Writing In & For Digital Environments

Take a stroll through the campus quad, or even sit down in a college cafeteria. Attend a class at a large university, or maybe even walk through a school’s athletic center. Wherever you are on a college campus, you cannot escape technology. Everywhere you walk you’ll see at least one student on a cellphone, laptop, computer, or tablet. Our generation has been raised through a technological awakening. We have seen some of the largest forms of social media created during our lifetime with Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. We have transition from flip phones to slide phones to iPhones. We have gone from dial-up to Wi-Fi. Our generation has seen it all. So doesn’t it only make sense to incorporate these technological advances we have grown through over the years into the classroom? Many colleges have made the push to incorporate technology in the curriculum, but as of lately more professors have began to introduce digital writing in their classroom. Let us explore the evidence that supports the uses of digital writing primarily through social media and blogs inside the classroom to benefit the student’s overall learning experience.

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Anthony Survilla

Writing in and for Digital Environments

Professor Kersh

October 23, 2014

Engaging the Digital World

Digital writing has become an important asset in our society throughout the last decade. With texting, blogging, and social networks, people are now taking their writing to the digital world more than ever. As time passes and technology improves, the importance of digital writing will continue to increase among upcoming generations whether it is in the classroom or communicating over the Internet. Throughout this piece, I will explore five articles concerning the importance of digital writing and define what digital writing is and why it is a crucial part of our society. Digital writing is becoming a crucial skill in our society and social media has played a huge role in shaping our world into what it has become today.

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Defining Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is a skill that does not have a definite meaning. For instance, while my proficiency with digital media can be considered average in comparison with other college students, it could also be considered below average in the eyes of a computer programmer. The reason I find it difficult to define ‘digital literacy’ is because ones own level of literacy depends entirely on the software that is currently popular. When the first computer was invented, it took up a huge amount of space and had an endless number of buttons and levers. Now, we have iPads and smartphones that can carry more data than a computer would have decades ago. Technology and digital environments are constantly changing and evolving. Social media outlets, for example, are always coming out with new and improved designs or features, forcing users to adapt to the new system. As our society becomes increasingly digitized we are expected, by default, to be knowledgeable about such things. In Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for Struggling writers, the authors discuss the difference between technological literacy, and media literacy, “Technological literacy refers to the skills needed to adequately use computers.” This statement is rather broad. A few questions come to mind: What type of computer? What does it mean to be adequately capable? They then go on to state, “Media literacy refer to the necessary skills to access, evaluate and create messages in written and oral language, graphics, moving images, audio and music…media literacy also requires the composer to select components that complement the multimedia project.” Using their definitions, we need both types of literacy to identify as digitally literate.

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Do you like to write but don’t really do it? I bet you five dollars that by the time you finish reading this that I will have made you want to engage in digital writing. I can see you right now, figuratively. You’re sitting in front of your screen, eyes glazed over, you’ve got some sort of fake cheese dust around your mouth, and your head is in a position that makes all your neck fat stand out. You’re wondering why you would want to ‘write digitally’. Maybe that’s not you at all and you are miffed that I said those things about you. Sorry, but that’s not the point. The point is that I also used to engage with the internet passively. I’m taking a class on digital writing and each student has to curate their own blog. Through this experience, I’ve come to understand why people engage in digital writing. Digital writing gives you opportunities that don’t exist outside the web that can shape you’re writing. I believe that if you read about what I’ve learned and my experience, whoever you are, I can convince you to engage in Digital Writing. Continue reading →

When AOL gave me my first glimpse of the internet I was hooked. Immediately I created my first AIM screenname (Trexer6) so I could communicate “rapidly” with my friends on this new platform. This marked the first taste I got of the high-speed, technology based world we live in today. Little did I know of the massive technology advances that would occur during my short existence? Never in a million years would I have guessed that during my undergraduate college career I would take a class on how to write specifically for the digital environment. Who knew of all the differences that made writing online unique? I know I didn’t. Up until this semester I would have told you that there are differences between a lab report and a research paper but not in the actual writing itself. To further this discussion, I need to describe what digital writing is and how has it changed the way we write? Continue reading →

It is widely accepted that digital media in the twenty-first century has transformed our professional and personal lives. Teens, college students, and most adults are constantly plugged in to their iPads, laptops, and cell phones. Across liberal arts college campuses, cutting-edge courses that critically examine digital writing are cropping up and gaining in popularity. But what’s so special about digital writing? Sure, you’re reading this essay on a screen, but don’t the basic principles of writing remain the same? Isn’t writing writing?

To the contrary, research suggests that if used carefully and thoughtfully, digital writing is a unique tool that has the potential to transform academic scholarship and invigorate the classroom. The multimodal, collaborative, public, and democratizing features of digital writing facilitate student engagement and learning in the classroom by employing authentic activities, making scholarship relevant, and improving the rhetorical skills necessary for success in work and life. In conjunction with this research, my own academic and co-curricular experiences in college have shown me the far-reaching possibilities of digital media in today’s rapidly changing society. Continue reading →