One thing that I noticed while reading Writing About Literature in the Digital Age, was how the writing was not following conventional rules. There was the basic skeleton, but for the most part, the writing deviated from our typical scholarly, textbook writing. Personally, I was a fan. I liked that the writer in the Introduction used personal pronouns to pull me into the ideas he was discussing. I liked that the book felt more like a blog. It was personal, and user friendly.
Writing in the digital age needs to cater to an entirely different pallet than writing from any other time. People today are used to getting the information they need in a matter of seconds. Just the other day I was watching the TV show Friends. In one particular scene, Ross and Pheobe's new boyfriend, Mike, were discussing the difference between loggers and beer. Ross finally spoke up and said "Let's look it up." (View video to see examples. This moment happens around 2:00. I enjoy the whole thing though hah)
I was surprised when I noticed a dictionary sitting between them in the next scene. I was surprised that I was surprised. Friends is a TV show that hasn't been around for a lot of years, and yet in the show cell phones aren't barely used, and computers are not all that common, when in our society today it is hard to find a teenager without either.
It wasn't that long ago that I was using a paper copy of a dictionary for a school project. But using a dictionary for anything not school related? Hasn't happened for a while. Google, Dictionary.com, and YouTube have become my new sources for information. I use Pinterest to find recipes, ideas for outfits, and ideas home improvement projects. I am living in a society where instant information is the norm. It isn't unusual to have a question and then be able to go to google and find the answer almost immediately. PRESTO! Answers!
Because of this, books and text books in school should be able to change as the times change. I think as a part of our ebook, the tweethis idea is a good one. It gives a good brief summary of the chapter's contents, but caters to the insta-knowledge ideals in our current society.
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ReplyDeleteIt's actually "lager," but you're spelling is cute.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm really not a fan of the word "tweethis." Not only is it difficult to pronounce and spell, but this whole Twitter thing has never made any sense to me. Unless you are George Takei or Ru Paul, I really have no interest in whatever random thoughts are flying through your head at any given moment. So I'm kind of waiting for Twitter to peter out and die like Myspace.
Nate, ours is the age of neologisms, and while "tweethis" does grate against my artistic sensibilities, too, it actually packs a lot into a little (that we should be communicating with concise, clear arguments, and even circulating these within social media). I'm not going to the mat for "tweethis," but you should hold off on condemning Twitter -- if for no other reason, so you don't sound like those luddites who are may decades your senior. Twitter's misuse is not proof of its being a poor tool, any more than you can condemn water because it won't cut a carrot. Well, brief, instant messaging is the water we swim in, and we can either complain that it isn't what we want it to be, or we can make use of what it can do that other things cannot. With Twitter, it isn't so much about conveying information as it is about connecting people, communities, and content. It's rarely the end of the story. Twitter is connective tissue, and that is crucial. I dare you to take Twitter more seriously. Here's one way: http://teamshakespeare.blogspot.com/2012/11/using-twitter-for-academic-research.html
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