As discussed in “Old Media, New Media and Knowledge” by J. D. Applen , writing is not merely a means that we use in order to think and communicate, but it is part of these processes. Writing in the traditional era of print was fixed and fixed. The books were considered as the end products thus granting them powers. And the authors appeared remote and almost inaccessible. The reason why people could not easily make alterations to texts was that they tended to see them as finished and final.
From Print to Digital: The Shift in Authority
The late age of print, however, has seen the advent of digital technologies in the form of word processors, email and websites, which have made the process of writing a lot more flexible. It is possible to edit, update and share ideas near immediately. This has facilitated writing and made it more interactive. Yet it questions the concept that writing is something that is final and well-edited. Writing might become less authoritative and heavy, when anything can be rewritten any time.
Another concept that Applen presents is that of remediation whereby the new media transform the old modes of communication. Using email as an example, it can be seen that the use of traditional letter writing can be remedied by it and it becomes faster and less formal. Although this enables faster interactions and conversational communication, it may also lead to shallow and less thoughtful interactions as it used to be with handwritten communications. Such aspects as handwriting and a well-organized language are substituted with quickness and comfort.
Transparency vs. Hypermediacy in Digital Spaces
The other concept that is important is transparency and hypermediacy. In other cases, we look behind a medium and concentrate on the message forgetting the technology it is created using. In other occasions, particularly online, a site, through its architecture, links and pictures captures the attention of a site. With these we might be only as interested in the manner of presentation as we are in the content.
In general, the argument that Applin makes is compelling and makes us consider the ways in which digital writing spaces are reshaping the world. Not only what we say but how we interpret the world. With the ongoing development of technology, the demarcation between thinking and writing is becoming more fuzzy.
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