Before joining this class, I never looked at writing as a means of technology. Growing up surrounded with technology and having understood the vital impact on our daily lives, never did I use the fundamental understanding of writing to perceive it as technology. That view, however, has been completed changed since joining the Informatics 303 class.
Technology, as we know it, is a scientific or knowledgable founding put into practical use to allows humans to enhance daily lives, solve problems, and/or invent useful tools. Keeping that in mind, the essay “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology” by Dennis Barron, brings forth a new meaning of technology and how writing was originated with the invention of pencil. The pencil development process, as Barron exemplifies, “engineering process, hinging . . . . no simple matter” (Barron 2-3), is a scientific breakthrough that uses the cohesion between wood, graphite, and clay to produce the final product. In terms of a pencil, this invention has and continues to allow humans a means of communication – giving them full power in their hands to translate their thoughts into text. Through the activity in class, involving no verbal communication and using provided supplies for communication, it became eminent how tools like the pencil and crayon make communication more controllable for humans as compared to when using paint or magazine cut-outs. This is strictly because of the foundation that pencil makes writing more mobile, faster, and risk-free. With the complement of an eraser (“rubber”), one can freely correct his/her mistakes as compared to using paint, there is no going back. While the pencil does come with constraints like lead breaking, not having a sharpener, text easily being smudged or erased by someone, etc., it still serves to be one of the friendliest and easiest to adapt modes of textual communication.
As a kid, the exposure to pencils and crayons allowed me to demonstrate my abstract thoughts into hard copies. Throughout the educational career, pencils have allowed me to transform my ideas and thoughts into writings that are used in the years to come. The invention of writing has allowed for the preservation of sacred important documents, scientific findings, and other world-important texts to keep safe for the generations to come. Digital writing changed the way I interacted for school, now being connected remotely and having the privilege to communicate to anyone across the globe.
The non-traditional methods of writings are truly phenomenal. The podcast “How to listen to music in 4 easy steps” expresses the importance of symbols in music. Similarly, as a Computer Science major, I currently use a lot of formulated writing when programming. This type of writing is then decoded by the computer and made meaning of to perform certain action(s). Having the opportunity to reflect on writing, apart from just a basic practice in our daily lives, has now allowed me to understand the greater power of connectivity and communication that it has like the power of technology.
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