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[digitalagewritingsara]

Welcome!

Welcome to my digital age writing blog!!

Thank you for stopping by :)

[digitalagewritingsara]

on the rare occasion something feels real, feels tangible,

i hold on to it like the moon holds on

to the sun’s light: i need it

to escape the dark, escape the dark

[digitalagewritingsara]

You can’t really describe it but “!” as a line of dialogue creates a tangible recognition in your brain

[digitalagewritingsara]

Media Literacy in Schools?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/learning/should-media-literacy-be-a-required-course-in-school.html?searchResultPosition=5

This article brings up the idea of misinformation, spreadability and receptiveness to fake news and the issues that lie within it and the dangers of it. 

People just click share and click retweet and click repost or reblog without checking the source, the news, or for any reliability at all or truthiness!

Should schools be responsible to teach how to know, when to know, and where to find out? A majority of school systems already have computer classes ingrained into their curriculums but with everything being online until further notice, it could be necessary more now than ever.

Some people do not realize their content and how fast it can spread and go viral, for example there are so many viral videos on youtube that it is just amazing they gained all of that reception and traffic. 

Posting or sharing misinformation can lead to falsely educating people, damaged reputations, a loss of credibility, and depending on the information and the spread, it could lead to some strict punishment. 

Nobody wants to be misinformed or lied to, or believe something that is not true. Learning the right way to gage the right information and being able to tell the truth from a lie is important for every day life.

This leads me back to the tangibility, digital reading and writing vs newspapers, having that official in hand document that you know has been proof read, checked and checked, before finally sending it out or allowing it to be approved. It is so much more believable than a post on the internet by a source you never heard of on an unknown website or newsoutlet. 

[digitalagewritingsara]

Developers VS Users

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/books/review/joanne-mcneil-lurking.html

I found this article to be extremely interesting in terms of digital writing and what we have talked about this semester in class. 

“Developers build and shape the online experiences that users run around in like rats in a maze. Users make their way through the vast web trying to fulfill certain essential desires.”

The first question this leads me to is the responsibility or lack thereof that lies on the role of the developer. In some ways they are responsibile to make these desires approachable, but could they also be in charge of making sure certain desires unattainable or exceptable in society are not met?

With the metabook app, the developers were in charge of creating this platform for readers and they are responsible to a certain extent to fulfill the bare minimum of the desires the users face. But exceeding the minimum allows for more reception, popularity, and in turn more fulfillment. There is a certain amount of expectation to be promised to the user from the developer. But the creator is also in charge of the outcome. Like with Frankenstein and his monster, he developed it, and was then in charge of ending it because of the responsibility that he brought it into the world and when it could not be understood it was on his shoulders to erase it. Like with digital content. 

And then begs the question of user created content. Some developers have made it possible for users to guide their content and fulfill others. For example social media platforms, we talked about this in class. Blogs, Twitters, Youtube for Vloggers, there is an abundance of initiative in these websites because people are able to satiate their desire or others where the developers fall short. So in turn, the users can become developers. 

All of this is not without consequence. The line between users and developers is more blurred than thought. I think it is imperative for the developers to also be users because they should be active, updating, and present to the needs of the users and in order to gage that they should be among them. Passion brings the best work. Creating something for yourself or a community that means something to you makes for a better platform rather than mindless thoughtless money seeking through development.

I think developers and users are often times one in the same, or at least a balance as you cannot have one without the other, but I think that whether it is developer or user or user developing due to the developers developments, the audience should be counted for in these scenarios. 

[digitalagewritingsara]

go on. create. shape worlds with your thoughts, move others with your art, change something with your ideas. creation flows in your veins - embrace it

[digitalagewritingsara]

The tangibility aspect or just plain receptiveness

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/learning/do-you-love-writing-or-receiving-letters.html?searchResultPosition=61 

Reading this article made me really think about the difference between speaking, writing, and typing. 

During the lockdown and pandemic of this year, snail made has made a comeback! 

The article poses the question: “Have you ever received a memorable letter? If so, what was it like to see an envelope with your name on it? What did you feel as you unfolded the letter and began to read? Did it feel different than getting an email, phone call or text? Why or why not?” 

It then flips the question over on the reader, asking if we have ever created a handwritten letter and why we chose to go that route.

I always associate speaking with words you cannot take back, words that are immediate and effective and present, there is not keeping them unless they are being recorded.

But with writing it is more like paper and pen which is permanent, but less permanent if using a pencil. An eraser mark always shows a mistake on a paper. So with writing handwritten whether it is an essay, a story, a letter, there is just such a vulnerability tied to it. And when writing something down, it is way easier to remember than speaking or typing it, because I feel like it requires a lot more time and care. The handwriting, the potential smudge marks. There is just something so satisfying about holding something that was sent for you, or something that you are going to send. An official piece of writing on paper is tangible, something you can hold, read over and over again, it never disappears. 

Digital writing is much more complicated because it is so much more open and public. Anyone can see what is being said, screenshots can be taken sometimes without even being known they were taken. You can’t always understand someone’s tone or sarcasm in messages so the true meaning of the writing can be overlooked, misunderstood, and that can lead to problems. With carefully thought out and worded handwritten writing, because of all of the thought and finalization put into it with no going back, it is so much easier to receive and understand. But with digital writing sometimes what you write and work hard on does not stick with you and then when you lose it it disappears forever with no way of returning to the original format or thought. I have never mastered the skill of typing with meaning, being able to take notes for a class on my laptop and fully understand them, the only way I can be receptive of the teachings is if I write the notes down myself. You can type carelessly with typos, grammar mistakes, because you are not fully aware and using a pencil just a keyboard so a lot of it is mindless in our society. People can hide behind screens and not have to worry about having their name tied to something or the message they are sending out into the world because there is no absolute claim to it with digital writing. 

Just yesterday I received two postcards in the mail from my family in Hawaii and the care it took to purchase a postcard, write it and address it, and send it out has so much more care put into it then writing a quick text, especially in times of social distance and long distance. It was so meaningful to me that I could hold it in my hands.

I think tangibility is my favorite area to look at in regards of digital writing, because there is something lost in it and I have not found a way to resolve that.