Writing is constantly changing and growing. The main purpose of writing has stayed the same, but the technologies and mediums we use to help us write are forever evolving. In the book, Writing Space, Jay David Bolter quotes Victor Hugo and says, “This book will destroy that building” (1). Will the printed book go extinct with the new technological advances? Bolter brings up this topic and it is ultimately the center of his book. The mediums used for writing will continue to change with new inventions, but the question is will the old methods stick around or become extinct? They will certainly never be forgotten, but they will eventually need to move over and make room for new technology.
The spaces in which we write change the way we write. Our thoughts and ideas stay the same, but the format and the way we express those ideas can drastically change the way we write. Through the computer and internet, we can now use hypertext to layer our writing. All of the ideas are the same as they would be in a printed book, but now it is organized in a different way. “Hypertexts remain linear and booklike at the level: they remediate the printed book as if by tearing out its pages and reordering them before the reader’s eyes” (43). Hypertexts change the appearance and order of a piece of writing. They do not change the thoughts and words of the writer, but they change the way in which we view their words. In the Prezi that my group presented, we showed a video of a man tearing the phone book in half. This showed the literal act of ripping out the pages of the book and reordering it. With hypertext, we are figuratively tearing the pages and reorganizing our writing. Writing from my own blog proves the point that the appearance is changed, but not the writing itself. “Mali really used facial expressions and he put emphasis on certain words for certain reasons. In the Spoken Word video, you still get to see the expression and meaning behind each word by seeing where it was placed and how it was written. The performance and writing space of these two videos really captured my attention. Each word gave a new meaning”. With new machines, we can show more meaning through our writing. We can write in different angles, fonts, layouts, and colors to express our feelings for what we are saying. We can also show our writing in different ways like blogs and videos. These sources make it possible for us to have different paths, structures, and layouts. The writing space can take our words and sentences to a whole new level. With new technological advances, it makes it easier for us to fully capture the attention of our readers.
These progressions of technology have reinvented a whole new way of writing. “We now have the power at our fingertips to type a sentence within seconds, drag a paragraph to another location, delete an entire section with a single stroke. The possibilities are endless” (Example K). The technology that we have opens up the door to so many new and more efficient ways of writing. Before the invention of the computer, one would have to start all over again if they made a mistake. They would have to use countless amounts of whiteout and their handwriting would have to be legible. Technology has made it so that we can spend less time rewriting and more time improving what we wrote. The printed book improved the scroll and the computer improves the printed book. The mediums we use change the way in which we can write. With typewriters you can only write in a linear form. New machines make it possible for us to layer our writing and to change the form all together. Technology has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of writing.
The remediation of writing has changed the way we communicate with each other. Instead of writing letters and mailing them through the postal service, we now have email, texts, and communicate through social network sites. The new ways are a lot faster, but they have their downfalls too. People are now spending all of their time using these technologies instead of socializing face to face. We also do not get much privacy with what we say. “To reply to a given message is to link your text to that message, and both the message and the reply will circulate for days around the network provoking other responses” (Bolter 39). These messages are hypertexts. They are a new form of writing that the World Wide Web has made possible. Blogs and networks such as Facebook provide us with spaces of writing where anything goes. We are free to speak our minds without interruption. “If you are to write vulgar books the books are looked down upon or banned, but you can’t ban a used from writing on the computer” (Sample O). We have more freedom to express our thoughts through the internet. These thoughts are soon seen and judged by the rest of the world through the World Wide Web. People have the ability to respond positively or negatively about what they read, but they cannot ban us from using the internet altogether.
The print text of letters is not completely obsolete, but it is slowly becoming the thing of the past. Even college acceptance letters are being sent through e-mail instead of through the postal service. We are slowly leaving paper, pens, and ink behind and moving towards newer advances. These technological advances have become like second nature to us. We do not worry about slow mail or papers getting ruined. We do not have to worry about our letters getting lost in the mail or having to wait a week to receive a response back. Through the formation of the internet, we receive responses much more promptly. The advantages of digital text are causing print text to become extinct. The print text is slowly dying and digital text is taking over.
Bolter is correct in saying that writing as a process is essentially the same, but the way in which we perform this act will forever be changing. “When in the history of writing a new technology appears, it may supplement an established technology or replace it” (Bolter 32). We are constantly building upon our previous technological advances of writing. There are so many examples of this in our culture. The Kindle is one of the newest forms of reading and writing. There is now no need for the printed book. We can simply download books from the internet onto this portable and handy technology. This little Kindle is home to thousands of books. It has made reading more convenient for our generation.
Bolter is correct in saying that new technology replaces the old, but he seems to have this idea that the printed book will not be going anywhere. The feather quill, papyrus, and scrolls have all become obsolete in modern writing. We recognize them as once being a central part of the writing process, but they are no longer the smartest choice for writing. The printed book will soon follow their fate. With the Kindle, computers, and iPads, there will soon be no need for the printed book. It will forever remain an important part of the writing history. Group 5’s Prezi made the point that the old ways of writing are dead. They used the image of a dictionary with OMG and LOL written on it. These acronyms are mocking the book for not being as up-to-date as modern technology. The same group also spelt out R.I.P. with the information in their Prezi. Writing is not dead, but the old printed text is on its way to the grave and making way for digital text. Bolter does not realize that the printed text will soon follow its predecessors to eventually becoming “dead”.
Writing comes from our mind and our own thoughts. It can only die when our brain dies. The process of writing is constantly changing. We replace each technology with something newer and greater. “And as the new technology comes together it takes the idea of the old style and fix it to make it better, like the codex to books to digital computerized text” (Sample J). Writing now has many different factors that affect the whole writing process. The spaces, mediums, technologies, and advances have all changed the development of writing. We now have so many options for how we want our writing to look, sound and appear. Bolter supports all of the information he gives us about the evolution of writing. It will never truly die, but the equipment we are given to assist with our writing will eventually fade into inexistence.
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