- Do you normally write by hand or type? Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.
I write by hand when I am at work mostly, but when completing assignments I generally type. When I take notes I prefer to write by hand. I found this task easy to complete in the sense of the assignment, but difficult for me emotionally. It feels like with the subject I wrote about, nothing has really changed. I wasn’t alive in 1992, but having seen the footage and all, you could fool someone who is not familiar with it that it came from this past weekend rather than 28 years ago. In terms of actually handwriting the reflection it was easy because I am very comfortable handwriting. I preferred it during my undergraduate studies as I found that the information was able to be better embedded in my memory with handwriting than typing notes.
- 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?
For any mistakes or changes I wanted to make, I scribbled the words I wanted to change or re-write. The way I edited my work was scribbling out any words I misspelled or wrote in a manner that did not look clear to me. This choice of media definitely played a part in how I edited my work. If I was typing, I would just backspace to fix any mistakes and make any necessary changes. This is obviously not an option for handwriting. The only similar option would be erasing pencil, but in this case I used a pen since I was writing for a formal assignment and the pen would also allow my words to appear more clearly on the page. I could also have used white-out, but I did not have any readily available. I have also in my science training been told it is better to just scratch out mistakes than white them out, especially in the context of lab notebooks that are checked for authenticity.
- 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?
I would say the most significant difference is the writing process. For mechanized forms of writing such as typing, you don’t see a persons mistakes on the page. It can make the writing feel like it must be perfect, which could intimidate anyone who does not feel confident with their own writing. When writing by hand, specifically by pen, you can see where the writer has made a mistake. This shows that not all writers are perfect, so no new or young writer should feel they must be perfect either. If I had to pick writing by hand or a mechanized form, I would pick writing by hand just because of its unique properties. For example, my handwriting is unique to me, the font I am typing this very Task with is a generic form anyone else could use.
Yes, I like the unique aspect of handwriting, too, that makes it mine in a way that a mechanized piece of writing, isn’t.
What are your thoughts on the idea that only speech contains the fullness of the form and that every act of mechanization–moving from speech to handwriting to typeset to computer-generated script–removes authenticity (and so truth) away from the human person (being) and into the language and act of writing itself?
That is a great point that I did not even consider! I agree with that idea because speech is the most raw form, with writing and especially typing it is very easy to go back and edit what you have wrote or typed. With speaking, once you have spoke that information is out there in its one pure form.
That’s a really interesting point Margaret.
I’m not sure I completely agree with you in saying that mechanisation removes authenticity and truth, but I do understand your point. I think that mechanised writing can allow us a greater degree of distance from our writing in allowing greater capabilities in terms of editing and refining our thoughts as Jeevan has pointed out, but does that mean that our distilled thoughts are less authentic? Having said that, I am a very flowery writer, and my academic writing is not spared from my endeavours to find the best way to express my thoughts. There have been times when I have read back over something I’ve written after a time, and have had that strange experience where I can’t remember writing what I’m reading, even though I recognise my own style. I suppose if I am not remembering the writing myself, then perhaps it could be argued that it was not as authentic!
Suzzie
It is an emotional topic you chose to write about, nothing that can be glossed over. What was your process prior to writing this out? Did you have an outline you wrote from (written down or in your head)?
I also prefer handwriting to typing, particularly with note taking. I feel I’m way more proficient with handwriting and I am more forgiving of mistakes. When using a laptop to type or even typing on a smart phone, I feel I need to correct my mistakes on the spot, whereas with handwriting, I can leave what I wrote or correct it after. Also, with handwriting, I can write just as fast as I can think, therefore, I don’t feel I lose any details. With typing, I always feel like I’m pausing to recall what I was thinking about to type it down.
Hi Shawn,
I didn’t have a written outline but I definitely thought a lot about this topic as I am sure many people have recently. I tried to think about why these acts continued and then the term that really came to mind was precedence, so I allowed that to focus the rest of my thoughts.
Those points are very interesting, how with technology as a medium we tend to change what we say more quickly. Could this take away some of the raw element of something such as a “quick write”? I also notice just now, the red underline stands out quite strongly, so typing mistakes are pointed out to you in a way they are not in handwriting.