Abbreviated History of Text

Final Post

"Material Literacy and Design" touches on an interesting topic - does the use of imagery showcase illiteracy? This is a conversation that happens often at my job. Upper management wants the flashiness and colors because it looks great, and meanwhile the content lacks. Do all of the visual contributions just serve as a distraction? I love the comparison to the cave paintings. Its as though we've come this far in technology to adapt a practice that is so old.

On the other hand though, these designs are great for attracting readers and any marketing/sales person can provide a list of benefits. When they are not overbearing, the images can be engaging and compliment the literature. But it does trod upon a thin line of immaturity and amatuer versus professional and interractive.

Writing is an experience and I think that "Theorizing Technology" does a great job of capturing it. Certain actions and encironments play a role in the process of writing and these aspects tie into the tools that we are using to implement our writing.

Theorizing Technology

“Theorizing Technology” explores the relationship between material tools and the mental process, as well as the relationship between material tools and culture. Haas states that by observing the meditation process, individuals can better understand the connection between material technologies and the mental process. She claims that writing tools are physical objects that exist solely from the human activities they are used for. As a culture progresses mentally; this progress is demonstrated through the technologies that culture creates.

Haas describes how altering text technologies can actually alter the cognitive process for the writer. Since different writing technologies require different 'spacial, tactile, visual, and temporal' thinking processes, it is implied that this can alter the authors writing. Print writing and digital writing are compared to prove how some writing technologies require different cognitive functions. It is explained that writing from a computer requires more abstract thought, while print writing offers a more intimate experience for the writers by allowing the to be more physically connected to their materials.

Haas describes that the connection between culture and writing materials is formed when writing materials are used across a specific population, for an extended period of time. She explains this process as a form of the body's memory. Haas makes it clear that a culture does not adopt a material tool based solely on its most appealing features. One of the deciding factors named in the adoption process is language. Haas explains that in Japan many of their engineers avoid using computers because of how the device is catered to Western literacy. For individuals literate in Japanese, these devices are very complicated to use. While the computer's features might be superior to the alternative devices, its westernized characteristics prevent some cultures from adopting the technology. She concludes by stating that technology is birthed by culture and cognitive thought. That these writing materials are the artifacts that define a culture and their level of progress, meaning all three of these components play a crucial role to one another.

Comment: I found her description of the relationship between cognitive abilities and writing materials to be interesting. I enjoyed her description of how different writing materials spur different cognitive functions. I have always been the kind of person that needs to physically write something down in order to truly retain the information being recorded, but I have always been told this was all just a myth. Her description offered a great explanation to why certain people might retain information better based on the writing materials used. I was relieved to know there are legitimate causes as to why some individuals favor certain mediums and that it all wasn't merely a literacy placebo affect.

Question: As technology advances do you believe writing technologies will be more 'culturally specific' or more universal? Also, do you think materiel intimacy can exist through a digitalized medium?  

Final Post

Theorizing Technology by: Christina Haas

Materiality and Thinking

• ·         Haas argues that the material of a text and the physical artifacts associated with a text shape the writers mental process
•   Writers are constantly engaging their text before anything has even been written

o   i.e

§  Laying their hands on the keyboard

§  Chewing a pencil

§  Typing text vs. handwriting text

• ·         Different writing technologies set up different spatial, tactile, visual, and temporal relations between the writer and his text
• ·         Haas believes there is a direct link between the method of writing and the author in order for an author to create he/she must form a relationship with the materiality of their text.

Materiality and Culture

• ·         Each form of materiality has its own culture
• ·         Handwriting

o   A form of inscribing

o   Comes from practice and repletion

Material Literacy and Visual Design

• ·  Faigley discusses how hypermediation enhances text online

o   Through links and animated pictures the reader forms a closer bond to the text and is able to engage the text

o   Subtext under the pictures encourages the readers to gather more understanding about the text

Comment: I found Haas’ explanation about another body of text interesting, because the original body of text discusses how a writer becomes closer to his work and yet her work was drawing her closer to another author’s work.

Question: Do literary analyses separate the audience from the text being analyzed or do they form another form of materiality that draws an audience closer to the original text? 

Theorizing Technology and Material Literacy and Visual Design

Summary:

Haas discusses two questions pertaining to technology: 1) how material tools shape mental processes and 2) how these material tools relate to culture. To answer the first question, she discusses how changing writing materials affects the writer in profound ways, making changes to his visual, spatial, temporal and tactile relationships with the text. The means by which the text is formed and/or viewed changes our relationship with its creation and the way it is viewed. She addresses the second question by discussing the effects of past textual mediums on the new. For example, the computer is embedded with endless symbols that originate in other text technologies, such as the pages, icons, and more. This, however, is not relevant across all cultures, so technology that is specialized for Western culture is avoided in other culturally diverse situations.

In Material Literacy, the author gives many examples of what would seem to be useless and poorly designed webpages, often created by teens. However, he argues that literacy is not based on text alone, but incorporates words and images alike. He believes literacy is material and multimedia-based, and has always been that way. Images are not a reflection of a lack of literacy, but the result of the ease of access to the internet.
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Comment:
I found it interesting that there are so many relationships among textual mediums, when you think about it. Everything had some kind of predecessor, and the effects of those never really seem to diminish.

Question:
If the lack of well-worded text online does not show a decrease in literacy, then what would? Is our immediacy based lifestyle contributing to a more image based literacy?

Summary: Porters research paper analyzes rhetorical delivery in digital communication. He describes that delivery is comprised of five key components; Body/Identity,  Distribution/Circulation, Access/Accessibility, Interaction, and Economics.

To describe these functions further he turns to the history of rhetorical delivery to explain how delivery has evolved in respect to the advancement of text technologies. Porter explains rhetorical delivery originated through oral communication in the Roman/Greek era. Changing ones oral delivery by speaking in a deep voice with long pauses is claimed to generate an emotional response from listeners. Oral delivery also pertain to how a speaker positions their body in addition to the volume, tone, and pattern of their speaking.

Porter explains how the printing press revolutionized delivery in the textual world by creating variety and standardization in this method of communication. He goes on to explain technology as a whole and focuses on the term "teche" which refers to the combination of abstract and physical knowledge. He discusses how technology restricted delivery by confining it within grammatical rules and standardization.

He discusses how the "body" of rhetorical delivery can be subject to invariables aspects such as race, gender, or age;  as well as alterable features such as pen names, profile photos, and background information. He describes delivery as the author's direct intended method of distribution and circulation as a works' degree of redistribution. Accessibility refers to how obtainable a piece is. Obstables in accessibility could be disabilities such as colorblindness or illiteracy, or could refer to physical barriers such as the inability to purchase the device a work is viewable on. Interaction refers to the exchange between two humans or a human and a machines, systems, or designs. Economics refers to the economical motives, hinderances, and overall effects on distribution that shapes a communication's rhetorical delivery.

Comment: I enjoyed how this piece deeply investigated textual delivery. I found it interesting how Porter describes humans as "cyborgs" referring to the degree of connection between humans and technology. I've always understood that as technology continues to advance it will become increasingly standardized in our lives; but never viewed it as becoming apart of us. This makes me curious how communication will evolve over future generations.


Question: Why do you think altering pen names affects how a text is received by the reader? Do you believe that readers like to read texts from authors whom are more similar to themselves or authors they feel are superior to them academically?

Wrap Up pt. 1

Analysis of magazine in print:

Analysis of magazine displayed on an IPAD: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=F7644DC51D8E037B!8008&authkey=!AIMO-FmbJqKSNEI&ithint=file%2cdocx

Broad Conclusions: