Writing

Yesterday, Thursday - November 8, 2007 I had the chance to welcome some faculty from around the region to the Great Plains Alliance for Computers and Writing. It was a very intriquing meeting and it also gave me the chance to reflect on my own journey as a writer. I don't think of myself as a writer and yet when I think about my position and my daily work I know that I spend a great amount of time writing - emails, letters, newsletters and other correspondance.

As most individuals my age I started out writing with a pencil and paper and then in that shared experience I learned to type in a room with 40 students and manual typewriters. It was not a pleasant experience. Yes I am that old - no word processing. When I left for college I had a small portable manual typewriter. I did not use it to write I used it to type after I had written out what I wanted to type. When I went to graduate school I was still typing but using an electric typewriter and "White Out". Then when I got my first job in a medical setting virtually all my "writing" was done with a hand held dictaphone that someone else then transcribed. I thought the writing - cognitively I was processing grammar and punctuation. Transition to faculty member and now composing and writing at a desk top computer. Now all my writing is with my computer and I can edit and compose almost simultaneously. What a different experience or journey this must be for our current students. What does it mean to insert IM language, icons, U tube videos etc.? Not better - not worse just different and I think perhaps more experiential. Hmmmm wonder if the voice recognition will become so sophisticated that this whole keyboard thing will just disappear. Then I will be back to the dictaphone thing!