Is Writing Technology or Do We Use Technology to Write?

The digital age is a natural continuation of the growth of writing as a tool.  Mankind developed easier ways to transcribe language into working information.  Information that is viable and placed in the context of permanence, pliability, and share aptitude.  The idea that society needs a social component to engage and grow enabled writing tools to develop.  We went from picks and stone all the way to data in a cloud and information flying across the world over waves in seconds.  Information that connects humanity around the globe and brings writing to a new understanding.  It is not only for recording information or creating stories, it is a learning device that enables cognition and understanding of that very information.  Reading and writing language engages us and so the technology of writing is much more than just the device in your hand, it is a format. 

In previous years we used to think about formatting a disk or a set format to build upon, but I want you to think of writing as formatting your thoughts.  It sets thoughts apart by constructing and building a foundation, creating the context and content to be presented in a user-friendly way.  Language does this as we speak but with gaps that can be misunderstood or out of context.  Writing slows down our thoughts to receive a review of the ideas and brings together concepts in context with ideas we already understand.

Follow me now as I show you why writing is a tool for learning and why it is a powerful way to engage play theory.  I first want to bring up an idea you may well know, teaching material creates stronger retention and learning.  This strategy is why students are asked to present a project or idea to the class.  There are many ways to create stronger retention, shown below from an article from Accelerated Intelligence, they include lecture, reading, audiovisual, demonstration, practice doing, and teaching others.  As the format moves toward multiple platforms exploring modality and cultivating different learning styles.  However, as it moves downward toward teaching, we understand that more writing is involved, as the student is actively engaging in the content and creating a way to better understand with context.  As teaching is reached, the student creates modality by presenting the material in multiple ways, and the widest retention is reached.  I offer that creating the context by writing it in multiple modes for the students is the key factor in their retention.  Writing engages the context and slows the process so the student can really understand their intention and subject.  Writing is a tool of engagement and offers another powerful way to realize and retain the material.  It doesn't have to be formal writing, anything such as notes, guides, instructions, slides, all help students connect to the material in a more powerful way.  The idea that writing is not a subject to teach, but a learning tool takes composition theory into a new understanding of writing.  There isn't a right or wrong way, there is only the process that enables retention.  How often have you scraped what you wrote and tried again?  Writing engages the brain to better understand the ideas and also helps form new ideas.  The writing process is the key factor, not the final product.  Yes, there are great authors but no great author ever wrote something flawlessly the first time.  For this reason, I believe the process of writing and the action of writing to be far more important than that one great piece of work.  

What constitutes writing, is it only these words on a page?  I want you to think of writing totally different than what you were taught in a composition class.  Have you picked up a pen and not drawn letters?  Perhaps it was a paintbrush, did you express an idea without using a letter.  I think you wrote something you were feeling at the time.  Writing is a way we understand the content provided, perhaps you were understanding something that was not easily explained by words alone.  Writing notes, drawing pictures, illustrations, stories, designing games, characters, maps, these all make up writing in my view.  Originating the expression on a page, device, game, virtually or visibly is an expression of writing and all create a deeper understanding of the material.  Write something down, anything and you will connect the context in some way.  We think of the technology of writing as the pen, pencil, paper, a stone, and chisel, or a tablet, typewriter, etc.  Ok if that's true, a paintbrush, a sign, and virtually anything that transcribes a message and intent.  Keep with me as you think of writing as an act, a way of sharing ideas, an invention for communication.  Communicating to others in a carefully constructed way involved more attention to thought and provokes a stronger awareness of the context or ideas being conveyed.  

In summary, I think Joan Didion said it best when she said "I don’t know what I think until I write it down" (Accelerated Intelligence).  Understanding that writing itself is the technology and we used other modes to create new ways to write.  Technology, as you know it in the digital age, is just an extension of the need to write, share, and grow in knowledge.  Further, the technology of writing helps us to share what we know and engage a deeper understanding of our ideas.  Creativity is not just art it is our connection to the content, the link that is only there when writing is engaged.

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