I had trouble finding proper paper to do this exercise. I felt that I had to use line paper to write a diary entry. It just made the experience more proper. I cannot remember the last time I used line paper. As you can tell, I almost never write by hand. In my mind, it is more formal to write on paper than it is on the computer. As I was writing, I felt I was able to write more freely as thoughts and ideas kept pouring out. For some reason, the process of writing by hand allows for more privacy than writing on the computer. When I made a mistake, I simply crossed the word off and continued. I was less critical about making grammar mistakes as my goal was to put my thoughts down as they came out. I felt that my writing hand was busy catching the words that kept pouring out of my mind. I had to record the words on paper before I forget them. I notice that my handwriting is neater in the beginning than it is in the end. My hand was getting tired towards the end and I was writing faster and faster. This reminds me of what Bolter (2001) said about memory and reason when we write.
“The memory becomes a writing space, and the writer a homunculus who looks out at the world through our eyes and records what he sees. The homunculus translates perceptions into words and images and records them; he also puts down his inner thoughts and conclusions. To think is to write in the language of thought and to remember is to search the space of our memory until we find what is written there (Bolter, 2001, Chapter 9)”.
As I wrote my reflection, I did not have trouble searching the memory of my experience in Hong Kong. However I had trouble translating my perceptions into words and recording them by hand. I felt that the memories kept coming out but my hand was not fast enough to record them all. In the process of writing by hand, it was as if the mind is connected to the hand. When my hand started to feel weary, my mind also began to lose creativity and concentration.
As I am typing this reflection, I can see the contrast of the creative process in different forms of writing. When I type out my thoughts, I am less concerned about spelling (due to autocorrect) and more concerned about organizing my thoughts and arguments. In contrast, when I write with my hand, I put more energy on legibility and recording of ideas and less on grammar and organization of thoughts.
This is what Bolter (2001) had to say about how each technology of writing binds us to human practices and cultural choices.
“The technology of ancient writing is not only the papyrus, the ink, and the techniques of making book rolls; it is also the styles and genres of ancient writing and the social and political practices of ancient rhetoric. The technology of modern writing includes not only the techniques of printing, but also the practices of modern science and bureaucracy and the economic and social consequences of print literacy (Bolter, 2001, Chapter 2)”.
In my experience, I find writing on the computer easier because I have been influenced by the cultural practice of receiving and creating texts that are convenient, accessible and quick. In today’s culture, we are not only concerned about accessing and creating texts on the screen but also on recreating the relationship between the author and the reader and closing the distance between two.
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.