I need answers!

After reading Bolter's "Writing the Self" and discussing it in class I couldn't help asking myself a few questions. First, are there any original thoughts to be made anymore? Second, what is more important: the text or how the readers act after reading the text? Third, is everything mediated through something else, and if so, does this affect a reader's reaction to a text?

Once an old teacher of mine said that a person should strive to actually think at least once a day. Upon hearing this I was confused. Didn't we think all the time? My teacher then explained a person only truly thinks when they think an original thought. At first I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Of course I think my own thoughts! It's not like I copy other people's ideas. Then it clicked. What a person thinks has probably already been thought. Taking into account the population and age of the human race, there's a good chance that at one point in time someone has thought the same thing as you. However, I do think it is still possible to create an original thought if one tries really hard and is really creative.

What does this have to do with The Network and the Self? Well, with the Internet, it becomes even harder to come up with original ideas because ideas can be easily shared on the Internet and therefore can generate the same thought in many minds. In terms of copyright, if someone comes across an idea they swear was their own and the other person stole it, maybe the other person just had the same idea. Therefore, this leads to it being harder to have an identity of your own, especially on the Internet. 

This leads me to wonder what is more important: the text or the reader's reactions to the text? I say that the reader's reaction is more important because with so many common ideas, it's what the reader does with the text that matters. How a reader reacts also deals with the remediation of a text. If someone is able to mediate a text into something more comprehensible, it will increase the audience. Therefore, more ideas are generated and actions are made.

An action could be something positive like becoming an avid reader because you found an author or genre you love. Another positive action could be writing your own text because you became inspired or motivated by something you read. An example of this is fanfiction (even if some stories are not so great at least someone is practicing writing). However, there are also negative actions like sending hate mail or messages to someone because you disagreed with something they wrote. For example, there was a Tumblr page all about hating Cassandra Clare, a Young Adult author. That’s right, it got removed because it was wrong and shameful. 

So, now that I’ve answered these mind-boggling questions, what are your answers or responses? Please comment below. I need answers!

Keep Calm and Write On

As we read in the first paragraphs of Bolters’ first chapter of Writing Space

Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print, the priest in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, 1482 was distraught in thinking that the invention of the printing press would not only destroy the church, but human thought. When we read this, we must be reminded that the world was in a completely different time period with very different ways of living when the priest was freaking out. Humans were in a different mindset/consciousness. Humans were making more history than discovering it, but now we are able to reflect upon our history and learn from it. 

Now, when we face the dilemma of going from paper to digitalized media, it does not seem as urgent of a matter. Both times of change are seen as civilization advancing in technology, but this time of change is not as dramatic. Our society is now used to a lot of new advances in technology because there have been various new items invented. For example, when a new iPhone comes out, people only care about having the latest gadget, not necessarily what’s new about it. We are so used to new technology appearing that seeing media go from print to screen is not unpredicted. 

Alas, there are still some people out there who are concerned with the idea of print being overthrown by digital media. Sometimes I think people forget to take into account the population of this world and the differences we all have. There will always be people who prefer a book to an e-reader. And if there comes a day when there are absolutely no paper books or sources in this world, we will be long gone and the world will have changed so much that we cannot predict what our response will be. Therefore, instead of guessing and fretting about this “issue” we should realize that print isn’t going to just disappear. Instead, we should focus our energy on refining the technology that we currently do possess now. 

Where’s the authorship when things are written on the Internet, whether it be via a social media site or professional website? When we talk about plagiarism in class the consequences are usually failing the class and possibly worse. However, on the Internet, when someone uses another person’s words, there really isn’t a format for citing them. Therefore, it is easy to plagiarize on the Internet and people do it a lot. This is not okay for people to be able to easily steal another’s words. Also, some think that the Internet helps create or influences students to plagiarize. Here is a link to a journal article from Education Leadership on how plagiarism relates to this generation: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Plagiarism-in-the-Internet-Age.aspx

This makes me question, should there be new lines/definitions categorizing writing to encompass social media and various digital networks? For example, should there be a new essay called the “Blog Essay” or the “Status Essay”. Okay, those aren’t very creative names, but I hope you get the point. Also, is the digital media creating more writers? If so, I think there’s less true readers. Therefore, there is an abundance of writing, but not enough critical and participatory readers. So, what do you think? What are your answers to these questions?