Writing In & For Digital Environments

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Throughout time, the tools of writing have evolved and, accordingly, writers have adapted to these changes and used them to the benefit of their craft. In today’s world, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and other high-tech online platforms dominate the writing scene. As a millennial, and current college student, I cannot imagine existing without online communication. Almost every course has an “on-line” syllabus, homework gets posted on platforms such as Moodle and Connect, readings are posted online so students have easier and faster access to information, and some classes even require students to write blogs. All these modern tools, that didn’t exist ten years ago, are a definite benefit to course curriculums, and they help enhance learning and simplify the writing and research game. The aim of this paper is to broaden your knowledge as to what digital writing is and to explore why it is a good thing benefitting, not only the classroom, but the world at large.

Today’s social media is dominated by a plethora of platforms to access, sign up, and join. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, to name just a few, are all sites that offer sharing spaces where individuals share various subjects with the public for conversation, ideas, and feedback. Pete Rorabaugh, the writer of the article “Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs,” describes in great depth how he has taken his teaching skills to a whole new level by using digital media platforms.  Throughout his article, he discusses the benefit of these platforms. According to Rorabaugh, one critical advantage to using digital tools in teaching is the exposure an essay can receive. Rorabaugh argues that by posting a piece of writing online to a media outlet the essay can be reviewed by, not just a teacher, but by others, as well. He writes, “Digital environments maximize the potential for organic writing in three distinct ways: they rebuild “audience,” expose the organic layers of a composition, and invite outside participation in key stages along the way” (Rorabaugh, 2012). Twitter today has sky rocketed to almost the #1 source for fast and quick information. Pete Rorabaugh explains that when he asks his students to write thesis statements, he reviews them within the class setting but then asks his students to post them to Twitter. “Students post thesis statements to a Twitter hashtag and reply with suggestions to their peers’ work, or we have more extended discussion through a forum (which can happen on a blog or within an LMS)” (Rorabaugh, 2012). The reason Rorabaugh uses Twitter is that there is an advantage to students being able to see and critique each other’s work outside the traditional classroom setting. To know what kind of thesis your classmate is working on, and to further this with online group discussions, is extremely beneficial. For example, in a normal writing class, I would probably have no idea what the student sitting next to me was using for a thesis statement or what thoughts he or she had on a particular subject. By posting to Twitter, however, Rorabaugh argues, and I agree, we are able to analyze the work of fellow classmates outside the traditional classroom environment and make helpful suggestions. This broadening of feedback is helpful to both the student who posts and the student doing the commentating.

As his students begin to write their papers, Rorabaugh suggests sharing their work within the community or outside of it by using, “Twtter, Google Docs, or any number of tools” (Rorabaugh, 2012). Sharing their work on these digital sites allows more people to see and comment on the work as it evolves. In other words, you are not alone in the composition process. You can get helpful feedback from people around you to help you write the best paper possible. Expanding the writing process in this way is advantageous because, as Rorabaugh points out, “Using the digital landscape to frame academic composition allows us to attend closely to that process and encourage research fluency and critical inquiry” (Rorabaugh, 2012). Twitter, Google Docs, and other digital tools are excellent resources for sharing your work and getting the feedback and advice you need to write a great paper and feel good about it, but what makes you want to continue writing once the research paper is finished? One digital platform that has motivated so many people to regularly write and read online is the idea of a Blog.

Chick Stick

Blogging is a major factor as to why people keep on writing and reading today. Blogging is an online writing platform that allows you to say what you want and share it with the world. Popular blogs such as Buzzfeed, Barstool Sports, Nomadic Matt have all been so successful because of their creative writing formats. They are funny, entertaining, and cool. There are also blogs that cover more serious topics. Blogs are meant to connect the reader and the writer in a digital place. Brian Carroll, author of the book “Writing for Digital Media,” wrote a chapter called “Blogito, Ergo Sum.” This chapter talks about the aspect of blogs and what they are about. Carroll states, “Most blogs are single-voice narratives made up of mostly brief posts that blend fact with personal opinion, but there is nothing about the form that predicates these norms” (Carroll, 138). Carroll is saying that blogs are written by someone who is fascinated by a subject and who, by writing interesting posts on that subject which are a combination of facts and opinion, manages to draw in the reader and keep his/her attention the whole time. Blogs also allow people to agree or disagree on a topic and to have an online dialogue expressing individual opinions. For example, Brian Carroll quotes Joanne Jacobs who writes for The Chronicle, by saying, “The internet has empowered ordinary citizens to become fact-checkers and analysts. People with wide range of experiences can collaborate online, sharing knowledge, sources, and ideas, and challenging each other’s facts,” (Carroll, 143). Blogs enable you to challenge people in a debate-like atmosphere. They are also a wonderful and quick resource for researching topics you know little or nothing about, and you can actively engage with the writer which is not possible with non-digital writing sources. According to Carroll, if you blog well enough, blogs can even become a form of community. (Carroll, 151)

The overlying greatest feature about Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter is that more and more people are expressing themselves by writing creatively on these digital platforms. “The number of people doing creative writing – of any genre, not exclusively literary works – increased substantially between 1982 and 2002. In 1982, about 11 million people did some form of creative writing. By 2002, this number had risen to almost 15 million people (18 or older), an increase of about 30 percent” (Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Networking the Fields, 2012). This digital writing explosion has influenced teachers, like Rorabaugh, to enhance their traditional teaching methods by using Blogs, Twitter, and other media sites for writing. (Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Networking the Fields, 2012) Now you might be wondering how Twitter is a good writing resource when a Twitter post only offers 140 characters per Tweet? Well, Fitzpatrick explains that even the small size of tweets should not be a problem. She points out that digital writers can add a link to a tweet so that, by clicking the link, the reader is guided to a bigger site to read and comment upon with personal feedback. She also explains that scholars exchange pieces, ideas, and conversations about one another’s work using Twitter to broaden the way they connect. Fitzpatrick remarks that the Tweeter audience is, “not just a community of friends but a community of scholars, an audience for the longer work in which its members are engaged.” (Fitzpatrick, 2012). Lastly, she goes on to write about how even though all the blogs, posts, and tweets may not be the greatest form of literary material, they “allow these new platforms to teach us new ways of reading and writing together, in the open.” (Fitzpatrick, 2012).

Another benefit to these new social media platforms is that, if you are talented, writing on digital platforms can turn into job opportunities. Robison Meyer, a recent graduate from Northwestern University in 2013, literally got his job because of how “good he is on Twitter” says, Alexis Madrigal. Alexis Madrigal said that Rob got her attention, “by becoming a part of The Atlantic Tech’s extended cast of writers and interlocutors. His network analysis was uncanny. One minute I’ve never heard of this kid, and the next minute, he’s engaged in interesting, respectful conversation with half of my Internet friends.” (Alexis Madrigal, How to Actually Get a Job on Twitter, 2013). Alexis talks about how Rob’s tweets are so direct and to the point, that they immediately grab her attention. Madrigal says that Rob is very good at connecting stories and reading outside the lines, “One day, he might full in Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton on the “flaneur-ish” blog Sex Pigeon. Another, he might connect George Mason Professor Mark Sample’s essay on the 21^st century’s the fugitive century to the Snowden affair. Or stitch together two of Alan Jacobs’ essays in one tweet.” (Madrigal, 2013). Rob is an example of how popular Twitter is today and how influential it is in terms of public communication. Because Rob was an effective communicator on Twitter, with a gift for connecting and analyzing stories, he had a large following and actually caught the attention of a future boss. This is just one great example of how Twitter is slowly, but surely, transforming the job market and media worlds.

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Lastly, it is so important when talking about digital media tools to consider the platforms available to the young Millennials. Take Facebook, for instance. When you are young, Facebook is a place where you make “secret groups” for conversations about what people said during lunch time. You take pictures and turn to the person taking the photo and say “make sure to upload this on Facebook.”  Facebook is a site where you can be you and do whatever you want to be cool. Facebook today, however, can be much more than a merely social site.  Jen Rajchel writes, “Facebook account once intended for high school friends quickly becomes a forum for college friends. It may also become a setting for a class assignment or an internship interaction. When these technologies are brought into the classroom and become platforms that facilitate similar environments, we begin to re-examine the boundaries of these intimacies:  Do I use my personal Facebook for a course? Do I friend my professor? How do I brand myself on Twitter?” (Jen Rajchel, Consider the Audience, 2013). We are learning that these “fun” sites have a wider purpose and are actually opening up opportunities for us every day. Digital media outlets are starting to be a worldwide primary source of communication. Today we are engaging more online than ever before and, consequently, are able to quickly and effectively communicate with a vast audience on a wide range of topics. We can post articles on the upcoming election, regional news stories, and events from around the world. These posts attract other “friends,” and we connect and debate and learn more about and understand each other better as a result.

Now, my view. Throughout my teens and into my early days of being twenty, I have seen my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all transform from fun, casual, and sometimes silly, sites to actually very civilized and informative ones, and, I am happy to say, my experience with digital media is also evolving. Before I took this class, I had no idea of how to write a blog, or if I would ever be interested in even trying to write one. Well, that changed very quickly. By writing my travel blog, I have been able to reflect back on the past and recall some amazing trips that I have taken with my family and to share those trips in a fun and unique way. Not only do I enjoy remembering these trips but writing about them makes me feel thankful for the opportunity to have visited so many awesome places. I like being able to share with my friends and family pictures and commentary about different countries and cities and to recommend places to stay, eat and sites to visit when touring various places. And just the other day, a friend of my mom’s said she wanted to take her teenage daughter to California but had never been and was unsure where to go. You guessed it! My mom pulled up my blog “Globe Trotting Graham,” clicked on the “California Dreamin’” post and texted it to her friend! It’s awesome that my classmates are following my blog and equally great that I am following their blogs and learning and connecting more with them. Every class I feel I have more of a connection with my classmates just by looking at their blogs.

This summer, I had the great opportunity of having an internship at NBC Sports in Stamford, Connecticut. This internship allowed me to meet many people in the field that I am interested in and hope to be a part of in the future. I was able to connect and, more importantly, stay connected even after the internship was over with the people I worked with by using Twitter and Linkedin. I continue to post articles and still talk to them online about my posts and welcome their feedback. Some workers send me links of recent projects they are working on and still ask for my advice as to whether or not they should move forward with certain projects. Having an online media outlet not only connects you to people but allows you to explore new places, subjects, ideas that without digital platforms might remain elusive.

My goal beyond Dickinson is to work in the area of Communications for Sports. Broadcasting, programming, agencies, anything to do with sports and communication is what I would love to pursue. I know this field requires a strong working knowledge of digital media platforms, and this class has been a crucial first step in expanding my knowledge and hands-on experience in that area. Today digital media offers many possibilities and opportunities, and everyone should be on it. The internet will expand your knowledge and connect you to many people. My advice, take advantage of all the available digital platforms, stay connected to the people you have worked with and make sure to be smart about what you post. Hey, you never know, maybe you’ll be the next one to get a job because of your Twitter account!

Carroll, Brian. “Chapter 7: Blogito, Ergo Sum- Trends in Personal Publishing.” Writing for Digital Media. New York, NY: Routledge, 2010.

Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. “Networking the Field.” Planned Obsolescence. 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. http://www.plannedobsolescence.net/networking-the-field/

Madrigal, Alexis. “How to Actually Get a Job on Twitter.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 31 July 2013. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/how-to-actually-get-a-job-on-twitter/278246/

Rajchel, Jen. “Consider the Audience.” Web Writing Why and How for Liberal Arts Teaching and Learning. 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. (comments on paragraphs) http://webwriting2013.trincoll.edu/engagement/rajchel-2013

Rorabaugh, Pete. “Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs – Hybrid Pedagogy.” Hybrid Pedagogy. Digital Pedagogy Lab, 21 June 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/organic-writing-and-digital-media-seeds-and-organs/

http://socialmouths.com/2014/10/14/10-writing-tips-great-social-media-posts/

Technology has played a very important part in our generation. Online tools such as writing and connecting has given us more opportunities, confidence and comprehensive skills that can be applied to more than just academics, but to life. Paul Taylor explains, “we have all of these incredible gadgets that connect us to the world…and it allows them to place themselves at the center of the universe.” (Murray 11). The digital community accessed through technology allows for easy access to write and share our ideas, a place to not only receive feedback and opportunities but also a place where intellectual rational can develop comprehensively.

https://instapage.com/blog/avoiding-bad-agency-proposals

What Is Digital Writing?

The Internet has changed writing, by becoming a place where anyone can write anything. Sean Michal Morris says, “…digital writing provides no roadmap, at least not yet. Where it goes, how it lives when we’re not watching is something we cannot foretell.” Digital writing is simply anything written online. It can include text, pictures, sounds, videos, and more, the possibilities are endless. Andrea Baer explains in her article, “Keeping up with…Digital Writing in the College Classroom” that digital writing does not only include academic writing like research papers and essays but also the everyday writing such as emails, texts, social media and much more. Since digital writing includes many styles and forms it challenges what we define as ‘writing’.

https://www.weloba.com/article/luis-enrique-talked-about-social-networks-use

Online writing is now more connected than ever before, with more authors than ever before. According to Digital Writing Month the Internet allows us to communicate through text in new ways. The online writing is vastly connected through a web of hyperlinks to every other written piece out there. Writing has never before been more distributed or more creative but also in conversation with other writing. “…digital writing is action. Not that the writing inspires action, or comes out of action, or responds to action. But that the words themselves are active. … Digital words have lives of their own. … And this is because digital writing is communal writing. (Morris). Meaningful networks and communities are possible through digital writing. Communities built through digital writing can have a major role in the writing process. Brian Carroll says in Writing for Digital Media, “Readers become active partners rather than passive consumers” (151).  This network allows congregation and communication, where people are now able to collaborate online, they are capable of sharing their ideas and experiences with others more than ever before.

This type of writing has made many reconsider the style of writing that is currently evolving in the digital age. Sharon J. Washington adds that, “The very notion of what it means to write is shifting, and educators are faced with adapting their teaching practices to integrate new technologies while redefining writing and learning for the 21st century.” I would have to say that digital writing is not necessarily replacing analog writing but it is adding a new distinctive quality to what we understand writing is.

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Digital Writing Is Important

Digital writing has provided an endless amount of resources available to anyone looking for them. The digital community is a network that is collaborated and coordinated, enabling communication and elaboration. Information is ever changing and evolving, constantly updating and refreshing. Richard Lanham on Digital Literacy explains printed or fixed work offers a sense of authority and timelessness – perhaps why we value it. However in digital writing, it can be changed, reformatted, and reorganized. Writing online is different, exiting and new every day. This digital form has made it easy to write all kinds of things for all kinds of people, including the written work of others to enhance your own work, including pictures, videos, and sound. All easily shared with others in this community built network.

Not only is our definition of writing shifting, but also the skills required to interact on this digital platform. It is becoming clear that students must negotiate multiple forms of digital writing to be able to succeed in this fast paced, ever-changing world. Certain skills are needed in the composition of the written work, but also the use of technology itself to create and present your composition multimodality through hyperlinks, videos, pictures sound and more. These skillsets are changing how we learn and how we are taught in the digital writing style.

http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2011/03/formal-vs-informal.html

The juxtaposition of formal academic thesis papers and the every day status update on social media are vastly different from one another. We can all agree that many students would rather sit down and surf the Internet, post status updates and text their friends rather than write a formal research paper for their class that’s due next week. But it is in this informal setting that some of their best work develops. Jeff Grabill includes in his article, “Why Digital Writing Matters in Education” a recent survey by  Pew Internet and American Life, where 86 percent of teenagers believe that writing well is important to success in life. But they don’t see most of the writing that they do in their lives as “real” writing. Yet, ironically, it is the writing in which they find the most pleasure, that they do most eagerly and, arguably, that they do most successfully. It is this digital writing that helps students improve critical thinking skills and become better learners comprehensively across all subject matter. “Today’s young people are using a range of digital tools to compose and create in new and exciting ways,” said Sharon J. Washington, executive director of the National Writing Project. Writing itself has not changed, but perhaps our definition of writing has in the new digital age of writing online.

The art of writing will never go away, but it will continue to evolve over time. Grabill continues by saying that writing is a key language skill that also supports learning in other subjects. To go further, writing is a skill needed to effectively communicate with others, not only through the words themselves, but comprehensively. Jen Rajchel explains that, “These are the same skills that students learn in seminar style courses offered by liberal arts colleges: reading across disciplines, developing expertise, and delving into discussions. Students learn to challenge each other, and more importantly, themselves.” Not everyone has this opportunity to study across many subjects, but this develops full-minded thinkers and well rounded individuals who are even better prepared for what has to come.

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Why Does It Matter?

For me digital writing is important to learn about and become proficient in – since the whole world seems to be quickly advancing through many forms of technology and fads of writing online. Most times I find it difficult to keep up with the latest gadgets or social media like twitter. But what I do find the most reliable is my computer and the information I find on the web. I can’t imagine going through school without a computer. How did anyone get anything done!? Its so convenient when I’m sitting down to do my homework to simply Google something I don’t understand and read an article or watch a video to help me learn new material, and especially for writing papers and reports for classes. Everything I need is online somewhere, I just have to find it.

When I tell people that I am a Biology major and an Art minor they kind of look at me funny. They don’t see how these two subjects go together, one is “left brain thinking” and the other is “right brain thinking”. But I believe they go hand in hand with one another. There is a lot of information, processes, and systems in the science of biology and it may be hard for people to understand. However being able to present the material through an artistic, visual way – more people may be able to understand the material even better. This is a perfect example of what a liberal arts education can give you, the ability to draw connections between two seemingly opposite ideas and make something out of them.

http://www.brainygirls.org/2013/02/art-and-science-intersect-how.html

The same holds true for digital writing. You not only have to be able to write well to effectively convey your thoughts and ideas with others but you need to present them in a way others will want to engage with. Maybe it is through videos, pictures, sounds, or any combinations of these. Being able to put all of this together to create something that your audience will want to read, learn from, share with their friends, add an idea of their own and even more, is what writing online is about. It’s creating a network community where you are free to write and share your thoughts and ideas, receive feedback, gain opportunities and more. Digital writing develops full-minded thinkers and well-rounded individuals.

Works Cited

Baer, Andrea. “Keeping Up With… Digital Writing in the College Classroom.” http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/digital_writing. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Carroll, Brian. “ Writing for Digital Media.” http://blogs.dickinson.edu/wrpg211/files/2016/08/Carroll_Blogito-Ergo-Sum.pdf

Grabill, Jeff. “Why Digital Writing Matters in Education.” https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-digital-writing-matters-jeff-grabill. 11 June. 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Lanham, Richard. “Digital Literacy.” http://www2.idehist.uu.se/distans/ilmh/Ren/lanham-digital-lit.htm. Scientific American. Sept 1995. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Morris, Sean Michael. “Digital Writing Uprising: Third Order Thinking in the Digital Humanities.” http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/digital-writing-uprising-third-order-thinking-in-the-digital-humanities/. 8 Oct 2012. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Murray, Sarah. “Transition: Technology Puts Power In The Hands Of Many.” http://blogs.dickinson.edu/wrpg211/files/2016/08/Murray_Technology-Puts-Power-in-the-Hands-of-Many.pdf.

National Writing Project. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3310. 25 Oct. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Rajchel, Jen. “Consider The Audience.” http://epress.trincoll.edu/webwriting/chapter/rajchel/. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

Since I have become a student, technology has had an increasingly prominent role in the ways in which courses are taught, assignments are completed, and information is disseminated. The speed of digital educations rise to prominence is evident in the difference of technology use in college faculty, even within one department. While some may stick to the “old-school” roots of analog copies of readings, physical textbooks, and written assignments, others have embraced the growing prevalence of digital education through online assignments, class discussion forums, projects in digital medias, and more. The possibilities in embracing pedagogical platforms that incorporate digital literacy are seemingly endless, as new technologies and opportunities seem to present themselves as soon as a student can learn the former. Like many aspects of digital education, digital writing is a medium that offers a number of exciting possibilities for college classrooms, campuses, and beyond. This is not to say that digital writing is perfect; writing online brings with it it’s fair share of potential troubles and complications. However, the ever expanding opportunities for digital scholarship and writing have a place in the permanent pedagogical practices of college faculty.

In order to map out the importance of digital writing in the college classroom, it’s important to first contextualize and define the medium itself. In her article “Keeping Up With… Digital Writing in the College Classroom”, Andrea Baer defines digital writing as “… writing that is composed – and most often read – through digital environments and tools. The growing pedagogical interest in digital writing is evident in the increasing number of college courses in digital writing and the rhetoric, as well as in courses across disciplines that incorporate elements of digital composition.” (Baer) Baer’s definition notes a few important characteristics of digital writing in today’s classrooms; first, digital writing is most frequently read on digital platforms. The audience is interacting with the content on a typically multimodal platform, meaning the opportunity for distraction away from the article is consistently prevalent. Digital writing itself must be composed with this in mind, as writers for online formats must find ways to keep the reader’s interest when they are surrounded by a litany of other attention grabbers just a click away.

Baer also notes that digital writing is being taught increasingly as a course in itself, pertaining its own rhetorical style and characteristics. This shows that digital writing can hold many places in the world of publishing; not only is it a method of distribution and consumption, but also an individual style that contains within it its own rhetorical strategies and idiosyncrasies. Writing for online audiences has its own stylistic differences than analog publication, which in itself shows the importance of specific academic offerings in the method of writing for an audience in-front of a screen.

Image Credit Christophe BENOIT

For many in the digital audience, blogs are a typical site-type to read digital writing, and educators are increasingly finding merit in using blogs as an exercise in classrooms. As Brian Sztabnik writes in “Start a Reading Revolution: Flip Your Class With Blogs”, “The blogs add a maker mentality, stirring the imagination to create, design, and tinker. They choose their theme, incorporate images and gifs, and decide if they want to promote their work via social media platforms… Blogs provide choice and independence, allowing them to own the learning experience.” (Sztabnik) Sztabnik’s article points to one of the most exciting aspects of digital writing; individuality. Especially in self-run blogs, online authors have autonomy over the ways in which their writing creates an identity through not only the text of their article, but the way their article and website appear visually to the reader. Where analog writing is often just words on a page, digital writing provides additional tools to supplement arguments in creative ways. Digital writing allows students (and other writers) to not have to rely solely on words to get their message or argument across, but instead gives them the ability to explore creative means of rhetoric.

The opportunity for individual creativity and expression in digital writing is an important and exciting characteristic of the medium. That makes the next characteristic of note here rather ironic. As writers like Sean Michael Morris have shown, digital writing is communal. As he writes in his article “Digital Writing Uprising: Third-Order Thinking in the Digital Humanities”,

    As a self-proclaimed Internet non-user (a proclamation that elicits hoots and howls from my friends), the allure of digital writing for me does not lie in its medium; instead, I’m tantalized by the proposition that digital writing is action. Not that the writing inspires action, or comes out of action, or responds to action. But that the words themselves are active. They move, slither, creep, sprint, and outpace us. Digital words have lives of their own. We may write them, birth them ourselves, but without any compunction or notice, they enact themselves in ways we can’t predict. And this is because digital writing is communal writing. (Morris)

For Morris, digital writing is so intriguing because it can alter depending on the participation of its readers. In writing that “We create the choir as we preach, and the choir creates us”, Morris argues that digital writing is a manifestation of all of the ideas that contribute to the subject, from original writers to readers who comment on posts and other writers who write their own pieces in response. Digital writing is consistently evolving through a seemingly collaborative ownership of content; while ideas and writing is still intellectual property, what is created in response to online writing is based in a community of contributions.

In “Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs”, Pete Rorabaugh notes that even the act of contribution through commenting is a skill in itself that is learned through participation in digital writing. As he states, “We must realize that comments are mini-compositions too, ones for which students may need models.” (Rorabaugh) In his article “Document Sharing and Markup”, Rorabaugh further emphasizes the importance of commenting when he writes that “What we write, the way that we write, and our interactions with the writing of others determines who we are in the online or hybrid classroom.” (Rorabaugh) Comments are here understood as their own compositions, representing an author in the same way that a full-length composition would. In digital writing, comments are both interpersonal interaction and individual composition.

The opportunity for community input is imperative to the eternally-evolving nature of digital writing, but it can pose challenges in college classrooms. While public input is helpful in developing arguments and creating dialogue, some students may feel uncomfortable sharing their work for the broadest of all audiences, anyone with access to the internet. Jack Dougherty addresses this concern in his courses and his article “Public Writing and Student Privacy”, noting that “Our prose has greater potential to improve when we author for real audiences (not just the professor), and revise our work in consideration of thoughtful feedback and alternative points of view. On the other hand, all students deserve—and are legally entitled under U.S. law—some degree of privacy in our educational institutions and ownership over the words they have authored.” (Dougherty) Balancing the benefits of web writing with the privacy of student work is particularly challenging in college classroom settings. In his web-writing policy, Dougherty allowed his students to change the privacy settings of their work (or delete the work entirely) after it had been graded. While this is a seemingly ethical resolution, the dilemma is still existent; do the benefits of web writing outweigh the challenges of maintaining student privacy?

In my opinion, the answer is an overwhelming yes. Before college, I had little experience with any type of multimodal learning experience or digital writing. Essays were written on paper with pen or on Microsoft Word documents and handed in to be meticulously combed over for their precise structure and content. In college, specifically at my small liberal arts school, I had the opportunity to write blog projects for multiple classes in multiple different academic subjects. I wrote articles, participated in discussion forums, and commented on my classmate’s work. These experiences have shown me the opportunities for students gained through the use of digital writing and education in college courses. The video below shows a bit of that experience, though slightly outdated from the tremendous digital humanities projects going on at the college now.

First, through writing blogs I have found that I’ve learned to incorporate feedback more frequently and readily in my work. As part of my courses, my classmates were required to comment on my blog posts with their own opinions, reactions, or suggestions on my writing. Consistent feedback can seem discouraging at first, but soon became a source of material for future posts, both through new ideas that I had not yet thought of or as reaction to comments made about my original work. Not only did the subject of my writing begin to change based on the feedback, but my writing style changed to meet what elicited response from the audience. I have blogged now for three classes as an undergraduate, and for each one I have learned to write for a different audience. This has helped me as a writer overall by strongly considering the prospective audience when deciding the style in which the piece will be written.

Digital writing has also allowed me the opportunities to take creative liberties with my writing in order to create more well-rounded and engaging arguments. When writing for the web, my work has been able to incorporate images, videos, recorded interviews, and other pieces of multimedia to reinforce the paper’s rhetoric in ways that are impossible to accomplish in analog writing. This is always an exercise in creativity; there are always multiple different ways to present the information, and deciding which works best for the piece is a rather difficult endeavor. Digital writing has required me to think critically about the potential complexities of presentation in online writing, as well as the effectiveness of different sources. (Check this out for an example of one of my earliest attempts at producing online writing for an undergraduate class.)

As many at my college like to say, “Life doesn’t end at the limestone walls, what you learn must be applied to what you do after your four years here.” Experience with digital writing not only allows students to think critically, incorporate feedback, and interact with peers, but provides a useful tool for careers past their undergraduate years. Anything that exists in the market exists online, and much of our reading is done through a screen. Understanding how to write most effectively for a web-based audience, (which may be the majority of the country), is a useful tool that can today be applied in any industry that a student enters post-graduation. As more classes begin to incorporate the practices of online writing, more students will be prepared to enter a workforce where seemingly everything is marketed, read, and written for the web.

Works Cited

Baer, Andrea. “Keeping Up With… Digital Writing in the College Classroom.” Association of College & Research Libraries. American Library Association, Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. <http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/digital_writing>.

Dougherty, Jack. “Public Writing and Student Privacy.” Web Writing: Why and How for Liberal Arts Teaching and Learning. Ed. Tennyson O’Donnell & Jack Dougherty. United States: University of Michigan Press, 2015. n. pag. epress.trincoll.edu. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.             <http://epress.trincoll.edu/webwriting/chapter/dougherty-public/>.

Morris, Sean Michael. “Digital Writing Uprising: Third-Order Thinking in the Digital Humanities.” Digital Pedagogy Lab. Hybrid Pedagogy, 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.             <http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/digital-writing-uprising-third-order-thinking-in-the-digital-humanities/>.

Rorabaugh, Pete. “Organic Writing and Digital Media: Seeds and Organs.” Digital Pedagogy Lab. Hybrid Pedagogy, 21 June 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.           <http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/organic-writing-and-digital-media-      seeds-and-organs/>.

Sztabnik, Brian. “Start a Reading Revolution: Flip Your Class With Blogs.” Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.             <https://www.edutopia.org/blog/flip-ela-class-with-blogs-brian-sztabnik>.

Technology is constantly evolving and changing and along with that, our style of writing has adapted just as much. On a regular basis, students switch from writing academic essays to carefully crafting tweets and Facebook status updates in the same day; both of these examples are forms of writing, but drastically different in their audience and craft. The technological revolution has flipped writing as we knew it upside down, making typing on a computer more commonplace than handwriting text and increasing audience sizes and reach almost instantaneously. However, the nature of technology and the constant change it presents means that writers who wish to use it effectively also have to constantly adapt and change along with it. Digital writing is adapting to the widespread use of technology by creating an immersive and engaging multimodal sphere that incorporates traditional forms or writing, film and art into one interactive community.

https://storify.com/ciu211/transmedia.html

As Jenkins says, We’re currently in an era of “media convergence” where content floats from one media platform to the next almost seamlessly. This convergence particularly lends itself to transmedia storytelling, the process of developing large fictional worlds across platforms, where stories develop through various mediums, such as text, film, and social media (Dudacek, 2015, Scolari, 2009).

Transmedia storytelling got its start in the entertainment industry and may be most recognizable in franchises like Star Wars and Pokémon. Henry Jenkins describes it well when he says that, “by design, Pokémon unfolds across games, television, films, and books [and now apps, with the new installment of Pokémon Go], with no media privileged over any other” . Now, as transmedia storytelling continues to be used within the entertainment industry, creators and educators alike have taken to developing an immersive experience as a way of getting literature and writing themes across to their technology-driven student base. These interactive worlds across websites using video, text, and audio, for example, are much more similar to an app you would find on an iPhone than a slide on a projector, but that’s precisely what keeps students engaged; a traditional classroom setting might just seem too “slow” to modern students (Dudacek, 2015). For example, reading classic literature from a book may not hold the attention of modern high schooler like being able to immerse him or herself in a virtual world with literary content. And although classic literature may not be the first thing most people think of pairing with the most modern technology, this is exactly what Hank Green and Bernie Su did when they created The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern-day, multimodal adaption of Jane Austen’s classic novel, Pride and Prejudice.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries perfectly uses the strengths of transmedia storytelling to convey and adapt a classic novel. Told primarily through video blogs (vlogs) from the viewpoints of Lizzie (Elizabeth) Bennet, the series also features content on YouTube and Twitter accounts belonging to various other characters and businesses in the webseries (Wade, 2013). One example of this is the character of Lydia Bennet, the immature and reckless younger sister, in both Austen’s classic and Green and Su’s adaptation. Although an audience member could get the full story from just viewing Lizzie’s content alone, Lydia’s channels and vlogs add an outside perspective and a more comprehensive understanding of the character (and her immaturity) than provided in the original novel. Having multiple perspectives and dimensions within a multimodal world practically asks for increased engagements as viewers click through links and content to learn more about the characters and world that they become invested in.

Wade, 2013

This point leads to one of the reasons why transmedia storytelling has made such a huge impact in the field of digital writing: fanfiction. At the root, fanfiction is a response to the audience wanting to interact with the elements of a story or piece of media and having no way to contribute or make their ideas heard – that is, until they crafted sometimes elaborate, sometimes silly pieces of writing and posted them on the internet. Some creators encourage this kind of fan interaction and attribute it to building community. Other creators feel that it is infringing on their intellectual property. However, in this age of digital media and transmedia storytelling, some creators are beginning to do more than grant permission for their fans to develop their own creative responses. Some creators are actually making those responses part of the narrative.

One notable example, perhaps the first of its kind, also involves a webseries. Kissing in the Rain, created by Yulin Kuang and posted to the Shipwrecked Comedy YouTube page is a 12-part series that follows two pairs of actors throughout different film sets where, like the title suggests, they always end up kissing in the rain. In between the video content, however, there are many missing moments. It is these moments that Kuang invited fans to fill in through any digital medium. Kuang set up a Tumblr blog and a tag for the project; then after each episode aired, the fans could create. If their creation was reblogged on Tumblr, it became canon. It was officially part of the narrative.  The project was a success, and it proved that fans can help shape a narrative through digital writing and drawing. The growth stemmed from the community; a process unique to, yet common, in digital writing.  In an unparalleled fashion, fans had more control over the content they were consuming than ever before.

https://monstersofgeek.com/2016/04/21/in-defense-of-fanfiction/

Even if you’re not a fan fiction author, the principles of transmedia storytelling can still be used to enhance any kind of digital writing. First, any digital writer should look to showcase his or her content on multiple platforms, whether that be a blog, a Twitter account, YouTube videos, or Instagram. It’s intuitive, but having unique content creates multiple avenues for audience engagement and reach. It also allows for multiple perspectives and increases transparency of the author. As mentioned earlier, part of the success of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was the ability for the audience to gain additional insight into each character’s (fictional) life the more that they interacted with the story. An author writing non-fiction on a blog could achieve the same results by posting snapshots of the research or writing process on an Instagram account and linking it to their blog; the key is connecting the two mediums but providing original content on each.

Perhaps even more important outside of creative narratives, including multiple outlets showcasing an individual’s work increases levels of transparency throughout the content. Using the same example as before, a nonfiction author who may seem very distant from the writing on his or her blog could provide controlled perspective into his or her life by featuring other related content on Instagram or Twitter. Finally, writing on the Internet is a communal, interactive experience, so including multimodality among one blog or piece of digital writing connects you to the other parts of the online community and catches and maintains interest.

Technology is always changing and forcing users to adapt and change with it. This is particularly true for digital writers whose goals are to capture and immerse an audience in their work. Multimedia storytelling has developed as a process used by fictional authors and the entertainment industry to increase audience size and engagement, but can still be applicable to other digital writers. Writers working online can use multiple mediums to present content, encourage audience feedback and participation and increase author transparency by using some of the tools commonly employed in multimedia storytelling.

In any form of writing, the goal is to reach your audience and make your voice heard and if your content is creative and engaging, the audience will want to interact with you and your ideas. Through transmedia storytelling, the realm of digital writing is expanding, and by doing so, they are reaching a wider, multimodal audience. In addition, that audience is more engaged with the content than when it was presented traditionally, in the style of a singular format. When thinking about digital writing, it is important to remember that writing is about sharing ideas.

Sharing ideas is not limited to long narrative passages, nor is it limited to one creator. Writing can be a collaborative effort between creator and audience to build content that is ideal for both. These digital creators are using their platforms of choice to develop their stories and meet their audiences, bringing digital writing into a new era. It will be exciting to see where their pioneering efforts will lead transmedia and digital storytelling in the future.

As a student, I’ve used aspects of multimedia storytelling throughout my undergraduate career. Because I’ve grown up with the use of technology, navigating an arrangement of multimodal content is as second nature to me as reading a printed book. In my first year of college, I participated in a Digital Humanities boot camp and was actively using multimedia storytelling to create a website before I even knew what it was. For this project, I used interactive timelines, video, audio, images, and text to document the history and experience of First-Year Orientation programs at Dickinson College. Each aspect could have stood on its own and provided interesting and potentially useful knowledge, but combined together they made the project dynamic and able to reach a larger audience.

On a similar note, learning to write to appeal to a diverse and unknown audience can be helpful in virtually any career path I or my classmates choose. Usually due to formatting or character limits, digital writing makes an author seriously consider what they want to say and how to express their thoughts in the most concise yet attention-gripping way possible. Students working with digital writing are learning how to set their own standards for content; the 5-paragraph essay formatting has been replaced with colors and headings that are designed to capture the interest of large audiences rather than a single professor.

Digital writing also improves students’ writing abilities by challenging them to not only write about something that’s of interest to them, but communicate in such a way that’s understandable to a stranger. While writing my own blog and reading my peers’ work from this semester, I am understanding just how difficult it is to turn something highly specialized into text that a general audience can understand.

Finally, as a digital writer, you must change your way of thinking. In other words, to create multimodal content, you must think multimodally. A digital writer considers multiple perspectives and takes a creative approach to distributing content; they analyze what they want to say in multiple ways. This aspect of digital writing has been the most challenging to me, despite my past experience communicating online both through the Digital Humanities Digital Boot Camp and on social media outlets. As a student spending the majority of her last four years writing various forms of lab reports, switching from a standardized format with a given prompt to choosing a highly personal blog theme and post topics has been quite a transition.

However, despite the challenges I may be facing, I truly believe that digital writing might be one of the most useful things I’ve learned throughout my Dickinson career. Never once when working with media and technology have I had the thought, “When will I ever use this?”. Knowing how to effectively use technology to find others’ ideas and perspectives or sharing my own is sure to serve me well in any future career. Although the technology will change over time, I’ll have a foundation to build upon and grow with. Overall, learning how to incorporate multimodal content into one piece of easily understandable digital writing has enhanced my communication skills while strengthening my technological aptitude at the same time, making this one of the most useful classes of my college career.

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Please add a link to your blog and a sentence or two about the project in the comments below.  Looking forward to reading them all!