The idea behind “writing as technology” lies in the fact that writing is a tool, something that is not instinctive but rather that has been developed over time to serve a purpose. People have not always written; indeed, Walter J. Ong in his text Orality and Literacy laments the fact that oral tradition is suffering at the hands of the written word, because people no longer tell stories; instead, they write them down. Plato viewed writing as an abomination; unfortunately his greatest flaw was that he wrote this down.
Viewing writing as a tool sets it up as something to which we should devote considerable thought. If writing is not instinctive but rather learned, then it is something that a person must choose to employ. I can’t help but think of writing as an outlet, a way to empty some room in the over-crowded brain – as though there’s only so much that we can internalise, and whilst the spoken word is forgotten, the written word is persistent and remembered.
Why is this important to my research? Well, as a long-time blogger, I’m particularly interested in the ways in which I have come to know elements of my personality and identity through the words I have written and the topics I have explored during my years of blogging. Through writing, I discover passions of which I was not even aware. As I will discuss further in the Voice chapter, writing has enabled me to understand the way in which I think, and the tone of voice in which I “speak” (and yes – speaking can and does include writing). Writing, and the comprehension of the written word, has for me been vital for the unraveling of self that has contributed to the person I am today. Without writing, I’m not sure who I would be. The added thrill of blogging is that, generally speaking, one’s written words are available for anyone to read – and to criticise. Writing causes me to stay true to my own beliefs, but yet a crafty employment of words and tone can enable me to not so much censor myself, but to bury the truth of a situation under many layers, so as not to expose too much of who I really am. However, this in itself is quite revealing.
Keeping a blog is monumentally different to writing a book or an article or even keeping a diary on paper. The words we use, the topics we explore, the way in which we represent ourselves comes out in a blog because despite its public nature, a blog is intensely personal, and there is a connection direct from the soul to the fingertips and to the eyes of our readers. I can type almost quicker than I can think, it sometimes seems; could it be argued that to keep a blog is to hack into one’s own subconscious and allow a steady stream of self to flow onto the computer screen? And then to allow that stream of subconscious to be absorbed and indeed picked apart by one’s readers? Is the fact that a blog is public, the very thing that keeps the writer honest and open?
Further exploratory reading: literacy, writing as technology, communication, self-reflexivity, written word
