Task 4

Task 4

For Task #4 I chose to do both the manual scripts and then for fun the potato stamps task.

Part 1:

Typically when it comes to a writing task I don’t normally hand write, so this task was interesting to complete. In my day-to-day work routine, I primarily use a computer to take notes, write emails and work on lab specimens. The only time I ever hand write is on occasion at work in the lab, however it’s always brief little notes to my co-workers about a specimen or taking orders from a nurse or doctor on small sticky notes, certainly not 500 words worth like this task. To be completely honest, hand writing almost two pages of script almost felt nostalgic but also somewhat difficult, and I was thinking to myself “how did I ever hand write notes all day long in high school and university everyday?” Although handwriting is one of the earliest skills we learn in school, manually writing this much text felt foreign to me, and was difficult to neatly complete. As you can see in the photo, my writing begins in printed form because that’s how I normally write when I hand write little short notes in my day to day routines. However, I then observed I moved to cursive writing, naturally because my hand was getting tired and printing wasn’t as efficient. As the writing goes on, you can clearly see the messier it gets as it progresses due to hand fatigue. While writing the words on the page, I found it difficult to think of what I wanted to write and then write down those sentences properly without error. In comparison, while typing a sentence on the computer mistakes can be made over and over again and easily corrected. Similarly, work can be reread countless times, to make sure it makes sense and can be easily manipulated, cut, paste and changed seamlessly. In contrast, hand writing this was not the case, I made several errors and scratched them out messily and ultimately struggled with not being able to reread a sentence and easily readjust it to flow smoothly. Certainly the media I chose affected my ability to make changes to my work because I used paper and pen, however changes may have been easier if I used pencil, or even a white board. In reflecting on my media choice for this writing task, choosing pen and opting not to use whiteout to make my paper a little neater is due to my career background, which is interesting. (Side note – in laboratory work, pencils cannot be used and pen errors can only be striked out, as all changes need to still be readable so the way I have corrected errors is ingrained in how I write and make corrections)

I feel the most significant difference between writing by hand and using mechanized forms of writing is ease of use and efficiency. For myself personally, typing on a laptop is more efficient and can get my thoughts down faster, with the ability to easily make changes and manipulations to what I have on the screen. Rarely do I ever type a sentence for a paper or assignment, without rereading, scrutinizing and then inevitably changing it, so through the use of a computer that is easy to adjust and improve.

Manually writing just two pages of script seemingly does sound like an easy task, however due to the widespread use of word processors and computers, hand writing feels somewhat foreign, tedious and not efficient – as if it is a process of the past.

Part 2:While making the potato stamps I excitedly marked all the letters on the potatoes with marker and then struggled through the carving. This process was challenging and time consuming, taking me almost an hour to properly carve the letters out (as best as I could). Once I finally got all letters carved, I thought ahead of how I was going to place the letters and then started to stamp.

Once I stamped the first letter I knew right away I made a crucial error – the letters were backwards! After discovering this error, thinking about how much time the letters took for me to make, and running out of potatoes I stamped the rest of the potatoes and figured the backwards letters will have to do. To me, this activity truly demonstrates the thought process and work that truly goes into the use of a letterpress. Putting each piece together, letter-by-letter, the time that goes into printing just one word is such an art form and a laborious task that creates a one of kind piece offhand crafted work.