Reading Notes 3/24/2007

"More on Plagiarism Detection" Sept. 24, '06 -Clancy

• I think I am like Clancy. I wouldn't mind bringing in my paper trail on an essay if it meant that those who were plagiarising got caught.
• Clancy makes a good point: easier to plagiarize and easier for professors to prove plagiarism
• While more work for the professor/teacher, I think Clancy has a point here: establish communication with students. Watch their writing process closely
• Googling passages from the paper (a teacher thinks might be plagiarized) is also a great idea
• Way to call out Turnitin.com...it's a business, just like any other...interested in $
• I think if a teacher/professor is going to call a student in b/c of possibly plagiarizing, it is the teacher/professors duty to at least tell the student what he/she is getting called in for. Give him or her the opportunity to present sources. It should become obvious during the meeting if the sources are legit.
• I'm looking forward to discussing this article further in class. I'd really like some info on what Turnitin.com is all about. Maybe I'll do some looking around on the site. I've heard of it, but I'm not all that familiar with its features.

"Wikipedia to Seek Proof of Credentials" -Brian Bergstein

• Wikipedia verifying credentials, but authors can still remain anonymous
• "W/O a lot of hassle" isn't that mainly what the Internet is about? At least when it comes to people using the Internet for leisure...if the features of a website create too much of a hassle, the website probably won't be able to keep very many users
• Interesting that Ryan Jordan was lying, yet got promoted to arbitrator. I am sure there are many other cases like this same one that haven't come to the surface. I can understand why professor wouldn't want students to be able to use this site as a source. Scholarly sources are the way to go.
• Anonymity of Wikipeda="a frequent cause of mischief"
• I am amazed by all the articles Wikipedia houses in other languages
• Jimmy Wales, mockingly, "It's always inappropriate to win an argument by flashing your credentials, and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate" (2). In regards to Ryan Jordan

"Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade" Oct. 27 '06 -Brock Read

• Alexander M.C. Halavais "Dr. al-Halawi" added errors to Wikipedia articles (Wow, surprised to read that less than 3 hours later all of his incorrect additions were fixed)
• Wikipedia and its amateur editors
• But, using Wikipedia as a source? I'm not sure I want to use a source for my papers that "does a FAIRLY good job at getting its facts straight" (1).
• I can see where some academics are coming from when they say, "It devalues the notion of expertise itself." (1) Anyone can post!
• I think if experts and professors are trying to screw Wikipedia b/c they are not getting priority, that's ridiculous.
• A new site specifically for experts...Larry Sanger
• I agree, "If you can't beat the Wikipedians, join 'em."
• Wikimania...with the number of articles growing each day, how is it possible to check all for accuracy? (Now Wikipedia has made a turn toward accuracy)
• "The openness that makes Wikipedia so alluring to its contributors is precisely what discomfits scholars" (2).
• John Seigenthaler's incorrect site
• Now users must register before they post articles
• Wow, sites like answers.com pull from Wiki...who would have thought?
• Nature's findings: Wiki and Britannica on almost the same playing fields
• I think that's the cool thing...Wiki is continuing making itself better--"Mr. Rosenzweig [history prof at George Mason] notes...several Wikipedians have read his critiques and edited a number of articles in response to his concerns (3).
• A surprise to me that science articles are the strongest on Wiki
• Less articles on humanities b/c of interpretive finesse
• Unfortunate that experts are writing things and they get cut up...I can see why some scholars are turned away from Wiki
• Does Wiki have a "tendency to value anonymous communal thought over individual intellect"...group think can be a bad thing
• I like how Read puts it, Attitude Adjustment
• Wikipedia vs. Mr. Sanger's Citizendium...expert editors get final say!

"Internet Encyclopaedias Go Head to Head" Dec. 14, 2005 -Nature

• Nature's investigation used peer review to compare Wiki to Britannica's coverage of science
• Since about the same amount of errors in both...Wiki's co-founder says this "shows the potential of Wikipedia"
• Four errors from each encyclopaedia were considered serious
• 162 minor errors in Wiki vs. 123 Britannica (seems to me like a lot of errors from both, but it does show Wiki's ability to be on almost the same playing field)
• Wiki has speed but more articles that are "poorly structured and confusing"
• New thing for Wiki=tagging articles as stable (seems like a good idea)

[Supplementary Information]

• Reviewers regarded as experts (in field long time/highly regarded by peers)
• They did not know what article was from what encyclopaedia
• Randomly selected scientific articles (based upon terms reporters would check in an encyclopaedia)

[Encyclopaedia Britannica's Rebutal] "Fatally Flawed" March 2006

• Saying Nature's research invalid
• Brit claims, what Nature said were inaccuracies were not at all, also, some of the articles examined were not even in the encyclopaedia.
• Misleading headline (the journal misrepresented its own results, so Brit says)
• Brit says, Nature declined making full reports available
• Brit identifies problems: article not from actual Encyclopaedia Britannica and in some cases the full article was not reviewed, or they patched two different articles together
• Reviewers = not required to provide sources to Nature (I definitely see this as a problem)
• One thing that bothers me about this article is that Brit is saying what they think the "lay reader" or "general reader" needs to know. Why is it up to them to decide what I need to know and not know?

[ Nature standing by their story]

• Nature saying they provided Brit most of what they asked for, except for reviewers' reports
• Seems many of the things Brit is against (or says were wrong), Nature says they did deliberately
• ***Interesting, "Britannica has subsequently corrected many of the errors that our reviewers identified.
• Final point, "individual mistakes will have averaged out" (I don't think this is the best, to make me feel the data is accurate; however, I guess it will have to do)

AAK

Reading Notes 3/23/2007

"In Teens' Web World, MySpace is So Last Year" Oct. 29, '06 -Yuki Noguchi

• Yes, that's what I'm talking about! I love THE FACEBOOK. I've never been a MySpacer, I don't even have an account.
• Teens and the Internet: "Powerful but fickle"
• Interesting, the effects teen fickleness has on advertisers
• Never even heard of Xanga (and Friendstar?)
• I think the reasons listed for leaving MySpace are very legitimate
• The want and search for innovative and new features by teens on the Internet is what helps keeps it fresh.
• It's amazing how the list for popular teen sights can changes drastically by month
• I think as long as MySpace and other sites like it keep expanding their features, they'll be around for awhile.
• As with Noguchi's last point (Evan Hansen's comment), will people go back to more traditional forms of communication when they get tired of talking on the computer? An interesting thought.

"Etiquette for the Bar" Jan. 12, '07 -Katherine Mangan

• As with the two Drake Univ. fake examples, where is the line drawn when it comes to innocently socializing and being disrespectful toward authority?
• Being somewhat younger, I almost want to say, these (profiles) are these kids lives, let them live.
• I do agree that writing an e-mail to somebody makes the communication seem informal no matter who the receiver is
• I'm still not sure how I feel about the judge getting in students business and writing to the dean saying that the students need to act professionally.
• I think the workshop is a good idea though. At least to present the information to the students.
• ***That's a better way to go about. It makes sense. Just restrict access for who can view your pages. Although, now that I think about it, one of my professors from U of I is my friend on the Facebook.

AAK

Reading Notes 3/6/2007

Scott McCloud's online comic "Porphyria's Lover"

• McCloud presents an interesting take on this poem through his comic.
• Looking at his other online comics, I felt his graphics could have been better and more detailed.

Scott McCloud's "I Can't Stop Thinking Columns"

• (1) "The HTML Blues" June 2000: "Today's HTML standards reflect just a small part of what the web is capable of."
• (2) "The 99.9% Solution--Online Diversity" (chess example) "Diversity can be a doorway which non-comics readers can be drawn to the form itself through pre-existing areas of interest."

***Can't Miss This (My recommended Scott McCloud Online Comics--listed under The Morning Improv)

• #24 "A Bucket Full of Kittens"
• #10 "Meadow of the Damned Conclusion"
• #2 "Proto the Pet"

"What We're Doing When We Blog" -Meg Hourihan June '02

• Weblogs vs. Warblogs
• Weblogs traditional definition= "links-plus-commentary" (1)
• Commonality of weblogs=the format
• Blog characteristics (1) conversational tone (2) post is not a full argument but open to discussion
• Readers join the conversation by commenting
• A weblog "post is a self-contained topical unit" (2) There is no minimum or maximum on its length
• Weblog has the newest information at the top (immediacy and timeliness play a role here)
• I like Hourihan's discussion under The Time Stamp about moments of shared experience. While you may not even know the person's blog you're reading, there is a connection, especially if you comment back and the blogger reads it. To describe this, Hourihan uses the term "bloggers dinner." (3)
• Hmm, what does Hourihan mean by her statement, "What we say isn't as important as the system that enable us to say it?" (3)
• Final idea: I think Hourihan gives us a nice perspective into blogging, since she is a blogger herself. This class's blog is the first blog I've had. It's interesting to learn what else in the form of blogging exists our there in cyberspace.

"Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers" Summary of Findings

-Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox July '06

• #1 reason for blogging=personal journal with politics and government as runner-up (I don't think that finding would surprise anyone)
• I like hearing that blogging is evenly split between men and women. And just as we've talked in class, it's no surprise that bloggers tend to be younger.
• Wow, 74% of users are white to 9% African American. I didn't think this data would be even; however, I did expect African American users would be higher.
• It's good to hear that bloggers are focused on checking facts and citing original sources. If this is true for high school age bloggers, this could be a great help for students already knowing that citing sources is important for their classroom papers as well.
• I think being aware of what's going on in your world in community is an important thing. It's great to see that 72% of bloggers also look online for new or information about politics.
• "Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world" (I totally agree, thanks for the Findings @ a Glance)

*Be looking for notes on "In Teens' Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year" and "Etiquette for the Bar" in my blog for our next class meeting.

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/26/2007

"Technology as Teacher: Augmenting (Transforming) Writing Instruction"
-Janet Carey Eldred and Lisa Toner

• Computers have and will continue to transform writing instruction (I agree)
• Writing teachers integrating pedagogy and technology are pivotal agents in changes in technology. (I feel this is an interesting point considering the last article we read discussed how teachers in the English department at a university, I believe in Florida, were not even involved when the university set basic technological requirements that students were to know before graduating)
• The campus technology ladder: at the top=Technology-rich campuses, then we move on to technology bound campuses (with lofty goals), and at the bottom=ill-equipped campuses.
• Kudos to teachers and students e-mailing one another
• The real questions: "What can be done with computers in traditional, print-focused writing classrooms?" (36).
• One strength of going digital: access to many resources (scholarly journals, etc)
• Discussion about online classes/discussion--The online Shakespeare class that I took last semester was quite interesting. It was my first online course, and I thought I might miss the traditional classroom setting but I didn't. The instructor worked in ways to get many different classmates sharing their ideas, just as they would have been in the classroom. One thing that helped was an active instructor wanting to set up dialogues between students. I think online classes/discussions have the potential to be very beneficial for students.
• Heuristics defined-is a set process or method used to solve a problem or explore an idea
• I think this quote also goes with the last article. We should not let computers rule us. We should always be thinking about ways that we can use computers to enhance writing in the classroom. "For writing teachers integrating technology, it becomes crucial to determine how the software drives a particular way of thinking and whether or not the engine can be diverted from the programmed path and encouraged to take alternative mental routes" (39).
• Comment function on Word is great for Instructor reviewing
• Spell check can be helpful as well as annoying ( I will admit that I am one of those people that relies on spell check to catch my misspellings and because of this, I think my spelling has become poor in some circumstances)
• Thanks to the Internet, everyone can publish
• Thought the "Whole Classroom Management" discussion could have been expanded. I think technology can be such an advantage here
• Wow, that's definitely a point I haven't paid much attention to: ethical choices about technology. It's something teachers need to think about.
• Good list of what an instructor needs to think about before adopting a new technology. This part of the article I will definitely hold on to and think about beginning teaching.
• ***Students and teachers should drive "our decision making about literacy issues" (45).

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/19/2007

Reimagining the Functional Side of Computer Literacy -Stuart Selber Feb. '04

• "Faculty of English departments are rarely (if ever) consulted in institutional matter of computer literacy. Who is at fault here? Should English faculty take a more active approach?
• Past: advantages of word-processing programs for literacy
• Teachers of writing=focus on critical concerns NEED= more focus and broader on functional concerns of technology
• Students need both, plus rhetorical and visual literacies
• Just addressing critical concerns causes failure in 3 ways: attending to such functional concerns as 1. "managing online environments, 2. participating in online activities, 3. dealing with technical problems" (472).
• Just learning the "simple and fundamental" is not adequate!
• "Critics have argued that limited approaches to teaching functional skills overlook culture contexts, focus on vocational requirements, and reinforce social norms and values" (472).
• We need to do more than just maintain status quo...this is causing domestication and dehumanization of students (in other words, it's not fair, and we're cutting students' education short)
• Functional literacy has been focused on "highly specific, stabilized skill sets detached from particular social contexts" (473). This thought process...even damaging
• Functional technological literacy should (like Levine explains) "reflect the needs and motivations of the groups served, and should aim for a self-sustaining standard--one which permits pupils to make independent use of what the have learned without further help from an instructor" (473-4)!!!!
• Functional literacy should be about more than just survival
• Pg. 475= reasons that justify a functional approach. However, we shouldn't be satisfied with universalizing
• Parameters for functional literacy should be set around: educational goals, social conventions, specialized discourses, management activities, and technological impasses
• Educational Goals
• Be mindful of what is important to students
• Computer mediated users vs. functionally literate users (empowered users)
• Functionally literate users="confront skill demands, collaborate online, and explore instructional opportunities" (476)
• In other words, "further their educational goals
• All about computer control (being alert to technological limitations)
• Pg. 478 interesting discussion of use of computer as "glorified typewriter"
• Hmmm, interesting concept, style sheet. I'm not quite sure I know what this is.
• Online environments can suit individuals needs
• Similar to Yancey: "Design multiple arrangements that reflect different perspectives and educational goals" (479).
• Deliver individualized content in a creative and convenient manner
• Social Conventions
• Essential="decoding the expectations that have been adopted in socialized network spaces" (481)
• Pg. 482= the social forces of online discourses that shape the rate of participation
• Are you playing by the rules of computer etiquette?
• Thinking about social conventions in actual computer-mediated communications is a good exercise
• Focus=to be able to discern "productive modes of engagement" (483)
• Specialized Discourses
• While learning internal and external sketches of a typical computer system may be helpful, so should other discourses be emphasized
• There is really no such thing as a "coherent disciplinary discourse" (484-5)
• Pg. 485 Gives examples of what students/teachers need to know in computer-supported classrooms. A good rule of thumb for knowing the technology is being able to talk about it using the jargon or "language of...the technology" (485)
• Online environments are important as well
• Classes ahead of the game merged the computer industry, the print and publishing industry, and the broadcast and motion picture industry (486). In other words, they looked outside the box at the possibilities (which today is reality) of interdisciplinary relationships, specifically in regards to technology.
• Problem (at least for English teachers) technology gets the instrumental rather than pedagogical approach
• What may be needed is immersion and uninterrupted time in technological contexts
• Or, Selber offers some pedagogical strategies: use of advanced search engines and engage the specialized discourses of software programs or technologies. (Sounds like the place where the basis for our next project has come from :)
• Management Activities
• Sorry, I can't help but think about Britt during this section (and her management of her online world)
• Online management goes beyond housekeeping
• Possibly Selber should give students more credit when he argues that at least some students "assume that the Internet holds everything" (489).
• Interesting discussion about management of information, I have not played with the Windows Vista software, but I think it would be interesting to see the management of info on this system vs. older systems (is it moving more toward a time-oriented architecture?)
• Automated management activities that are already active and helpful: detailed filters, resources for personalized homepages, bookmarking, and shareware programs for maintenance (490)
• An important question: What managements activities can students solely turn over to the machine?
• "Management activities...unite technology and literacy in ways that require social judgements" (492)
• Filter assignment (this seems a bit basic, but might be fun); I understand how it plays a role in management activities
• Technological Impasses
• Lacking computer-based expertise "needed to solve a writing or communication problem" (493)
• Teachers should focus on performance-oriented impasses
• Computer anxiety
• Intervention and processes useful in classroom settings: First, assessment; Second, treatment; Third, adaptive computing; ***Fourth, instituting collaborative support systems; Alternative, micropolitical approaches (495)
• Assessment w/collaboration could be helpful (sounds like a helpline via e-mail)
• List of what teachers should do. Most importantly, don't run away from the issue when your student is asking about a technological impasses that you yourself do not know how to answer. "Take advantage of campus-wide resources!" (495)
• To overcome technological impasses both students and teachers need to make a shift in thinking (less dependence to machine) Semantic knowledge is the key
• Simple heuristic: "part 1-phrase an impasse as a qualitative question"; part 2-"locate the qualitative question in a classification matrix derived from empirical research on user-aided design" (I think this Selber is basically saying, ask the interpretive question); part 3-"appropriate forms of assistance" (497)
• Not only will this help a student get their problem solved or question answered, this way of thinking will allow the student to become more resourceful and "discover effective ways to work through performance-oriented impasses" (497)
• Social Problem
• Selber's basic point: "students must learn to work with computers in productive ways" (498).

-AAK

Reading Notes 2/2/2007

Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key Dec. '04
-Kathleen Yancey

Intro

• "Words...will not stay still" (297)
• New technologies have contributed to the creation of new genres
• Yancey brings up a great point that no one is making "anyone do any of this writing" (298) ~That is in regards to production (blogs, videos, etc.) on the Web

Quartet 1

• Words and images work together
• The writing public has expanded
• They've learned "to write, think together, [and]to organize" (301), which is extremely important considering it was without "our" instruction. ("Our" is referred to as the composition instructors)
• Students and faculty have learned these genres on their own.
• Yancey notes, "we may already have become anachronistic" (302). It would be helpful to have this theme explained in class.
• Yancey is saying that numbers show the disappearance of English departments. (Not necessarily that they've gone away, just that they've merged into other departments)
• Today, more funding is going to students than what is going to public institutions. (It's becoming less about the country and more about the individual.)
• There is a linkage in between print literacy and screen literacy
• As quoted in Yancey, "No longer...can students be considered truly educated by mastering reading and writing alone" (305).
• (quote continued) "The ability to negotiate through life by combining words with pictures with audio and video to express thoughts will be the mark of the educated" (305). My thoughts are that Yancey must agree with this considering how she went about presenting this speech using words and pictures.
• Oral literacy + Print literacy = Third literacy
• Literacy should not be taught in composition classrooms but in media studies programs. (Let me digress for a minute here: It almost seems to me that this new curriculum that Yancey is trying to get at can be and in some ways is already being covered in current media courses. I feel this way because my undergrad was in communication/electronic media studies. Is it correct for composition/literacy classes to start taking on media and electronic writing courses? Obviously, Yancey is a biased source. It seems to me that communication departments might have more experience in dealing with what Yancey talks about in Quartet 3. I do agree that a new curriculum needs to be integrated; however, might it be more efficient for communication/media classes to take this on than general English/composition classes?)

Quartet 2

• Currently composition plays a key role as a first-year course...composition (as an actual course) becomes less and less important as a student continues in their education.
• Yancey calls that Gatekeeping vs. Gateway. (Yancey wants to focus on Gateway!)
• Yancey asks, "shall we teach print, digital, composition, communication, or all of the above?" (306). I think you know how I feel about this...read my comments above.
• "Many of us continue to focus on print" (307).
• Yancey says that composition already utilizes the "digital" (there just needs to be more structure...hence, three changes to composition curriculum)

Quartet 3

• Change 1: develop a new curriculum
• Change 2: revisit or revise our writing-across-the-curriculum efforts
• Change 3: develop a major in composition and rhetoric
• Discussion: stretch composition all along from first year through graduate studies. In composition there has always been and still is emphasis on the human relationship. Is the student and teacher relationship appropriate for what is going on in our world today with composition? This is specifically in regards to technology and the genre of electronic writing on the Web. While it would be beneficial, it's not manageable to evoke the one-to-one tutorial model. (constant teacher to student contact) If writing is social it should extend "beyond and around the single path from student to teacher" (311). Yancey's new curriculum says a lot about the appropriate way to transfer writing through various genres and put more focus on "real world." The 3 part new curriculum goes as follows: Part 1: Circulation of composition; Part 2: Canons of rhetoric; Part 3: Deicity of technology. Part 1: Circulation helps students learn the integrity of different fields and there genres. By dealing with new genres, there will also be reconstruction of texts. This new major would be called: Composition and Rhetoric. Part 2: Intertwining the domestic and disciplinary. Yancey uses laundered blankets in closet analogy. "What a shift in the means of delivery does is bring invention and arrangement into a new relationship" (317). Take a look at the difference b/t a book portfolio (singular) and a digital portfolio (plural). Part 3: "Words...whose 'meanings change quickly depending on the time or space in which they are uttered' or read" (318). Technological changes happen quicker than new literacies can emerge.
• Yancey says, while wrapping up the discussion of her new curriculum, "it will require a new expertise of us as it does of our students" (320). Hmm, a new expertise. You mean the one that communication professors are currently dealing with on a daily basis???

Quartet 4

• Should assessment begin to reflect technology?
• Yancey again restates her point about print and screen

What Should College English Be? (to discuss in class)

-AAK

Reading Notes 1/29/07

Trusting Writing -Michael Clanchy

• Evolution of trust in documents: 12th century England
• People had to be persuaded that documenting was a "sufficient improvement"
• Assumption: "modern literature tends to assume that statements in writing are more reliable than spoken word"
• Writing = secondary importance (over oaths and public ceremonies)
• No stability in early charters
• Truth existed on the good word of one's fellow
• Customary law quietly passes over obsolete laws vs. written records which do not die peacefully
• Memory will no longer be exercised if we become dependent on written records -king of Egypt (Thamuzz)
• Hard to tell what was forged and what was not
• No system of safeguards to prove documents (or at least these principles were not followed in medieval England)
• Date omitted vs. various systems to date a document
• Even "time" was written on document
• "More precise forms of dating began in the last decade of the 12th century"
• Pg. 301 explanations for not dating documents
• In 13th century, dating becomes "less self-conscious" and more "uniform"
• "What constituted a valid signature?"
• "Qualified notaries were not used much in England"
• Training for notaries = "haphazard"
• Seal (pictorial symbol and legend)
• Seals=more efficient
• Earliest seals, middle of 11th century
• Portablility of seals
• Crosses over seals = "primitive" and "unprofessional"
• William the Conqeror and improvements to the seal
• The cross (or form of wax impression) plus the seal = "to signify a sacred undertaking"
• Seals were more to show a "status of power"
• Phrases began to be used to justify seals
• Antique seals (w/gems) become popular in 12th century
• "Before being offered printed books, the public had to be persuaded of the value of writing itself (317).
• FORGERIES!
• "The purpose of forgery was to produce a record in a form which was acceptable" (318).
• Very hard to tell fact vs. fiction
• Italians in theory has a way to eliminate forgeries; however, this was not practiced in England
• Innocent III (scrutinizer of documents)
• English courts became skillful in detection of forgery
• "In this bewildering world...it may seem surprising that written record ever got a good name at all or established itself as a reliable form of communication" (326).
• Writing acquired prestige
• "A new technology usually adapts itself at first to an existing one" (237).

From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology -Dennis Baron

• Does the computer promise or threaten to change literacy practices for better or worse, or is a change already in progress?
• The computer has "left its mark on the way we do things with words"
• Could computers one day replace books?
• Baron's point of his article: 1. To acknowledge the importance of the computer 2. To predict that in the future the computer will be put to communication uses we cannot now even begin to imagine
• Baron tried to write on paper, but it felt awkward.
• Baron states, "writing itself is always first and foremost a technology"
• New communication strategies go through similar stages that the pencil did: 1st-restricted communications function (available only to a few) 2nd-begin to mediate the technology for the general public 3rd-cost decreases and the technology mimics familiar communication and a new literacy spreads across a population
• New technologies = opportunities and fraud possibilities
• "Literacy technologies, including writing itself, were initially met with suspicion as well as enthusiasm." (the suspicion part is similar to Clanchy's article)
• Humanists a.k.a. writers/scholars of liberal arts (also people who have long been considered out of technology loop)
• The pencil developed into a "tool [technology] so universally employed for writing that we seldom give it any thought" (during my interview with my grandma, she said she did not consider a "pencil" as a technology)
• Progress: pencil (writing), printing press, telephone, electric power, radio, typewriter?, television, computer
• "Computer gurus offer us a brave new world of communications where we will experience cognitive changes of a magnitude never before known"
• I agree with Bolter in what he is saying about the shift brought about by the computer.
• "Cuneiform geeks" - no pun intended
• First forms of writing for record keeping
• Speech vs. Writing...two very different forms of communication
• Reference to Clanchy's article and human witnesses
• Monks responsible for forgeries (as also mentioned in Clanchy's article)
• Digital age: we are also faced with the "task of reinventing appropriate ways to validate"
• Pencils originally used for measuring
• Pencil manufacture/production (Thoreau and Co.~ironic since Thoreau did not value pencils)
• From telephone to e-mail messages (and privacy)
• Interesting discussion about use of words "hello" and "good-bye" on the telephone
• "Personal computers were not initially meant for word-processing"
• Not so easy going with computers at first (for both programmers and writers)
• Digital fraud (figures 8 and 9)
• "A lot of text is still accepted on trust"
• Digital text is easy to corrupt using scanners
• Ways to establish expertise of author (bicycle example)
• Information and the WWW
• More concerns with newer technologies (old become invisible with time)
• It's not computers that divide haves from have nots, but literacy itself
• Sledd's view about computers reducing literacy
• Will the computer one day be taken-for-granted like the pencil? Is this theory already in motion?

The Effects of Computers on Traditional Writing -Sharmila Ferris

• 3 Great Communication Revolutions: symbolic language, writing, print
• No. 4 = computers
• "Writing enabled societies...to communicate across the boundaries of space and time"
• What is incorperated in "writing" (ex. alphabetic word, vocabulary, relationship to spoken word etc. It's both abstract and analytic thought)
• Writing has permanent quality about it, and print made writing even more permanent
• Print enabled development of modern educational system
• Printing Press-------->Computer
• Computers are unique because of participation and interactivity
• "Computers re-introduce many oral characteristics" (and beyond)
• "Roles of writers and readers...become unclear"
• Electronic writing jargon
• More focus on group thinking than individual
• There are similarities of traditional writing as well
• Electronic writing has "brought about a 'significant increase in the artifacts of literacy"
• Ferris argues, "ideas are expressed in a logical, linear fashion" (what about stream of consciousness?)
• Hypertext=non-linear=the way the mind works
• "Electronic text is always fluid; it is never fixed" (dynamic)
• Interpersonal relationships
• Vanishing words on a screen (I see as not much different as vanishing words from turning the page of a book)
• But no one communicates in binary code?
• "Non-discursive reading...electronic writing opposes the standardization of language encouraged by the traditional text"
• Interactivity among reader, author, medium
• Hypertext=navigate using links (or how about navigate a book using chapter titles or index)
• Electronic writing must be visually appealing and utilize interactive features
• "Electronic writing requires a knowledge of computers and software," as does electronic reading
• Anyone can "publish" on the Internet
• "What common standards or criteria can we judge content in cyberspace?"
• "Any writing that leads the reader to seek it out can be called good writing." Wow, really???
• Electronic writers have the potential to shape "the development of standards and norms of writing."
• Is electronic writing more oral than like print? (Ferris is perhaps leaning more toward oral)
• Fish metaphor made me laugh! Where'd that come from?

-AAK