I’ve decided to examine Sarah’s post on manual scripts. Although we had similar experiences with the task, her script manifests in very differently.
How has your colleagues’ experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
Sarah wrote a reflection about her mom. It’s a very personal piece and establishes a context around being an only child and losing her dad at a young age. Sarah comments on how she wrote a rough draft to avoid making major edits in her good copy. She doesn’t share her rough draft, but it’s clear that her good copy is very polished in terms of content and handwriting.
When I commented on Sarah’s post, I couldn’t bring myself to comment upon the content of her story. Although her story is about her gratitude for her mom, I can’t help but fixate on the undertones of grief (that I’m probably projecting). As Emily puts it, it’s a beautiful story.
I’m impressed that Sarah is able to explicitly write about such a personal topic. In my case, I wrote letters to no one with an original intention for them to be short letters of gratitude. You’ll notice that there are two different letters, but you cannot tell who the letter is for since they both start with Dear _____ and end with a signature of _____. In addition to this structural censorship, I share my rough drafts which show further censorship of ideas.
The first letter is for a teacher friend. Our professional paths are very similar. We both straddled the post-secondary and secondary career paths before I transitioned to post-secondary and he went to secondary. Seeing him interact with his students and talk about teaching reminds me of a path that could have been mine. In some ways, he reminds me of what if?
The second letter is for my friend who tragically passed away last year. She was 24. I still struggle with my grief so I don’t talk about her very much. Instead of dealing with grief, I internalize it and allow it to erode with time.
What tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Sarah’s text reminds me of elementary and secondary school assignments. This is particularly noticeable because it’s beautifully written on lined paper, she numbers the pages, and she has her name and course code in the top right corner.
Sarah also used an erasable pen (!!) to write her script.
How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authouring and end-user interface?
My text is written in a discarded sketchbook that I’ve started to use as scrap paper. The paper is unlined which allows more freedom in moving around on the page. However, I still worked within the constraints that are commonly found with writing on lined paper. Like Sarah, I also included information about the assignment.
An interesting part of working within a sketchbook is that I have to play around the gutter of the book. Similar to margins on lined paper, the gutter serves as a constraint. Regardless, I still managed to work right to left with my arrows and rough draft.
When I used to sketch more, I preferred to use spiral sketchbooks because I could fold the book over. The spiral was a hard constraint. In comparison a flat spine bound sketchbook as an additional affordance. The left and right pages can be separate texts, but because they are technically continuous, a spread can be made. I didn’t leverage this affordance but could have by showing my rough work on the left and the “final product” on the right.
The other interesting part of using a sketchbook is that my text is connected to other content that I’ve put within the book. I ended up using just the right pages because I was concerned about the bleed from previous work. In contrast, the looseleaf lined paper approach is interesting because each sheet is free but can be combined (e.g., with a staple, within a binder).
My text was written in pencil. Interestingly, I’ve begun to use pencil more because I want to save the ink in my pens! I made a hard transition from pencil to pen in university because we were explicitly instructed to use pen. Around this time, I used to draw exclusively with pen but I wasn’t use to using pen to do math or write. I remember the switch for note-taking in pen was bizarre because it felt so permanent and I had to adjust my grip and pressure for the same feel. I also learned that my writing angle is inappropriate for ball point pens so I would end up with A LOT of ink clots and so much smudging on my fingers that it looked like I had bruises.
Buying stationery isn’t really “essential” and it is a good opportunity to start using all the writing utensils I’ve been hoarding throughout the years. The pencil I used is one that I hoarded at least 15 years ago. In line with the nostaglic elements with manual scripts, there is some paper I have that I only use in special occasions even though they’re also scrap paper. I have Continuous Paper and this paper is the ultimate nostalgia. I use it when I need a larger surface to work on because its spread affordance is almost unlimited.