Untitled Digital Contribution
I have in the past done some research and contemplating on the physical text vs. electronic text debate. I broke down the two “texts” according to their authenticity and authority, and how those two factors affected the “aura” and the value of each text. I concluded that:
The physical text and the electronic text are two very different yet interconnected things… they share common goals and derivatives. It is hard to tell how far the electronic book will develop from the physical book or how it will affect how our minds think and develop in the future. However it does appear to be inevitable that these technologies will be a large part of everything we read or interact with. Awareness of how the physical text and the electronic text are alike and different, and how this affects the way we process the information we are seeing, will have a large influence on how well we adapt to growing technologies in a productive way. (Robinson, 6)
I really think that this connects well with the topic at hand this week. What I need to connect all of this to, is the major overall themes and issues for this week. How are these texts shaped? Who “owns” Electronic texts?” And who holds the power?
The first thing I noted about some of our readings were the dates they were written, and that the authors made most of this in their pre-words. I think that this is an important viewpoint to remember as we read and consider the digital text because of how quickly everything digital is evolving. As (I originally thought that) Bernhardt talks about the inability for the digital screen to mimic the colors, texts, and how the text is mapped (though it turns out I was mistaken, I must have read that elsewhere), however these days that is hardly an issue. Digital no longer means that it is just the word-text that is digitalized. With PDFs, scans, and the vast amount of design that takes place within the infinite digital world, these concerns are almost nonexistent.
I think this also works well into discussing the value of this text and how we use it. Within his section on the interactivity of the physical and electronic text, Bernhardt writes about the interactivity of reading on a computer or other electronic screen. You are always reading something on a webpage. Whether it’s the Forward and Back buttons for navigation, the Play button on a video, or the name of the webpage itself, you are engaging in an interactive reading/functioning process. The same goes with the vast amount of writing that people do these days without even realizing it. They type text messages, they type emails, they type their name and address into forms. (Though this could be debating whether that is “writing” or not). But what is the value of that digital writing? What is the value of that reading and how we are no longer aware of it? While bringing an amazing amount of awareness about an infinite amount of topics, the Digital Age has made us unaware of a great deal of things.
In particular, I believe that the digital “revolution” is very important in the field of professional and technical writing. Not only are there that many more digital and technical things to write about, there is a mass dissemination of information in the professional and technical fields. Saying that these texts are shaped and influenced versus less professional or technical communication is tricky. I think that a good place to start within these readings is narrowing down from “text” to “professional text”.
Works Referenced
Bernhardt, Stephen A. “The Shape of Text to Come.” Central Works in Technical Communication. Eds. Johndan Johnson-Eiola and Stuart A. Selber. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 410-427. Print.
Robinson, Tatiana. The Physical Text versus the Electronic Text. 24 Apr. 2012. Final Paper.