Manual Script
Do you normally write by hand or type? Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.
I normally type most of my texts but it does really depend on the stage of the writing process and the final audience. I generally brainstorm most ideas with pen and paper but this is not sustained writing. This is never the final product and the audience is always me. In my mind, I equate handwriting to rough draft quality writing.
As I stated throughout the manual script I found writing by hand for this task challenging for two reasons. The first being that my thumb and hand did become sore through this process. The second was that I had an uncomfortable awareness that this would be a published text. In any other circumstances, this would simply be a draft of my thoughts and I would not publish it as-is. For example, as I edited this typed text I reordered the words in some sentences and made corrections which would not be possible with my manual text (at least in the same way).
What did you do when you made a mistake or wanted to change your writing? How did you edit your work? Did your choice of media play a part in how you edited your work?
When errors were made during this process I would cross the words out that were incorrect and continued writing as I would do with any draft of written work. Where applicable I would use arrows and brackets to add words that I thought of after I had continued beyond where I would include them in the text.
The choice of media absolutely determined how I was able to edit my text and what I was able to do. In handwritten texts, mistakes are permanent unless you have correction fluid/tape and even then there remain physical markers on the page to indicate this has happened. Electronic media does not have this feature and mistakes are not as easily identified by the reader.
During this exercise, I had a flashback to my elementary school years when I would write my draft out by hand and then the final copy would be typed using a typewriter. I vividly remember being instructed to start again if we made a mistake as correction fluid would result in a lower mark. I also remember giving up eventually and handing in my typed document with the correction fluid on it as after so many attempts it no longer seemed worth it to me to retry. Now looking back I wonder what was the true pedagogical value of this requirement? If I recognized the mistake and corrected it, what was the big deal? To my Grade 4 teacher these visible correction fluid markers were viewed as my carelessness or laziness I suppose.
What do you feel is the most significant difference between writing by hand and using mechanized forms of writing? Which do you prefer and why?
I think the most significant difference between writing by hand and writing using mechanized forms of writing is that with mechanized forms of writing there are tools (spelling and grammar) that aid and support the writer in real-time. In mechanized forms of writing, there is no permanency to your mistakes that are visible to your audience if you do not choose to share the document’s history. What I found interesting is that as I reached the end of my manual script I focussed more on my physical discomfort rather than the text. If I was writing electronically I would have had a different experience. I prefer to write electronically, but I absolutely recognize for myself the value of handwriting in the initial brainstorming process.