Bolter: Writing Space

The Pen and Paper vs the Computer

These points in the Bolter reading really made me understand technology as writing practices and the evolving nature of writing online.

As history played out and new technological advancements occurred, they distanced the human controller from the printing process
The computer in turn changes the technology of writing by adding new kind of flexibility to the rapidity and efficiency of printing: the computer allows a writer or reader to change a text as easily as he or she can duplicate it. The capacity to adjust the text to each user’s needs is unmechanical, uncharacter
There is good etymological reason to broaden our definition of technology to include skills as well as machines.
However, all writing demands method, the intention of the writer to arrange ideas systematically in a space for later examination by a reader.
Although we don’t write all the time our technical relationship to the writing space is always with us
Writing with pen and paper is no more natural, no less technological than writing at a computer screen. It is true that the computer is a more fragile device than a pen. But we cannot isolate ourselves from technology by reverting to older methods of writing.