digital literacy 2011

Jim Porter used a different way to write about the history of writing technologies. For the reason that Porter’s technological past played a major role in his advancements as a writer; Porter used his own personal educational life to show his reader the connection between writing and technology. He argues, “The technological past matters. It shapes the writer and writes the body in significant ways – etching itself on the writer’s consciousness and body, influencing how the writer learns to compose and how the writer communicates in a social milieu.”

Porter began with first grade memories of writing where he got his education from nuns. It was forbidden to use erasers because “After all, you can’t hide your sins from God”. His first grade education or writing was based on “religious purposes”.

By fourth grade, he was introduced to the ink pen which made writing harder. He also learned how to write on a keyboard and this was the point where technology helped him to improve his writing skills.

In college he bought his first computer, which improved his writing process and habits in the form of word processing. Through emailing and participating on online discussion Porter moved from electronic publishing to World Wide Web and on to discover a graphical Internet.

Porter’s point of view is that writing in this century is like that “The writer and the machine have become one” and he uses the description for this development “the cyber writer. But he also points out that there is still a lot of work to do to understand the full implications of that metaphor.

After I read Porter’s essay I most felt connected to the connection between writing and technology. Not until reading Jim Porter I did not realized the big change that even I go through in this changing technological society. (Blogging, facebook and emailing…) The world of writing is changing and I have to improve and develop my skills in online writing…
Ayse