Summer's+Answers

Presenting the techno-literacy memoir made me aware of how complex the preparation and construction of presenting a project outside of traditional text can be. The research is very different than the type of research done for typed and printed papers. I wasn’t digging in the library or searching through an MLA database online. Instead, I was looking everywhere online. I looked online for products and information, but I was also looking for videos relevant to the subject matter, as well as images and even the games discussed that could be played online. The difficulty after the research was deciding what to use, since I found so much fascinating and nostalgic information that I wanted to use because it all seemed relevant to the assignment.
 * 1)  **** Reflect on the process of creating the techno-literacy memoir. What did you learn from presenting this project in a mode other than traditional print text? **

Constructing the project was very different than the traditional text assignment. It was more challenging because there were so many aspects of the project to consider. Not only were there ideas and research to organize and type, but font colors and styles, images, videos, and the overall design of the project to consider. I had to remain aware of the varied audience for this project and how different they were than the one person audience consisting of a professor with a red pen.

I also learned that even though there’s a lot of work involved in a project like the techno-literacy memoir, I prefer it to traditional printed text for an assignment. Adding the colors, images, and videos to the text only enhances it for me.

I think new media will take writing to a more artistic level. I believe educators are incorporating technology in more areas than ever, and this will enhance students’ interest and skills in the design as well as the written content of their assignments. I think more college classes like this one will become available and I hope (probably with high, unrealistic hopes) that it will eventually lead to options of a multi-modal thesis for graduate students whether their thesis is creative or technical. I think thesis committees might enjoy a break from hundreds of pages of printed text to wrestle with for each student. The visual added with the text seems to bring out a different kind of thinking, analyzing, and realization in people both creating the assignment and viewing it.
 * 2)  **** Make at least one prediction about where new media will take writing in the twenty-first century. **

Incorporating text and images will bring back some harmony in the disciplines of the humanities. This class, the classes discussed in Stephanie Vie’s article about teachers utilizing technology like Second Life, and the teacher discussed in class who had his students create Hester Prynne a MySpace page or an EBay ad, proves that writing can be blended successfully with the other humanities.

The harmony of the humanities mixed with technology could cause a less formal approach to writing in the classrooms. However, I don’t believe that this is necessarily a change for the worse. I believe that students can learn what is and isn’t appropriate for individual assignments and that the writing styles of students can change without them being disrespectful and inappropriate. I think one way in which the text changed when it became web-text was that it became more organized. There seemed to be better separation of the ideas in everyone’s text and it seemed to flow more smoothly and trimmed out any rambling. The trimming of the original text was a constant thought since I did not want to overwhelm the reader with long stretches of words. For my web-text, the story was easier to understand since it dealt with several flashbacks. The separate pages made the scenes seem much more natural and less confusing. Using a creative writing piece for the web-text worked out well in considering the audience because it was already a non-formal piece with a lot of descriptive images. I did like how many of the other class members were able to transform a formal paper into something that was interesting online. A web-text also really seems to help in preventing adversarial reading since it is better organized and is aided by the visual to keep the reader on the path the writer intended.
 * 3)  **** Reflect on the process of creating the web-text. How did the text change in its transition from silent print to the “noise” of cyberspace (and that question can be taken either metaphorically or literally) in terms of stylistic choices and audience concerns? **

As far as the “noise” of cyberspace, I think it worked to my advantage for the story. Since my story was about parties; a strip club; superficial beauty; and careless, shallow behavior; images and noise (metaphorically and literally) seemed pretty natural. In my choices and stylistic concerns for presenting this to an audience online, I used Google Sites because it was colorful. I chose the “glitter” background, and I think it complimented the story and the images that I used.

I think the transformation of the class’s texts to web-text really enhanced everyone’s work. It was all so much more personalized, three-dimensional, and overall more appealing to the audience.

One major way that I changed as a writer, is that I have become spoiled this semester. I have learned that there is a huge electronic blank page out there, and I want to put text, images, sound, videos, and whatever else I can on it. I realize how the preparation for writing in digital media is very complex and time consuming. But to me, the overall product is much more rewarding than a fifteen page printed research paper. The traditional research paper is not a bad thing, but I really have enjoyed combining the text and the visual.
 * 4)  **** In what ways have you changed as a writer this semester? **

I have also changed as a writer in that I understand different audiences better. I also realize that not all electronic writing is casual. In having a better grasp of audience, voice, and intent, I believe I have also become a better reader, which is essential in becoming a better writer.

Katherine Hayles made an impression on me as a theorist because of her ideas of embodiment, artificial intelligence, and cyborgs. I chose Hayles over Haraway because Hayles presents her ideas and research in a more scientific, yet easily understandable way. I found Hayles to be helpful in my understanding of digital media because of her ideas of technology becoming smarter and having more human qualities. I also liked her explanations of how the real and the virtual are becoming more intertwined. I don’t think of cyborgs as the terrifying block of technology taking over humans in “Star Trek.” I think of everything as cyborgs now. Nature and technology are constantly, irreversibly interacting, and not necessarily in a negative way.
 * 5)  **** Which theory/theorist have you found most interesting or helpful in understanding digital media and why? **

In reading Bolter’s book, I was able to look very closely at technology, writing in the age of technology, the concept of writing spaces, the evolution of text to web-text, and hypertext. Bolter presented his ideas in a way that made me analyze technology and printed text like I had not done before. Bolter brings up how people feel reassured by encyclopedias that the texts are “under control.” This idea has a lot to do with prejudices against electronic writing—prejudices that I also had. The idea of being in the “late age of print” is a bit unsettling when I think about the writing space not forever being under control. However, after Bolter’s ideas and theories in his book, I am able to think about electronic text and the late age of print in a new way that has brought about excitement, curiosity, and creativity that was once a perspective of apprehension and confusion. Reading Bolter has helped me to realize that there is more than just a paper writing space, and that just because text is on the computer, that does not mean it is isn’t “real” writing.

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