When I saw my screen become a photograph, the first thing that came to mind was relief. I was relieved that it worked. I also thought that it is interesting to be able to take pictures of what one is doing on a computer desktop with that computer. Technology changes everything.
I think composing changes shape in digital spaces, because digital spaces are so easy to edit. When I think of composing long hand, that is, with paper and pen, I imagine writing, crossing out, re-writing. Rough drafts in long hand are just that, rough looking. However, in digital space, composing looks a bit more effortless, clean, and organized -even if that is not how easy it was for the author. The backspace key is a quite a bit more effective than an eraser or a line of ink through an unwanted word. Also, how much easier is it to know when you have completed a 250-word minimum using a word count tool rather than actually counting through every word?
I think we can better understand the digital composing process by actually participating in it. There are so many opportunities in this day and age to compose digitally - e-mail, word processing, blogging, etc. The more we compose digitally and use others' digital compositions, the better we will understand it. I think most people who have grown up or are growing up in this, the digital age, are becoming just as familiar, or perhaps more so, with digital composing as with long hand composition. I like Professor Yerks’ image of a traditional composition notebook on the course homepage. It kind of sums up the entire idea of digital composing in my mind - everything that used to take place on the pages of such a notebook can and does take place in digital spaces such as this.
I think composing changes shape in digital spaces, because digital spaces are so easy to edit. When I think of composing long hand, that is, with paper and pen, I imagine writing, crossing out, re-writing. Rough drafts in long hand are just that, rough looking. However, in digital space, composing looks a bit more effortless, clean, and organized -even if that is not how easy it was for the author. The backspace key is a quite a bit more effective than an eraser or a line of ink through an unwanted word. Also, how much easier is it to know when you have completed a 250-word minimum using a word count tool rather than actually counting through every word?
I think we can better understand the digital composing process by actually participating in it. There are so many opportunities in this day and age to compose digitally - e-mail, word processing, blogging, etc. The more we compose digitally and use others' digital compositions, the better we will understand it. I think most people who have grown up or are growing up in this, the digital age, are becoming just as familiar, or perhaps more so, with digital composing as with long hand composition. I like Professor Yerks’ image of a traditional composition notebook on the course homepage. It kind of sums up the entire idea of digital composing in my mind - everything that used to take place on the pages of such a notebook can and does take place in digital spaces such as this.
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