How writing is affected by online practices

To read my Twine Story, please right-click this link: My Twine Story (2)

Once you have right-clicked the above link, save it to a given location on your computer.  If the download bar pops up in the bottom corner saying it is not safe, click on the the little up arrow on the download bar and select “keep”

The file will start downloading. Right click and choose open the file folder.  Click on the icon and the HTML file should open in a web browser.

As I completed my Twine Story this week, I began to realize how much my own writing has been affected by online practices.  Going through the creative process, I was just writing down quick sentences as I would if I were online texting a friend.  It wasn’t until after I completed the project and showed my wife, that she started reading and correcting the language I was using including missing punctuation.

As Gretchen McCulloch, an Internet linguist notes (Zaltzman, 2019), people now tend to write in utterances, similar to what you would see when you text or tweet.  As I reflect back on the process, I was absolutely writing in utterances when completing my project, similar to how I would speak when telling a story.  I just wanted to put something down as my ideas were flowing.

Irony is another thought which comes to mind when I think of this discussion.  If we, as a society, are speaking how modern, contemporary language is changing and becoming less rigid through the use of technology, this “minimalist typography” (Zaltzman, 2019) is still being produced and recorded via technology which is created and operates through highly structured coding languages.  When writing the code to create my twine story, the HTML coding I had to use to add an image had to be super precise.  Even with the slightest of mistakes in the coding such as a missing bracket, and my story wouldn’t work or the selected image would not appear.

Finally, the element of cultural context is also key.  Something which I noticed while creating my twine story was that it was seemingly missing something with just the text.  It needed something added to convey a more meaningful message to the reader.  This is apparently common under these “new rules” and a reason why there has been a rise in the use of the emoji (Zalzman, 2019).  I decided to add images to spice up my story, but as McCulloch correctly points out (Zaltzman, 2019), not all images or emojis are equivalent to every person.  The thumbs up emoji isn’t always a positive sign for all people, or the use of the middle finger may mean nothing for some others.  When reflecting on my own story, the opening pages using the “Game of Thrones” reference may not mean anything to some, or may actually confuse those who have never read or watched the series.

At the end of this task, I am left with more questions than answers.  As the world continues to move towards the digital age, how will my Middle School students, now growing up using minimalist typography structure on a regular basis, be able to successfully function or create code using complex languages with precise rules?  Or will future computer coding also become more minimalist in its design and nature?

I guess I will have to wait and see.

References

Zaltzman, Helen. (Host).  (2019, July 13).  New Rules [Audio podcast episode]. In The Allusionist.  http://theallusionist.org/new-rules