Week 15 Journal

Technology plays an active role in multiple ways when it comes to everyday writing. For starters, technology has been the forefront of publicity. Ever since the internet was created, not only did writers and composers receive several supplemental resources to use at their disposal, but their unique works had the potential to be widely publicized. This could be done simply by creating a blog, or sharing the work via social media applications such as Facebook. Sure, publication could be possible without technology, but it is technology that makes the process of publication more accessible to both professional writers and casual writers. Technology also serves as both an extension and a heuristic. According to Clay Shirky, people generally use an object not just to simply use it, but to use it in order to conduct another task. The fact that people use emails in order to communicate to friends and relatives indicates that there are other ways to communicate from a distance than by hand-written letters. Because of this, technology can be seen as an extension to the process of communication. It is conducted in the same manner but in a different format, and produces the same outcome. Technology serves as a heuristic for communication because it extraordinarily efficient when it comes to time. Emails are sent and received almost instantaneously. There is almost always no time spent in between sending an email and receiving an email, whereas in physical hand-written letters, writers must usually wait a few days in order to successfully communicate with each other, depending on the amount of distance in between them. Overall, technology has become a big part of everyday writing over the years since its dawning. whether you post on a blog or send an email, just remember; it is technology that initiates the uniqueness and efficiency of your written work.

Journal week 15

What role does technology play in everyday writing and composing? 

Technology continues to grow each and everyday, as using it to write becomes more common and using the usual pen and paper becomes more rare. Technology allows for an easy, uneducated way of staying connected with people. More and more people that are of older age, who grew up without technology, are becoming more aware of how to use things like email and online websites to stay connected with family and friends. Technology is not only used to communicate with people, but to also use as a search engine to find forms of everyday writing that give answers and information to almost anything a person can think of. Other forms of writing and composing, like newspapers, are being transformed onto technological websites, saving people the money of paying for the paper version. Technology plays the role of making all of these things more simply and things like IPads and smart phones, people can bring the internet with them in their pocket and share anything with anyone at just the tip of their fingers, something that can’t be done with print writing. As technology begins to grow, everyday writing will see itself shift completely from pen and paper to computers and other devices. 

Week 15 Journal

Due to the fact that as humans we have an intrinsic motivation to communicate and share with others, it is only logical that the popularity of using technology to communicate instantly is only going to grow. As users of technology, we have the ability to mold a tool to fit the needs of the specific user, sometimes in ways that the maker of the technology never imagined. When the internet was created, the inventor never foresaw the immense popularity and wide variety of new uses that are being created each day. The internet is constantly evolving. Its versatility attracts the inventors of our generation so that they can use their creativity to problem solve and create new ways to communicate, share ideas, store information, spread knowledge and more. Today, technology plays a vital role in everyday writing and composing. The internet, smart phones, computers, tablets, texting, social media, online databases, and more are used frequently and are extremely relevant in today’s society and preferred method of communicating and sharing. People don’t use pen and paper anymore, they type on their lap top. They don’t send out a telegram, they send out a text message. They don’t go to the library and check out books, they go use an online database for academic journals for their research. Instead of buying a newspaper, they simply go to the New York Times website.  Print has its advantages, but so does digital. Technology makes it possible share instanteously, this advantage cannot be ignored. Print media simply can’t compete with the speed of today’s technology. In the article, they describe the internet as an opportunity machine. The amount of information that is readily available to anyone is endless. The simplicity and accessibility to the average person only increases the rate of success with using technology and the internet to take advantage of these opportunities.

Week 14 Journal

Considering both Lessig and Jenkins, being a writer in the 21st century means that any idea can be reused to write something more elaborate. Lessig explains how people usually prefer the original over something that is a “remix”, so reusing content that is considered great does not make the remix great. Writing something original that people can or want to relate to makes a writer better than those who reuse something. In Jenkins’ article, Heather’s fake school newspaper based on the world of Harry Potter allows children to share their feelings and use their imagination by pretending that they are part of the wizard world. If used creatively, writing while reusing some of another’s content can be interesting as well as fun.

The emergence of digital technologies and Web 2.0 allows for new ways of composing by giving people a fast way to connect without having to leave their homes. In my previous journal entry, I discussed what collaboration was. Jenkins provided an example of online collaboration with Heather’s fake online school newspaper, as kids went on the site to write their hearts out with their imagination. Lessig’s friend, Ben, wrote papers with a collaboration of quotes in order to explain his findings, but he did not call any of the authors to ask if he could quote them because he did not have to. His collaboration of quotes made his writing not as interesting as it could have been had he tried to explain himself using less quotes and more of his own work.

Week 14 Journal

Considering both Lessig and Jenkins, what does it mean to be a writer in the 21st century? Does the emergence of digital technologies and Web 2.0 allow for new ways of composing? 

A 21st century writer is entirely different than the writers from the past centuries. The tools used to write as well as the topics about which people write has completely changed. Lessig and Jenkins both recognized that as technology increases, collaboration has become more and more common. Anyone can be a "writer" in todays world. In the past, in order to be a writer who's work can be seen by many people, you would have to have been published and have what you wrote mass-circulated. Now, thanks to the internet, email, blogs, and social media such as Facebook, you can write anything you want and it is automatically available to anyone with a computer. 

Jenkins discussed how collaboration is increasingly common and how collaboration effects sites and readings such as "The Daily Prophet." Lessig went further and described how the 21st century has allowed to many different means of composing. He described how his roommate from college used quotes from well-known people to construct his arguments in his college papers. This is similar to sampling in music, collaging in artwork, and remixing in digital media, he states. 

week 14

To be a writer in the 21^st century means there is so much more available to you than what other writers had in the past. Today writers don’t have to use just a paper and pencil, if they don’t want to. There multiple technologies that allow for its users to be able to write. The most common and obvious is the computer keyboard. I would say that this is how most people choose to write today. Typing makes writing faster and more efficient through the editing and revising features. Some of these are even done automatically, such as the autocorrect feature. Mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets also allow users to type on a button or touchscreen keyboard. Writers are now able to write on the go, where or where ever they choose. This could mean on the bus or outside in the park. There is no limit to when or where writing can be done today through the use of technology. Furthermore, the Internet allows for writers to instantly upload and publish their writing. On the Internet users have access to writers work from literally anywhere. This provides writers with more information and sources, which expands the possibilities for all writing. With access to pictures, videos, blogs, news broadcast, etc. writers are able to learn and see more than ever before. The collaboration possibilities is also endless because now people from all over the world can look at your writing, and choose to comment or find a way to contact you.  A writer from the United States is able to see what someone from Japan has to say about his or her article instantly. This may help the writer learn more or just see what his work is like through another’s perspective that he would have never gotten if not for the Internet. Technology is improving how we write by opening what we write up to the world.

Week 14 Journal

Considering both Lessig and Jenkins, what does it mean to be a writer in the 21st century? Does the emergence of digital technologies and Web 2.0 allow for new ways of composing? 

To be a writer in the 21st century has a completely different meaning then it did before the emergence of technology.  Most people didn't have the access to material to write with that they do today. Before it was all done by hand. You'd write with the materials you had, and to get your writing out there was a process with in itself. Today you are not considered to be part "normal" society if you don't have a smartphone, computer, tablet etc...  Our easy access today makes it so that any piece of our writing can be dispersed to a large number of people just by clicking "post". It gives us a number of options and easy accessibility that we didn't have even 50 years ago. Writing today, on technology, is shorter and, a lot of the time, has less meaning than it did if we were to write in text. Due to social networking our writing has become very short handed and hurried, but only in that situation. Other digital forms like blogs, emails, and Word have make so writing large amounts of text easy and fast, but still holding all the meaning it would have 50 years ago.