Writing for a Select Crowd? In his essay, “Should Everybody Write?”, Dennis Baron explains the evolution of the history of writing from written text by select few as compared to more modern technology of today. He introduces many of the obstacles that writers faced in early history. Baron also describes many ways technology has enhanced the work of writers. Moreover he says, “Thanks to the computer and the internet, anyone can be a writer” (840). Baron contends that writers today have everything needed to write at their fingertips. According to Baron, while there are many positive changes for writers, also there were many obstacles to overcome. Baron says, “…only a few brave souls were tempted to try the technology” (843). …show more content…
He says that by the 12th century, written documents were everywhere and literacy percentages were rising. Baron further discusses that writing expanded the author’s club and by the end of the 19th century, literacy levels rose over 80% in Western Europe and the U.S. Baron remarked that the pencil, the printing press, the typewriter, and the computer all expanded opportunities for writers; however, they had to clear hurdles imposed by publishers, government censors or the church. In contrast to Baron’s research, he says there will always be someone who objects to a new technology …show more content…
He also poses a new question that could be seen as another obstacle in the technology world of writers and that is, “How can we control the writers and their explosion of text?” (849). According to Baron, Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has pointed out saying, “from the earliest days of writing, there has always been too much to read” (849). Critics bemoan the internet’s information glut and they seek to control access to the more dangerous parts of cyberspace. Baron states there are firewalls and filters that can block what writers can do. He also says there are other ways we are controlling authorship that may be less traditional and a bit more subtle. Baron further explains that as we write on our computers, we are giving up our privacy in ways that writers never did before. He lists examples like exposing ourselves or our personas on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog. Baron says not just with those examples but also by leaving digital fingerprints that allow businesses and the government to log our keystrokes and track our clicks. Baron points out many obstacles in writing and technology in history and of today, but he concludes that among the positive changes for writers are the readers. According to Baron, the audience can be friends, family, tweeters, Facebook friends and subscribers to the blog. He concludes that the people online are willing to read
Summary In the analysis, “Write For Your Life,” Anna Quindlen’s thesis is that in the movie “Freedom Writers,” and in our everyday life, physical writing is a necessary form of therapy and release. Quindlen describes the movie and then points out specific lines that express the situation of the children. She continues by explaining how physical writing is important to our wellbeing but how it has disappeared from our lives.
A technological wave has approached us and that wave is known as the Internet. In the recent years, the use of the Internet has increased tremendously as many people use it for numerous reasons. Research that once required days now can be done in minutes. However, some people worry that tool is not benefiting our lives, but is rather making us “stupid.” An American writer, Nicholas Carr, is one of these advocates who believes the Internet is making our mind mush.
Books, photos, labels, even this, the essay you’re reading, have all been printed. But when did we start printing things? Didn’t the world used to hand write all books and hand draw all pictures? The answer is yes, we used to. But then Johannes Gutenberg came around and invented the printing press.
In the article “How to Protect Your Reputation in The Digital Age,” Greg Beato, the editor for Reason magazine, claim that within the digital age of the internet no one is truly secured or private. Beato argued with the internet many had adopted negative personas to ridicule other as they believe that their action has no impact and consequences. Beato argued that eventually these people will go so far as playing judge and jury with others social life’s and harm reputation’s in the process, but he asserts that it’s easier than ever for others to find you on the internet than ever. Beato believes that what you do on the internet resonate more about you than you think, and they speak and represent you. As he reminds us that people represent themselves
In ancient times, approximately 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution arose and farming/agricultural societies replaced the savage-like hunter gatherer societies. This jump in technological advancements in such a small period of time was a monumental triumph for humanity as a whole, and this upward trend only continued to progress as time went on. The rise of agricultural societies was also extremely essential to the evolution of humanity because without it we would not have made advances in writing, technology, and allowed for the creation of specialized workers which have all shaped our modern lifestyle. Writing is an extremely important asset to human existence.
“Should everybody write” is the question that is argued throughout the article Should Everybody Write by Dennis Baron. Baron, an English professor at the University of Illinois, incorporates essay styled writings in correspondence to English problems faced in today’s world. His main concern in this essay is to demonstrate to his audience a proper answer to the argued statement and uses rhetorical strategies throughout his article to support his claims. The use of tone is incorporated when he discusses the context of writing history. His purpose in this article is discussed using his strong sense of logic and he also conveys to his audience’s emotions to caution them on their own writing or writing fears.
Not So Fast” Andrea Lunsford researched students’ writing for 30-plus years to see what effect new technology has on how students learn. Lunsford discovered that students are actually improving their own writing skills with the help of mass media. Not only does it allow students more access to educational resources and information, but it also encourages students to do more creative thinking and writing outside of class which Lunsford refers to in her article as “life writing.” In her research she recalls the account of a student who sent a friend a text message which was completely informal and would be considered unprofessional by most piers. However, the same student also sent a very formal and professional report to her faculty adviser later on.
When Pennycook analyzed the issue of plagiarism in his essay, Borrowing Others’ Words: Text, Ownership, Memory, and Plagiarism, he introduced the essence of language learning and the evolution of the notion of author in a detailed way, which provides a different angle to interpret Roland Barthes’s The Death of the Author. Barthes describes writing in the beginning of his essay as a “composite, oblique space where our subject slip away” (142). Pennycook can give a lucid explanation of Barthes’s word choice of “composite”, because he believed that, according to Western traditions, literary originality came into being alongside a “wholesale borrowing of language and ideas” (212). Writing, as a part of language learning, needs conducting a
The Dialectic between the Written and the Spoken Word in Maddaddam Postmodern literature is interested, resides many things, in emphasizing the artificiality of any created work. For this purpose, the postmodern writers use different Tools like metafiction and dynamic stasis. The use of these also results in making the reader question the way the entire world is percieved through created works. In Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood, the narrative voice presents transcriptions of oral myths in the making. These trascriptions fall in the definition of dynamic stasis coined by Linda Hutcheon.
Brandt implies that writing has impacted the economy because writers are scarce, and those who are running in places of power typically don’t know the correct way to express their ideas in the most commercial, efficient fashion. Therefore, she concludes that writers make a huge impact in the economy; they can be found in almost every business and they’re are needed in order to enforce competitive commercialism. Wanberg addresses how ghostwriting economics do not stay consistent globally. He states that, although Europeans see authors as those who piece the work together themselves--the artist of the writing--Africans view literacy as cultural. Instead of claiming that the author is a specific person, they claim it is just African instead.
In this paper, I will talk about a couple reasons for this millennium-spanning trend, and also about the need for a more Hesiodic approach. It might be accurate to claim that 'writing' itself has been biased toward the powerful. It has been concentrated in the hands of the educated and those with leisure, and aimed at the same audience. In part because of this, it
This essay will be in response to essay title number one analysing the technological change that has unfolded from as early as the fifteenth century to the twentieth century. This essay will discuss the impact technological advancement of print has had on society, how the printing press was first invented and rapidly developed for world denomination, its immediate popularity amongst society, its contribution to everyday life in the digital age as well as the positive and negative impacts the printing press has inflicted on society. Both the positive and negative impacts of the printing revolution had on society will be analysed with emphasis on the positive things it had brought about to early modern Europe. The printing press first took
A large portion of Walter Ong’s writings in Orality and Literacy focused on matters that were not quantifiable. It may seem unfair to fault the author because of the uncertain records of pre-writing civilizations, but Ong’s writing’s in chapter three of his book focused on a comparison between generalized points of oral and literate cultures, which created an argument that did not acknowledge basic trends evident in contemporary writing. It is important to note that Ong published his book in the 1980’s, but Ong’s claims neglected a historical analysis that traces back to the use and development of tools like clay tokens, let alone modern technological advancements. Specifically, through Ong’s claim that “by contrast with literate societies,
Technological advancements has had a huge impact on writing and liturature. It has had huge impacts because literature in genaral has improved in so many ways. For example, now-a-days we use so many techical devices such as, cellphones, computers, printers, and USB's. Whereas years ago, there was no such thing as any of these technical devices. The advancements in technology are incredible, they have helpeed literature in many, many ways that no one really realizes it.
Why Writing Changed the World Without writing nothing would be possible. Knowledge brings power, therefore writing brings power to modern society. Writing made it possible to transmit knowledge more accurately. Writing also allowed people to record happenings. Without writing, this paper wouldn’t be possible.