Don’t Beat Them. Just Join Them

 

Don’t Beat Them. Just Join Them

 

One of the most important facets of writing well, is being able to write appropriately for different audiences.  The best author would be equally able to write children’s books, research papers, and web blogs. This is why it is extremely important to consider your audience when writing, and match your voice accordingly.  One of the newest realms of writing, digital writing, is also the one with the most potential.  An entire generation has now grown up with this technology at their hands, and as they develop so do the possibilities of the digital world. Writing online requires its own toolsets and training, and this generation of “digital natives” is more versed in it than anyone else. As digital media permeates every corner of modern society it becomes more imperative that college students utilize this advantage to its full potential.  Classes across all disciplines can benefit from digital writing, since good writing is writing that can transcend media platforms.  The trend of incorporating digital media into multidisciplinary curriculums will see a meteoric rise as more jobs and opportunities use these technologies.

In Shawn Graham’s chapter “Learning to Write at a Distance” he denounces the idea that the entirety of the post 80’s generation are digital natives. He writes that, “Unless you can build and program an iPad from scratch, it is magic. Unless you can build the algorithms that populate your browser (indeed, even the browser, the OS itself) with content, the web and associated technologies are again: magic” (Graham, 2). It is true that I have never programmed an app, and have only the most limited grasp on how the Internet actually works, but my experiences growing up with the web still put me leaps and bounds ahead of the majority of the population.  Unlike my Dad I don’t plan on being a software engineer, so I will never understand the coding behind digital technologies.  However, in contrast to my Dad, I have been versed in many digital technologies and their application to modern culture.

Libraries have always been the realms of books, but now digital media is working its way into all aspects of the library.  In Jenny Emanuel’s article “Digital Native Librarians, Technology Skills, and Their Relationship with Technology” she talks about how the new generation of librarians who have been raised around technology will alter their field.  A survey of 315 participants born between 1982 and 1990 who or are working towards their MLS degree proved that digital media is becoming a major part of their domain (Emanuel, 22).  Librarians remarked that their library school education has made them more proficient in all types of digital programs, and were far more adept at digital resources and writing skills.  Emanuel also uses the term “digital native”, and most librarians believed “that there were differences in technology use and attitudes between librarians who were younger versus older librarians” (Emanuel, 26). Younger librarians were more willing to adopt new technologies, and also demonstrated that they used digital media in their personal lives on a greater level.  The participants in Emanuel’s study were asked if there were any technologies they still wanted to learn. The responses were compiled into this word cloud.

 

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Many of these terms are phrases that didn’t exist when the previous generations of librarians were in school; clearly the career is changing.  Here at Dickinson the librarians strive to teach these digital technologies even though the majority, were born before Emanuel’s participants.  Librarians are skilled in both finding physical texts and using online databases for research.  For computer and Internet troubles students go to the library to fix them. Our class, Writing In and For Digital Environments, has utilized the digital skills of Dickinson’s librarians to develop our blogs, and correctly cite sources.  These are both key skills in our technological day and age.

Librarians are just one of the jobs where digital media and writing is becoming more integral. Journalism has always relied on strong writing to convey messages day after day.  Strong writers were valued for their ability to clearly articulate events to the public. Journalism has also been quick to adopt digital writing, both from convenience and necessity.   Digital writing allows for the public to immediately access your writing.  Live blogging has turned the news from something that wound up on your doorstep every morning, to a continuous feed of information any time of the day.  Journalists also make their own blogs so they can express thoughts that would otherwise be excluded from their employer’s news due to limited space and diverging opinions.

Leigh Wright documents how for one of her classes students became competent in using twitter, a micro blogging service, as a professional journalism tool, and a method of practicing concise writing.  Working with a limited space, students were forced to make leads that were less than 35 words. Upon tweeting to a class hashtag, the class could comment and discuss what worked and what did not. Another exercise involved students live tweeting events such as scavenger hunts and sports games.  Students each had their own unique style of writing, and their tweets received attention from sources outside of class.  The popularity of twitter means this is a great method for sharing information.  The more people see your writing the more you pay attention to what and how your write.  Good digital writing has the potential to be seen by the majority of the world, and also to make the leap out of the digital world onto print.  This class is one of the many examples of how digital writing is becoming more commonplace in school curriculums, and across different media platforms.  As more jobs require and utilize digital media, classes like this are becoming a necessary tool.

As liberal arts professors strive to connect with small groups of students, the web can serve as an important link.  A study by a United Kingdom University on how the web makes young people aged 13-19 found that the effects were primarily positive.  They reported, “in this study, we found that that, overall, the web makes youth feel positive, with over 56% (80) of emotional responses expressed classified as positive, 32% (46) as neutral, and only 12% (17) as negative (Table 1). This finding supports the position that, on average, youth feel that the web makes them feel positive” (Page, 1352).  Evidently digital media is an effective tool to engage students.  I feel that this course has far more relevance than many of the writing classes I have taken in the past primarily because the online medium is so pertinent to my life, and I do feel positive emotions seeing my work on the web.

Web Writing, the textbook where “Tweet me a Story” and “Learning to Write at a Distance” are from, is still in its revision phase.  However Professor Kersh’s Writing In and For Digital Media class, of which I am a part of, were asked to participate in the open peer review due to the marked similarities between its content and our class. Web writing, and blogging, which I once dismissed as petty, has proven to be an incredibly valuable tool as a writer.  I have only written half of my first post and already I can hear a consistent voice coming through.  The words flow much easier as I wrote about what I enjoy: my experiences exploring Cumberland County.  Everyone has something to say and I believe that my blog serves an important and unfilled niche. It is beneficial to the greater community, and I am extremely interested in receiving feedback.  Other blogs our class has created also show the value of digital writing.  The multidisciplinary aspect of Dickinson College means students in Writing In and For Digital Media can incorporate ideas from other classes into their blogs. Food blogs can talk about experiences in chemistry in the kitchen, or the responsibility that comes with living off campus. Popular culture blogs can review the latest Trout Gallery showing, or theater production.

While good writing is an indelible skill, another very important skill digital media classes like, Writing In and For Digital Media, can teach, is the ability to work on the web. Training Magazine recently published an article about blogging, saying that, “the average midsize or large company (1,000 employees or more) has 178 “social media assets,” according to the Business2Community Website. That means that, on average, 178 individuals are tweeting, blogging, or posting on behalf of their organizations on company social media outlets”(Post, 56).  Nowhere has blogging for business, been more apparent to me than my dad’s own blog. When he was undergoing the process of licensing, building, and managing an ice cream store he started Cheerful Musings to build a community, let the town know his progress, and as a means to gather his thoughts.  Now that he works constantly he no longer updates it, but is considering paying a scooper extra to work on the store’s blog. This type of job never used to exist but the advent of digital media has created it’s own field.

My best experience with digital writing came in my first year seminar.  For a final project we were to choose a topic related to our class, find a relevant person to interview, develop a script, and finally make a podcast with your interview.  This multi-step project required us to think about a new form of writing.  We developed a script for the interview that had to be professional and informative while also being conversational.  Much like Leah Wright’s twitter exercises, this strengthened our ability to write concisely.  It also boosted real-world social skills by requiring us to arrange the interview with a professional, and use advanced recording equipment.  I found that during the interview I had to quickly adapt questions to reflect the answers I was getting, which was difficult but proved to reap stimulating conversations.  Finally it taught us to use a new software, Audacity, to create our podcasts.  This experience shows that classes and assignments that incorporate digital writing can offer real-world experiences, and opportunities to learn new skills.

As a college student digital writing plays such a large and integral part of my daily life that much of it has become so familiar it is now unnoticed.  I check my email, complete online quizzes, browse the daily news, and read social media, all of which revolve around digital writing.  I was initially hesitant to take this course stating to my mom that as a science major why would I need a background in digital writing, the only writing I would do would be in scientific journals (if I was so lucky).  She remarked that after graduating as an English major she worked writing about the torsional capacity of relative steel brands, knowing nothing about material sciences.  “Writing well is the most important skill you can have,” she told me. Now that I am a few weeks into this course I see how even as a science major digital writing can and will be a ever present force in both my future career and daily life.

 

 

References:

 

Emanuel, Jenny. “Digital Native Librarians, Technology Skills, and Their Relationship with Technology.” Information Technology & Libraries 32 (2013): 20-33. Web. 7 October. 2013

 

Graham, Shawn. “Learning to Write at a Distance.” Web Writing 15 Sept. 2005: Web. October 2013

 

Page, Kelly; Mapstone, Mark. “How Does the Web Make Youth Feel? Exploring the Positive Digital Native Rhetoric.” Journal of Marketing Management 26 (2010): 1345-1366. Web. 7 October. 2013.

 

Post, Peter. “Embrace Social Media Carefully.” Training 50 (2013): 56. Web. 8 October. 2013

 

Wright, Leah. “Tweet Me A Story.” Web Writing 15 Sept. 2005: Web. October 2013

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