about writing and exploring writing, even if this is not your thing, take a chance. It might even be fun. Remember, Explore, Inspire, Ignite!

Sheep Invade Tufte’s “Escaping Flatland” Sculpture

If you’d ever read Tufte’s Beautiful Evidence, you’ll know how seriously he takes the subjects he discusses.  The sheep frolicking around his scupture gave me a giggle.

Information Ecologies and Technology

“We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment.  In information ecologies, the spotlight is not on technology, but on human activities that are served by technology.” (Nardi, O’Day, Information Ecologies (1999) (p.49).

I think this passage, as simple as it sounds at first, really keys in on a very interesting point.  So many people, when confronted with the task of learning a new or improved technology feel as though they are being put through torture.  People new to the technology become nervous and overwhelmed by the technology instead of viewing it as a tool to serve them.  Since the evolution of writing technologies, there has always been the resistance factor.  I think this factor has to do with individuals placing the emphasis on the technology itself and not on the result of utilizing the new technology.  Instead of seeing the use of a new technology as something that would be more efficient, they see it as a monolith to be scaled and feared.  But as people become more comfortable they see the other side and get past the fear of the technology and soon master it and begin to see “human activities that are served by technology” and embrace what the advances can do for them instead of to them.  This also ties in with what Nardi and O’day discuss concerning people’s viewpoint of technology.  “People who see technology as a tool see themselves controlling it.  People who see technology as a system see themselves caught up inside of it”  (p.27).  The only way to become a part of the technology around us is to embrace it as a tool to be utilized for our needs.  Those needs could be for education, training, advancing careers, training young children on computers, blogging, texting, etc.  It could be for everything from texting someone to meet for coffee to utilizing a lesson plan that allows young students to approach the advancement of technology as a tool to be approached as easily as opening a book.

Do you think that the various technologies in your life are controlled by your human activities?  Or do these technologies overwhelm and control you?

Writing Spaces and Remediation

In Writing as Technology, Bolter (2001) discussed the fact that, “The technical and cultural dimensions of writing are so intimately related that it is not useful to try to separate them: together they constitute writing as technology.”  He also discussed the shift to electronic writing as “remediation” where a newer medium takes over for the older one “borrowing and reorganizing the characteristics” and developing a “process of cultural competition between or among technologies.”

The three writing spaces I use most frequently are word processing software such as Microsoft Word for most of my communication and writing.  I write directly to the software and do most of my editing on the screen as well.  I use text messaging to stay in touch or send messages throughout the day.  I probably use my phone more for texting than phone calls.  The third writing space I use are digital photographs, which require the use of a digital camera.

I use my digital camera to capture images that can stand alone or enhance something I have already written.  It is more immediate than my film camera so that I know right away if I “got the shot” or not.  Digital camera technology remediates film camera technology through speed and type of processing.  Digital is immediate while analog film is not.  The image is also immediately uploadable to my computer for editing or emailing.  The digital image remediates text, whether it is replacing or enhancing it.  

Text messaging has become a normal everyday use of technology.  It is immediate and quick.  I can type an abbreviated text message and send without interrupting what I am doing.  Digital phones remediate analog phones, the digital technology enables text messaging, access to the internet as well as voice communication.