Rough Draft

Thinh Bui

1/29/12

Rough Draft

Audience: The new advances in technology has confused and stunned the older generation. Scared of what it can do and how it is changing the up and coming generation, many are starting to perceive this as a negative change. Although there are great things that can be accomplished by using the web and new technological devices, such as smart phones, the older generation, including Chris Hedges and Nicholas Carr, is afraid of everything that it is going to change. They are skeptical towards evolving and changing and fear all the unknowns that lie ahead of us. By depicting the web with all of its’ different forms of social media and search engines, I am able to provide them with the basis of my counter argument that the web is not slowly deteriorating our literacy skills.

The endless amount of information that can be obtained by a click of a button has changed the way we retrieve literature and how we write. Before the technological boom, reading has always been through paper form. Some writers like Nicholas Carr and Chris Hedges argues that readers were more engaged and focused, and they would not worry about the length of the reading material. Through the years, change is inevitable whether we prefer it or not. It is a way of evolving as humans and attempting to make the world around us better. Although the older generation seems to fear change because all of its unknowns, reality is that the web and technology is improving the way we read and write.  

Through new technology and the web, we have created a new way to interact and socialize with other people. Face to face interaction is beginning to slowly wither away due to the creation of social networking sites and cell phones. Facebook is very popular with the younger generation. It is a website that allows people to keep all their friends updated on everything that they do whether it is by uploading photos, updating their statuses, or messaging/chatting with their friends. Before sites like Facebook and Twitter, writing was non-existent outside of the class room which leads Clive Thompson to believe that, “technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it—and pushing our literacy in bold new directions (pg. 1).” With technology, we are able to incorporate more writing into our daily lives as well as mastering kairos, which is the ability to “[assess] their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across”. Andrea Lunsford, a writing and rhetoric professor at Stanford University, has found that students are really great at knowing their audience and able to use different tones and techniques to state their points. Technology and website, such as Facebook and Twitter, are forcing us to write more and in a variety of ways. We are learning how to be better writers without the need of a professor. Technology and the web are changing the younger generation’s style of writing, but with that change it is also allowing us to write more and learn new ways to write on our own.

Although the positive aspects of technology and the web are apparent, there is still a lot of skepticism surrounding the effects of technology and the web. The older generation has the beliefs that if something is not broken then do not fix it. Although not everyone from the older generation is like this, I found this to be true with my friend’s grandmother. Her house is filled with old things like cassette players, antenna televisions, and even out dated couches. She does not want to change the way she is living because she is so comfortable and use to how things already are. That is how Hedges and Carr feels about the new changes to our reading and writing. They feel that the traditional way of reading and writing had little to no flaws so there is no reason to change it. Their fear of the new outcome due to technology and the web is blurring their vision to see how good the effects really are. The younger generation seems to be the complete opposite. We yearn for change and seem to always follow what is in style. We are comfortable with change. For example, teenagers change the style, phones, and even the way they act to be able to fit in with the newest crowd without fear of the outcome. It is no different with technology. Without the fear that possesses the older generation, we are able to take advantage of everything that technology and the web has to offer.

Nicholas Carr’s concern about the effects of technology and the web on our reading ability is a fair argument. Reading has strayed away from the traditional sense not only by changing from paper form to electronic form, but in other aspects as well. He has found that the web and technology has caused an inability to be a “deep reader”, usage of skimming, and the usage of power browsing. These statements may be true, but there are advantages to skimming. Being able to skim through long articles and getting the important parts of it is truly a skill. Processing the words while skimming is difficult and is needed if someone is short on time. Because of the web and its many search engines, we are able to search anything and almost instantaneously get an answer to our question. We are in a generation where it is a “right now basis”. We want everything instantly and technology provides for that need with search engines and smart phones. Also due to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, we have become fixed on reading little material since we constantly read updates and tweets.  Technology is changing the way we read and write. We demand a faster way of retrieving information and only care about the crucial parts in readings.

The web holds great wonders but we are too naïve to absorb everything it has to offer. It has an endless amount of information that is easily accessible and many believe that that is too much information for anyone to handle.  Carr states a person will have, “information overload, that is instantly available (pg. 7).” He believes the quick fix of information is unmanageable and will lead to the destruction of literacy since we can obtain information without much effort. By viewing my web usage along with my classmate’s, I’ve notice that Carr’s argument is prevalent in our daily lives because instead of taking advantage of everything the web has to offer, we consistently wasted most of our time on social networking sites. His argument over an increase in short attention spans was proven to be correct with my case because I am unable to do anything for a long period of time. There are so many distractions on the web and it is almost impossible to dodge them.

Thus, technology and the web have created a new type of literature transforming our previous one. It has made us become better writers by teaching us kairos without us ever being aware of it and it has made writing more common outside of school related things forcing us to interact and improve our writing styles. We have learned new method of reading, skimming, whether that is a bad thing or not. Skimming can be useful and at times even necessary. The older generation’s assumption that the web is slowly deteriorating our ability to be literate is the opposite of what the web is actually doing for us. It has created a new type of literacy that has been formed by a faster way to get information, unlimited amounts of information from a click of a button, and more encounters with writing.

Work Cited

To come……

Scribner!

Scribner’s article, Literacy in Three Metaphors, is exactly how I feel about the new era of technology. Her argument that literacy on the web is neither good nor bad, but is rather a “new form of literacy all together” is spectacular. She decided to create her own side on this argument and instead of viewing it bad like Hedges and Carr, she believes the effects of literacy going on the web is mild but it is causing a new type of literacy. People are so use to literacy being on paper form and all of its’ traditional ways, that they are forgetting that everything eventually changes and most of the times, that change is always for the better.

                People have always been afraid of new things and new changes partly because it is unpredictable and unstable. They view something as, why fix it if it’s not broken. The newer generations of people have found out that even though it’s not broken, we can still add to it and make it even better than it ever was. Just because there is another way to read and access reading material doesn’t make it a bad thing. The internet has made it more convenient for readers to access and find all the information they need. Instead of subscribing to a newspaper article and having to pick it up and deal with all of its flimsiness, we are now able to read it on our computers and scroll to every page. Much easier on our part, but that doesn’t make the newspaper a less significant form of reading.

Reviewing Unit Uno!

Writing to me has always been a task in which it has to be formal and well written, but with the new form of homework that Professor Leake has given to us, it is now in a form of a blog post without it being formal but instead creative. At first I didn’t know what to make of blogging, believing it wasn’t my style and something I couldn’t enjoy, but now I feel that blogging is pretty relaxing and dare I say cool? Some of the blogs that I have read are interesting and fun to read because they have embraced the idea of blogging. I’m pretty sure some of them love it because in their writing it sure does reflect that.

                Being able to record my internet habits have made me realize that I have taken the web for granted. I have only used the web for my personal life by visiting sites like Facebook and YouTube. There has been an absence of online reading that should have been there. The web is full of information and writing pieces that are just waiting for me to click on them. I am going to push my selfish habits aside and begin to take in all the web has to offer, which might just take my whole life lol(informal part in my blog!). The articles that I have read, although many are negative, have pushed me to question the way I read and write which should accomplish the articles writer’s goal. My encounters with deep reading has been limited and decreasing for a while now and I am going to begin to get it back!!!!

Illiterate..

Chris Hedge’s attempt to persuade me to believing what he had to say was definitely an epic fail. He included data and facts to support what he believed but it still didn’t make much sense to me. Usually when I see stats or any type of number evidence, I tend to believe it more because it does provide more information and makes it seem like what whoever is presenting can be true. But in this case, I am still going against what he believes. There are two sides to his argument and he completely disregarded the side that went against what he believed. Calling people who can read but choose not to read illiterate was a big mistake. His article seems to be unconcerned with what the public actually thinks and that’s where he made his mistake.

                Carr and Hedge both fear the same outcome for the new society that we are evolving into. They are afraid of the use of online texts and the abandonment of regular paper texts. They are afraid of the mass amounts of information one can retrieve with a click of a button. They are afraid of how people are going to change alongside the electronic world. With this fear, Carr and Hedge seem to be very optimistic about where this change will lead us and is trying to persuade people to stop this evolution and remain at a standstill with no further advancements. They are doing this by negatively representing the internet with articles bashing on it; Carr with his say on Google and Hedge with his ridiculous accusations to the rising numbers of illiterates.

GOOGLE

Google has become the spot where anyone can learn or find anything they want. Instead of reading countless pages for the single piece of information that you wanted, Google allows us to go immediately to what we want and quench our thirst of that knowledge that we were searching for. I would argue that it is an unbelievable advancement that humans have made throughout the years. With Google being someone’s main source of information, of course it is going to change the way they go about things and even all of their customary ways. This change doesn’t necessarily mean that it is making us dumb or less of a “deep reader.”  This just means that we are in a transition where we want everything fast and right now, without all of the unneeded extras. There are many factors that can attribute to the effect of a society becoming less of a “deep reader.”

                Although Google is an amazing tool for anything, Carr’s points in his essay are true. People are becoming less of a deep reader and more focused on reading materials that are short and straight to the point. I know that I am that way. Looking through my internet log for the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that I tend to focus more on the tiny articles that are presented because it not only satisfies what I’m searching for, but it does it with plenty of time left for me to wonder onto other subjects. My classmates and maybe this whole generation are under this hump and to use Google as the reason behind it isn’t correct.

Coming to Terms

Joseph Harris’s book, Rewriting, skips the fundamental aspects of writing and dives straight in to what we need to do to make our writing interesting. Usually, an assigned reading on writing would contain material that we have been trying to perfect over the years, but instead, Harris is basically telling us what to do and what not to do in writing. His perspective on writing is quite interesting. His outline of summarizing and quoting new material should have been taught to us years ago. He is able to make his point crystal clear by telling us to rewrite something so someone isn’t reading the same thing again, instead incorporate little details and make it your own writing. Harris feels that in order to write successfully, you need to be able to read some else’s paper and be able to summarize it but most importantly, change it to make it your own with a completely different message. As well as summarizing, he demonstrates how not to abuse quotes and over uses it in our writing. What he is basically trying to get at is for the writer to be more personal with their work instead of using someone else’s work throughout their writing. This is very similar to Sullivan’s look on blogging because he feels blogging makes writing more personal. They are both recognizing the lack of personal purpose in writing and in each case, are doing something different to rediscover it. Sullivan has found it in blogging, and Harris is trying to reteach it.

Our Web Habits!

For this blog, I expected everyone to have frequent visits to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. To no surprise, everyone visited a social network site. But, I was not expecting to see classmates visiting sites to read documentaries and articles. The majority of us spent very little time on the internet and whenever we were on, we were doing school related things. It surprised me to see the low activities on the internet. I thought for sure that our generation would waste most of our time online doing something random than being involved in our outside community. My reading and writing habits on the web is extremely simple. I don’t use the web unless it is needed besides wasting precious time on Facebook. I’m not at the stage where I take advantage of the web for worthy reading materials and other significant things.

                The web has replaced the need for multiple things such as, any reading material (books, magazines, news articles), movies, and even talking to friends. We are able to find anything we need on the internet as long as we are wise enough to know where to look. We can search Google for any questions we might have and is guaranteed to give us an answer. With the easy access of internet, the world is basically one click away and I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing. For sure it’s good for us students because it makes learning new things easier but it forces us to stay in our cube and shuts the outside world off!

My Internet Schedule!

Monday 1/9

9:00 am – Went on to Weather Channel app on my phone to check the weather.

1:40 pm- Youtube.com

·         Watched “Gerald Anderson and Jose Manalo budou”

·         Watched “Common calls out Drake on #SwayintheMorning”

1:56 pm- Google.com

·         Searched, “Common and Drake”

·         Clicked on link that took me to www.thefader.com

·         Read the article on Common and Drake’s rap feud

2:20 pm – Hotnewhiphop.com

·         Listened to various songs and read a couple of side comments about each song

2:50 pm – Facebook.com

·         Read a few statuses and looked through the new pictures that I was tagged in.

5:40 pm- Blogger.com

·         During class, I followed everyone’s blog

9:10 pm – Blackboard.com

·         Checked my Geography syllabus

·         Opened up a reading assignment and read it.

·         Checked Statistics syllabus

Tuesday 1/10

9:30 am- went on to Weather Channel app to check the weather

4:15 pm- Google.com

·         Searched United artist

4:20 pm – Regmovies.com

·         Clicked on their job opportunities and began filling out a online application

4:23 pm – Hotnewhiphop.com

·         Listening to music as I was filling out the application

4:35 pm – Youtube.com

·         Listened to Jay Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne album

·         Listened to various Flux Pavillion songs

·         Listened to one DJ Fresh song

5:05 pm – Facebook.com

·         Skimming through statuses and shared videos

·         Watched Pries, Contact high.

5:15 pm – Worldstarhiphop.com

·         Watched, Lol: White boy boogie

To blog or not to blog

Blogging is a “more alive” form of writing that attracts a lot of writers. In Andrew Sullivan’s case, he enjoys blogging over being a reporter, novelist or journalist because blogging is faster paced, exciting, and personal. He is able to express everything he has to say in a shorter amount of words unlike a journalist or novelist. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone or wait for permission to publish any of his writings. Sullivan is free to publish any one of his writings with the only consequence of whether or not his readers will like it. Sullivan says, “Being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.” The only thing in the way of him and his readers is pressing the publish button! Sullivan compares the feeling of blogging to the feeling of taking a narcotic, and from what I understand, that is an amazing feeling! Blogging is a more personal form of writing because it allows the writer to spill out raw material without anything to hold them back. The feedback that is received from the audience is the only thing they have to worry about if they are aiming to please the people. Sullivan blogs because he is able to express himself freely on the world wide web without the need of someone to confirm his every post. He is consumed by all the things that he is able to write about and never runs out of something to say. Without any deadlines, his feelings on deadlines for posts are right away whether it is perfect or completely sloppy. That’s the beauty of blogging!

My First Step!

The thought of blogging has never crossed my mind nor has it ever appeared in my life. This form of writing has never been presented to me and I have never taken the time to read a blog. Creating this blog was simpler than getting out of bed, although at times, that can be difficult. Filling out some easy information questions was basically all there was to do. My first opinion of blogs are that it is for writers who have a lot to say, in an annoying kind of a matter, where they believe they are forced to publish anything that they have to say because it is of crucial importance. Although that may seem harsh, it’s my raw opinion on a subject that I have little to no information on. So don’t take it personally. Hopefully that opinion will change after taking Professor Leake’s writing class. The steps to creating this blog, I felt, were more similar to creating a MySpace page than a Facebook page. There were the usual basic information questions that are asked on everything, but the thing that made it alike to MySpace is the fact that the blogger is able to customize their home page. Facebook doesn’t allow much of personal creativity and the ability to stand out. It is more simple and plain. MySpace gives people the ability to personally change their background and layout to the way that they think looks the best. Still, creating a blog was easy and hopefully it will be fun to join the world of blogging!