The Evolution Of Writing
For class, we had to make a Prezi for a chapter from David Bolters book: Writing Space. For my Prezi, my group did Chapter Four: The Breakout of the Visual. I found this chapter to be interesting because it tracked the history of visual writing from caves walls to the Internet. It also analyzed how writing on the Internet contains more images than in books.
I particularly enjoyed the part of Chapter Four that was about visual metaphors. A visual metaphor is the representation of a noun by using a visual image that suggests an association of similarity. I found it interesting how makers of the advertisement felt that they needed to use razors as the bars in the bar graph. It seemed as though they did not think the audience would trust that the advertisement was about shaving, if the razors were not involved. It makes me think that people feel they need to use images to earn the trust of others. It is as though they feel that pure mathematical fact is not enough.
By briefly viewing the history of writing, it seems as though it is leaning towards its original form. Many years ago people communicated by carving pictures into cave walls. Since they had not yet invented actual text, images were the only way to communicate and tell stories. As text became more prevalent, images took the backseat. Novels began to be printed, containing little or no images. When the television and computer were invented, images started to become much more prevalent than they had been. Today, most advertisements contain barely any text, and most computer pages have just as many images as text.
The computer started out mostly using text on an electronic screen. As it evolved, picture writing became more prevalent. As mentioned by Bolter, “The words seem to be trying to transform the world of the picture into a writing space, while at the same time the picture invites the viewer to consider the words as images or abstract shapes rather than signs” (63). The desktop background contains icons, which are images representing what you will get if you click on them. For example, on the Macbook Pro, if you want to check your e-mail you click on the postage stamp icon. Associating images with computer programs makes it easier to get to different programs.
Not only is the computer evolving to include more images, but the newspaper too. According to Bolter, “In graphic form and function, the newspaper is coming to resemble a computer screen, as the combination of text, images, and icons turns the newspaper page into a static snapshot of the World Wide Web page” (51). The newspaper, similar to articles on the web, has a large picture on the front to attract people to read the text. Like the razor bar graph, the newspaper displays an image to capture the interest and trust of its readers. The web also copies the newspaper by using black text on a white background.
Another interesting concept mentioned in Chapter Four of Writing Space is being able to click on images, which will re-direct you to a new page with either more images or text. This is referred to as a hyperlink. If someone is reading or viewing one topic, they can usually connect to different ideas dealing with that topic. This concept can be exceptionally confusing, because clicking on these links can lead to ideas that are similar or not similar.
Another way in which writing has evolved is the utensils we use and the printing machines. In class, we did an assignment that we had to read a poem and write our response in crayon on a huge piece of paper. Most students, including myself, found this to be hard. On my blog I wrote about how I was excited to do this project, but once I actually started writing with the crayon I became frustrated. I had to write my ideas in pencil on a separate piece of paper before I used the crayon. I knew that once I wrote with the crayon, I could not go back and edit my work.
Being used to the uniform look of a printed page is another evolution that not only defines writing, but our culture. Now that people are used to typed pages of texts, some feel as though they are strictly limited to writing perfectly. This was especially prevalent in the crayon project. For example, Rita wrote on her blog that she put lines under her writing and used margins to make sure that it was neat. I remember seeing her project and commenting on how perfectly straight and uniform it was.
Although the actual writing was challenging, it was fun to choose colors and draw on the sides of the paper. Using a crayon gave more room to show personality and artistic vision. Some students’ projects were uniform, using only one color and containing clear margins. Other projects used different colors and had drawings on the outside. Although there were no rules stating how the project had to look, some students felt as though they still needed to make their project appear similar to a printed page.
In class, we talked about regular books versus electronic books. Electronic books are also important in the evolution of writing, because they seem to be rapidly gaining popularity. The first electronic book I had heard of was the Kindle. On the Kindle you can download “e-books” which are electronic versions of almost any book you can think of. Instead of buying the actual hard copy of the book, you download it onto your kindle and read it. There is a stylus, which is used to highlight or underline text just as you would with a regular book. Some people are in favor of this evolution while others are not. Personally, I like having an actual book to hold, because I am in control of it. With any kind of technology, something can always go wrong. I have so much technology in my life like the iPhone 4, Macbook Pro, and iTouch. I love being able to hold a book and read it without the unwanted frustration of a frozen screen or Internet issues.
A popular form of digital text that is increasingly gaining popularity is texting. Like the uniform-look of the printed page, texting says a lot about our culture. Escaping the usual phone call, the majority of people use texting. Texting is great when something needs to be said quickly, but not for a serious conversation. It is easy to misunderstand what someone is trying to tell you if you cannot hear his or her emotions. I have had many arguments develop because of texts and even had arguments over texting. Americans especially are always on the go and have trouble making phone calls while dealing with everything else they are doing, so they send texts.
Obviously, the evolution of writing is affecting our culture both positively and negatively. Although writing, reading, and researching can get done more efficiently, it may be hindering the whole experience of physically reading a book or hand writing a paper. Because of the ways text is presented to us, are we feeling that we need to strictly make it more uniform?
Works Cited
Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Print
Nordquist, Richard. "Visual Metaphor - Definition and Examples of Visual Metaphors."Grammar and Composition - Homepage of About Grammar and Composition. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/vismeterm.htm>.
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