First Attempt:
Second Attempt:
Playing around:
I prefer writing by hand wherever and whenever I can. In current digital times, this is far less frequent than it used to be, but it is a process I often indulge in when I wish to have a conversation with myself and it has been a personal practice since a young age.
This type of writing usually occurs in two drafts. In the first attempt, I try to get my thoughts and ideas out with as little obstruction as possible. The medium is always a black ink pen and preferably craft paper or yellow vellum for their textural quality, but if this is not available, any paper will do. The first draft makes edits simply by crossing out and adding the necessary changes. The size of the paper or the field of space available for the play of type makes a difference to my flow of thoughts and how I write out the text, thus, in some ways, moulding or shaping them. For example, a smaller container requires more concise ideas. This recalls the transition from scroll to codex, changing the written content (Lamb & McCormick, 2020) and refers back to McLuhan’s view that the content is dictated by form or the medium itself (McLuhan, 1964).
I have always felt writing by hand to be a more creative exercise with a more palpable connection between my physical hand and my intangible thoughts. However, digital writing tools and aids such as spell-checkers, online thesaurus and virtual writing coaches have become indispensable for more academic and formal writing, reminding me of Walter Ong’s (PrometheusJones, 2020) emphasis on understanding who the intended audience is and how this shapes our writing.
Other considerations, such as mobility, storage and access, have also made ‘digital writing’ more convenient. In addition, contemporary nomad lifestyles (I have moved residences three times in the last year) force less value on the materiality of things and push us to a more virtual existence.
References:
Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 28). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 2.[Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeart Radio.
McLuhan, M. (2001). Understanding media. Taylor & Francis Group.
PrometheusJones. (2020, May 23). Walter Ong on Communication, Technology, and Thought (1972). [Video]. YouTube.
Hello Lubna,
Firstly, your printing is very nice and I like the elongated letters. I liked what you said about the connection to writing by hand and your thoughts. This is one of the reasons why, still today, I write notes by hand and not a computer. I find it helps me to remember details better.
Hi Sonia, thanks for your comment. I definitely agree that making notes by hand makes my retention of that info better, and I often wonder if that’s just a natural by-product of a conditioning practice over the earlier years of my life. Prensky (2001) would definitely have me down as a ‘digital immigrant’, since I grew up without any digital devices around me, but personally I agree more with Bolter’s (2001) idea of a continuum in the way tech has developed. Yes, I love writing manually, but only short pieces.. for the nitty gritty hard work of writing, real writing – academic or otherwise, I am enslaved to the conveniences afforded by digital tech, such as spellcheck, Grammarly, thesaurus checker and the ability to look up anything and everything related to my topic online!
I am considering investing in a high-quality digital pen and tablet to see if the ‘writing-by-hand’ body-memory magic transfers over. Have you tried this out? If so, would love to hear your thoughts and any recommendations on it! 🙂
References:
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. (2nd ed). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 2: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-6.
Lubna, a digital pen sounds like a great investment. The only thing I have used is a stylus when teaching remotely. I found it helped me to write better when I was teaching math online and was utilizing a digital whiteboard.
I completed a linking assignment to your blog post. You can check it out here:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/mssvirk/2023/03/13/linking-assignment-3-lubna-yasin-manual-scripts/