by: Enrico Niedo
Part 1 of my short story below
Part 2 of my short story below
Do you normally write by hand or type? Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.
Normally I type. I can honestly say that prior to this assignment, I haven’t done much free-writing since 2019 and I can note that time as a healthcare worker, I was doing documentation before we switched to an online platform during that year. I found this task difficult in a sense but it was a very interesting exercise for me. In West and Mitchell’s (2024) podcast , writing books were done by hand and so were it’s copies. Did it feel like that for me? It was difficult in the sense that those muscles felt hardened but in a sense, I actually enjoyed the task. West and Mitchell (2024) notes that the text works as a way to “fix” ideas and to expand on the thoughts that you have and I found that when I was writing my short story on paper, I was able to appreciate my short stories and return to a flow that I haven’t tapped into in a few years. As I kept writing, the muscles, the spacing, the grammar all returned to me as it wasn’t too far off for me to do this skill.
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 I made a mistake, I reverted to rules that I still had ingrained in me when I was writing essays during highschool exams which was to draw one strikethrough line and have the replacement word on top. These rules were standard operating procedures and I make sure that my writing always had room between the lines to be able to stack another word if the word I had an error. My choice in media definitely played a part in how I edited my work and how I wrote my work as well. I made sure to leave room for mistakes, but I was also clear in what I wanted to write before I placed it on paper rather than free typing it. If I was typing this short story, I would see where the story would go and if I didn’t like that stream of thought, I would just delete it and continue into a new stream.
Potato Stamps
The word was supposed to be BRICK
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?
The most significant difference between writing by hand and using a mechanized form of writing was how I had to have my thoughts strung together when I was writing, it was almost like there was a transmissive process I had to do before writing as there was a part of me that thought that once it was on paper, it was permanent (West and Mitchell, 2024).
Mechanized forms of writing allow experimentation and visualization for me. I can try to see how a paragraph looks or try out different combinations so that it feels right. While thought is required for me to have something cohesive, I have the option of trying on different words, structures, verbs in live time and gives me the chance to play around with concepts both meaning and design. For me personally, while writing on paper was meditative and was actually allowing me to feel good, I liked how industrious mechanized forms of writing just allowed me to try out different combinations. I would say there was a bit of an edge creatively.
Was there something particularly challenging in the process?
The process I think was meant for us to appreciate the invention and the application of the Guttenberg Press text to the lives of other (Bolter, 2001). In particular, creating the press (potato) was difficult work, but something that could be replicated by someone who didn’t have any training in writing to do. This was the most challenging part of the process, but as a writer, I felt at easy knowing that I could stamp and replicate the work many ways after the press has been made.
How much time did it take for you to create the stamps?
The stamps themselves took me a bit of time, 30 minutes following the steps on the youtube video. However, if I replicate this exercise the next day, I could narrow down that time to 15 minutes and less time after that. This is due to the training I have just received. The first time is generally the hardest time to complete a task and the recurring tasks would make it easier.
Have you noticed anything particular about the letters that you have chosen to reproduce?
The letters that I have chosen to reproduce was not how I pictured they would look. This is limited by the constraints of me being able to carve with a knife on a potato. This was unlike the system of metal and mouldings described in Innis’ (2007) printing press and I was limited by my own ability to be able to create the letters on the stamp. I chose different letters that were different and that fit into the potato. I also chose a word that allowed a lot of lines that I wanted to represent different letters.
Considering the time and effort that took you to create a 5-letter word, how do you feel about the mechanization of writing?
I have many thoughts about the mechanization of writing after doing this experiment. In the initial thought, yes it was difficult to create that 5-letter word and in Innis (2007) analysis of the printing press, the alloys, the complexity of a mechanized printing press to print requires specialization, but the ability to send your message in masse to an audience is beneficial. To have your thoughts be shared for many is the intention of the book (West and Mitchell, 2024). As a writer though, I note that mechanization of writing creates a barrier in that if I don’t have access to a printing press, I am limiting myself in being able to share my thoughts to an audience and I am appreciating the ability of typed messages and to be able to share that readily and to bigger audiences at the press of a button.
References
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Innis, H. (2007). Empire and communications. Dundurn Press. .
West, R., & Mitchell, G. (2024, January 1). Stuff to Blow Your Mind. The Invention of the Book. [Audio podcast episode]. iHeartRadio. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-to-blow-your-mind-21123915/episode/the-invention-of-the-book-part-63031174/