Create a Writing Technology
I never thought about writing something down with a pen on plain lined paper involved technology. It always seemed to me that those things were around, pen and paper had just been there, for one reason or another for the purpose of writing down things, organizing ideas, or just jotting down notes. Much like Ong says, “The fact that we do not commonly feel the influence of writing on our thoughts shows that we have interiorized the technology of writing so deeply that without tremendous effort we cannot separate it from ourselves or even recognize its presence and influence. (Tribble and Trubek, 316-317) Creating a writing technology is something that takes a lot of thought. The process, materials, words written down, and the purpose of writing things down although common to modern society, was something that proved daunting to create.
When I was assigned to create my own writing technology I thought, “that’s going to be easy.” It was not easy. When conflicted with this assignment, the first thing I had to think about was “what am I going to write with?” I decided after what seemed like hours of brainstorm, to settle on a stick for a writing utensil. Next came ink. I first debated on creating my own ink, for this I would have to use things like books, or the Internet. Since books or use of the Internet were not in the spirit of the assignment, I used something else. I had to think what would stick to a surface and create enough of a contrast that someone would be able to read it. I came up with the idea of using some sort of fresh fruit. Frozen fruit, although cheaper, probably wouldn’t have worked well. Blueberries, as expensive as they were, seemed to be the best solution. I mashed the blueberries into a little dish, and then began to write. But then I realized I had nothing to write on. Making paper would have been hard. I can’t write on the ground, cause it wouldn’t be as permanent or portable. I found some bark from firewood that my dad had cut up. I grabbed the biggest chunk and began to write using my own creation.
different colored water-soluble marker pens (Vis a Vis pens and Crayola water soluble work well. Be sure that it is water soluble. Be sure to test any green, water soluble inks that you have.)
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales in The Riverside Chaucer. General Ed. Benson, Larry D. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
And so, in engaging in my project, I found myself thinking of how I could adopt a natural tool and adapt that tool to my writing task. I first thought about writing some letters in water, but I could really find no natural container to hold the water. I could have used some sticks or some type of colored liquid and take a snapshot of it, but there was no natural platform to hold the water. This was not going to work.
Saul, Nigel. "Chaucer and Gentility." Pp. 41-58. In Chaucer's England. Barbara A. Hanawalt, ed. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1992.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Riverside Chaucer Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1987. 3-328 Secondary
Handwriting is a means of expressing language, just like speech. However, handwriting is not taught in school as much as in previous years. In the past, handwriting was taught as a precursor to reading and spelling. Today, students of all ages are rigorously tested on their writing skills, yet they are not allowed the time it takes to develop this skill. I remember writing in a Big Chief notebook, holding a chubby pencil, trying my best to make the curves and lines of the letters just right. When I attended elementary school, the teacher devoted at least forty-five minutes to handwriting each day. Handwriting should still be taught in school because it is an essential first step to reading and expressing one’s thoughts and feelings and because of its impact on higher education.
Beidler, Peter G. "Chaucer's Tales" Chaucer Review Vol: 34, Issue: 4. April 01, 2000. 388-397
Writing can be a very difficult process for those who do not know how to go about constructing
Mack, Michael. "Between Kant And Kafka: Benjamin's Notion Of Law." Neophilologus 85.2 (2001): 257-272. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
thing about me is that I hate writing anything with a pen and a paper. Most of the time
Cursive writting is a big part of being professional. It's true that technology is changing at a rapid speed. As said in the article "Cursive Is aTwenty-First Century Dinosaur" hand writting has tooken a back seat. Only because technology grows by the day. I feel that children should still learn and practice cursive hand writting because it is apart of everyday life. learning to write can improve your motor skillz more than typing on a computer.
In my project I attempted to write without the assistance of normal technologies that are often taken for granted. It proved a difficult undertaking. Before beginning to write I had to find something to write on. As I searched my house and yard I realized that technology-free materials are difficult to find. I eventually found a birch log by the fireplace, which was once used by Native Americans for the purpose of writing. After tearing off the bark, and shaking off the dirt I had my “paper.” The hardest part was still not over; I needed to find a replacement for the normal writing aid of a pencil or pen. I replaced ink with honey and traded a pen for a feather. My next step was the very slow process of streaking honey on the bark to form words. The honey was the same color as the birch and blended in with the wood. To f...
The literary works by Confucius, who was a teacher, politician, philosopher, and a social reformer helped developing Confucianism, often regarded as a religion. Confucianism is often believed as a system of social and ethical philosophy. When Confucius was born, the Chinese central government had lost power and there were numerous warring states. The violence, social instability, and cruel governance were some of the reasons why Confucius chose to be a teacher and a social reformer. His influence is greatly felt in China, Japan, and other parts of the world. His teachings were accepted as state dogma. The books he edited, namely the books of Changes, Poetry, History, and Rites, and the one he compiled, the Spring and Autumn are used as study material in both private and public schools in China. These subjects were also studied for civil service examination (Wu-Chi). His
As part of an assignment for my writing class, I was asked to invent my own writing technology including something to write with and on. For my writing technology, I formed words with the juices of leaves and wrote on a piece of bark. To do this, I first needed to find a piece of bark that was big enough to write on and light enough so that the writing would show up. After getting a few pieces of bark from the trees near my house, I began experimenting by printing on them with the leaves from a houseplant. I did this by twisting one end of the leaf and smearing it onto the bark. Once I figured out the bark that worked the best, I wrote the words “Not a pencil.” I wrote this for two reasons. One reason is because it pointed out another writing technology that people rarely consider, the pencil. Secondly, it referenced the emphasis Denis Baron puts on the pencil in his article, “From Pencils to Pixels.”
Writing technologies have been shaping the way people live since the beginning of time. In the Stone Age, our ancestors used tablets to organize important thoughts, keep track of daily activities, and pass on their knowledge to future generations. Arguably, their method of writing was inefficient as much effort was being put into carving and preserving the tablet, while the end result contained little information relative to its size. As technologies evolve, we have refined our methods of writing and have come up with newer, cheaper, and more efficient ways to communicate. Living in the age of information explosion, my most intimate experience with writing technologies comes from the use of my royal blue VAIO.