An Influential Rock :: Writing Technology Technological Papers

An Influential Rock Does technology influence how we write? A week ago I would have said no. I would have said that we write what we write independent of the means. That the art of writing could never be hindered or influenced by the technology in use. A week ago, I would have been wrong. Several college students were asked to figure out how to create a simple sentence without using modern technology. It doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult. Yet, as the process unfolds, it proves to be a much harder task than one would assume. Walter Ong wrote, â€Å"†¦writing is a technology, calling for the use of tools and other equipment†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (321). That influenced my first question: How do I create text without using tools and other equipment? That led me to my next question: How do I find tools and other equipment to write on without using tools and other equipment? My project consisted of taking a rock and smashing holly berries onto it to form the text â€Å"I love Ashton† in honor of my two-month-old son. The first problem I encountered was actually freeing the rock from the frozen ground. My attempt at trying to dig it out of the dirt with my boot and claw it out with my gloves, had gone on to no avail. I retrieved a shovel from my garage and poked and prodded the rock until it was finally loose. I felt as though I had already compromised part of the project by using the shovel, but it was what I had to do. Now, I had to find a way to create my text. The original plan was to write with grass, but the winter season made that impossible. Then the idea was to write with a piece of tree bark, but that didn’t work out either. I needed to use season appropriate materials, but writing in the snow seemed too obvious and it did not fit with two criteria of the assignment: permanence and portability.