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Man with Laptop<\/p><\/div>\n
Did you know that the average American spends more than 10<\/a> hours a day behind a screen consuming media?\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, it is estimated that we will increase the hours behind a screen and access additional devices in the future.\u00a0 During this time behind screens we are inundated with digital writing.\u00a0 The influence of digital writing is bound to affect our lives in many ways. Since were all students at Dickinson I would like to focus on the impact that digital media has on our consumption of information. In this essay, I am going to explain how digital writing influences our lives as students for the better.\u00a0\u00a0 Digital writing enables the addition of multimodal writing which gives allows for more depth in reader understanding, more efficient consumption, and easier access for different learning styles and makes it easier to judge the credibility of information.<\/p>\n But first let me explain what digital writing is.\u00a0 Digital writing is essentially the writing practices in a digital space.\u00a0 This can include social media, Buzzfeed<\/a> articles, and even online journals and scholarly work. It is nearly impossible for us to escape digital writing in today\u2019s society.\u00a0 Since we are engulfed in this media we should get to learn more about the positive ways digital media can help our lives especially in terms of school work.<\/p>\n Just married couple, holding hands and walking in nature<\/p><\/div>\n Digital writing is perfect marriage with multimodal content.\u00a0 A multimodal approach is the combination of elements like sound, images, pictures, graphs, and other media.\u00a0 The multimodal approach to writing can make writing more efficient and add additional depth and ways to understand an article.<\/p>\n As students, we are often trying to get the most information in as little time as possible.\u00a0 Multimodality writing can allow our information gathering process to go quicker.\u00a0 For some students, it is easier to quickly understand a well-designed image, video, or soundbite which is added alongside the text.\u00a0 The addition of a short video can save the author and us as readers a lot of time.\u00a0 While multimodal writing was present before the digital era multimodal media has come to dominate students\u2019 textual landscapes.\u00a0 Multimodal writing allows us to see exactly what the authors argument or goal is. \u201cwriters negotiate meaning-making opportunities with operating discourses in contexts of situation and culture of text production. \u201c (Rowley)<\/p>\n Multimodal writing allows readers to seek more depth in articles.\u00a0 A tool many authors use are hyperlinks<\/a>, which allows the reader to follow a link that the author selected to provide background information.\u00a0 Hyperlinks allow us as readers to not only understand certain terminology but to be able to see exactly the knowledge the author would like us to have on this topic.\u00a0 These tools can also be used to broaden our connection with the text.\u00a0 Jen Rajchel in “Why and How For Liberal Arts Teaching and Learning<\/a>” explains how multimodal writing allowed her to view poems in a completely different way by clicking on each hyperlink available in poems.\u00a0 This allowed for visualization of the allusions represented also in textual form.\u00a0 She also mentions how through digital writing citations and footnotes allowed for a path of discussion.<\/p>\n Multimodal writing can be very beneficial for our everyday use of gathering information as a student.\u00a0 While it can be a helpful tool we need to have multimedia literacy in order to use multimodal writing effectively. Richard Lanham<\/a> says, \u201cMultimedia literacy requires that we be very quick on our feet in moving from one kind of knowledge to another.\u201d Lanham also describes how authors need to be able to express themselves in a media that the audience finds easiest to understand.\u00a0 This is important because not only can the authors tailor their media to one style but also students can find articles that use certain media styles also. We all have different brains and these styles can help us be more efficient by using our strengths instead of being forced into consuming writing or media only in one way.<\/p>\n Brain<\/p><\/div>\n Students need to be especially concerned about the credibility of information, whether writing an academic paper or exploring information about medical treatments, political matters, and many other serious matters. Fortunately, it becomes easier over time to judge the credibility of information for digital content.\u00a0 While the digital platform has led to a \u201c.. staggering volume and speed with which information is presented and the sophisticated ways in which facts and figures are represented make it practically impossible for an average adult to single-handedly judge accuracy and credibility without guidance.\u201d (Abilock, 70) Readers who have grown up with digital writing are adapting to the new information sources and able to judge credibility easier.\u00a0 As Abilock describes, \u201cyouth are less trusting than their elders of sites that host their information.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe tend to treat print as a determinate of information quality.\u201d (Abilock, 73) These books, journals, newspapers, and other publications have typically gone through an rigorous review process by editors or peer review.\u00a0 Digital writing and multimodal writing are delivered on platforms that enable tools for readers to better evaluate the credibility of the information.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the digital environment enables tools that for readers to assess the credibility of information.\u00a0 In the digital environment, it easier to check citations and reading what other sources are saying about the issue.\u00a0 It is easier to access reader feedback and ratings on digital content. (Lim)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When was the last day you spent without your phone?\u00a0 I feel almost naked without my cell phone. As students and young adults, we encounter digital writing nearly every day. Since we are exposed to this form of media it is important to understand digital writing well enough to make the most out of this resource. I believe learning about digital writing helps students out in research, their major, and future endeavors.<\/p>\n I am an economics major here at Dickinson College<\/a>.\u00a0 Generally, for my economics papers an economic issue is presented and I\u2019m asked to explain why an action is going to help or hurt this issue.\u00a0 After reading about what makes good digital writing I believe that many of these same concepts can apply to my writing in economics. Carroll in \u201cOn Writing Well\u201d, lists several principles of good digital writing that I believe are important aspects of my essay in economics.\u00a0 Being precise, being aware, and being concise are examples of these principles that fit with our writing style in economics.\u00a0\u00a0 Being precise is important in economics because if the word doesn\u2019t mean exactly what you intend to then the reader is learning false information.\u00a0 Being aware is a very important aspect of digital writing as issues like plagiarism, stereotyping, oversimplification, generalizing, jumping to conclusions, faulty logic or circular arguments, and the overuse of pronouns and articles can all make an economics article invalid. (Carroll) The last connection between digital writing and economics writing is that both disciplines require producers to be precise and concise.\u00a0 Being concise is an important aspect of the writing we have in economics because we have strict limits to lengths of our papers and anything that isn\u2019t concise takes away from our main arguments.\u00a0 \u00a0I think the multimodality also helps me as an economics major because much of the economic literature is dense in difficult language.\u00a0 I often look the subject up online and find articles that reference visual or audible aid to help me get a better picture of what is going on.<\/p>\n I believe that understanding the landscape of digital writing is a very beneficial towards our everyday lives as students. \u00a0Digital writing is a major aspect of nearly every college students lives. An advantage of being Millennials is that we grew up with this technology that has allowed for digital writing. Not only are we reading social media but we are also gathering our information for classes online.\u00a0 I think in nearly all of my classes we have had some form of assignment that connects digital writing to the course. An example of this would be in my American Studies – Gender and Race in Sports class in which we are tasked with connecting themes we were learning in class with digital writing and media. \u00a0When looking at these articles it was clear that the variety of websites are different and target their audience through different methods.\u00a0 It is important when coming across digital writing in a course to have a general idea of the platform this information is on and the audience.\u00a0 For example, having the knowledge that the Onion posts satirical articles allow me to stay away from their content when looking for credible resources. Also, when looking through post on the internet some sources may post information without fact checking in order to have their story come out first or stretch the truth. While there are some issues with the credibility of some digital writing we are able to access much more information than we ever could. You can write an entire research article without leaving the confines of your dorm room.<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see the use of digital writing beyond my life at Dickinson.\u00a0\u00a0 I will be trying to enter the workforce after this school year.\u00a0 Whatever job I plan to get I\u2019m sure digital writing will be very impactful.\u00a0 Currently I have been investigation different career paths online and found articles that have help me understand the job market. My dream job would be to work in a front office for a sports team.\u00a0 In this role, digital writing would be very important to knowing the landscape of the league and news surrounding players. For example, there was a lot of drama last week when Eric Bledsoe a player from the Pheonix Suns<\/a> tweeted \u201cI don\u2019t wanna be here\u201d.<\/p>\n Eric Bledsoe<\/p><\/div>\n This tweet essentially sent a message to every other team in the league saying that he isn\u2019t happy and would like to be traded.\u00a0 Regardless of what type of job I will get or hopefully get, I will call upon digital writing for tips and strategies to use once at my new position.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see how the growth in technology influences our digital writing.\u00a0 I think that the increase in technology will allow for even more publicity of information.<\/p>\n Works Cited <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Abilock, Debbie, \u201cTrue\u2014or Not?\u201d Educational Leadership, v69 n6 p70-74 Mar 2012. 5 pp. http:\/\/www.ascd.org\/publications\/educational-leadership\/mar12\/vol69\/num06\/toc.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lanham, Richard . \u201cDigital Literacy.\u201d\u00a0Richard Lanham: Digital Literacy<\/em>, Sept. 1995, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 www2.idehist.uu.se\/distans\/ilmh\/Ren\/lanham-digital-lit.htm.\u00a0Scientific American<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lim, S., & Steffel, N. (2015). Influence of user ratings, expert ratings and purposes of \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 information use on the credibility judgments of college students.\u00a0Information Research, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20<\/em>(1), paper 658. Retrieved from http:\/\/InformationR.net\/ir\/20-1\/paper658.html<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Archived by WebCite\u00ae at http:\/\/www.webcitation.org\/…)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rajchel, Jen. \u201cWeb Writing: Why and How for Liberal Arts Teaching and Learning.\u201d Edited by \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jack Dougherty and Tennyson O,\u00a0Web Writing Why and How for Liberal Arts Teaching \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and Learning Consider the Audience Comments<\/em>, University of Michigan Press, 4 Mar. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2015, epress.trincoll.edu\/webwriting\/chapter\/rajchel\/.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rowley, Jennifer and Frances Johnson. “Understanding Trust Formation in Digital<\/p>\n Information Sources: The Case of Wikipedia.”\u00a0Journal of Information Science<\/em>, vol. 39, no. 4, n.d., pp. 494-508. EBSCOhost<\/em>, envoy.dickinson.edu\/login?url=http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edswsc&AN=000321979300006&site=eds-live&scope=site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/06\/30\/health\/americans-screen-time-nielsen\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that the average American spends more than 10 hours a day behind a screen consuming media?\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, it is estimated that we will increase the hours behind a screen and access additional devices in the … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/files\/2017\/11\/Marriage-holding-hands-300x200.jpg\")
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