Writing, even in today’s information age, takes place in many different places. Writing a note to a family member, using text messaging on your phone, or even just typing a paper would be considered writing. Yet, three areas where I write the most may not be the most practical or technologically advanced. I still prefer to use a notebook and legal pad for most of my writings, although I will occasionally use an Internet forum to post about certain topics, but that wouldn’t be considered academic. In the notebooks and legal pad, I write rough drafts to any ideas I currently have, creative or academic, and then use that rough draft as a basis for when I actually have to type them up. That is if they make the jump to the electronic. Both of these are unique to me because they seem more personal. Sometimes typing and electronic writing can seem so informal. While the typing is our own thoughts and ideas, it lacks a tangibility that physical writing can give. As for the forum, it just exists as an outlet to express ideas and positions with other people, either like minded or those that conflict. This makes it unique in a way that I can interact with a much greater audience than I could ever in person.
When it comes to remediation, the act of one form of media supplanting the other, both notebooks and something like a legal pad would be usurped by something electronic like an Internet forum. My thoughts and ideas scribbled down on a notepad would be messy and unkempt compared to what I may be able to type on a forum. Having to abide by the forum’s rules, my posts would have to be more concise, clear, and neat for people to dissect and read. In this manner, electronic writing becomes an easier place to write as I would be able to delete and edit on the fly as opposed to having to cross out what was not intended for paper and having to rewrite it, thusly creating an even bigger mess. While this electronic writing has remediated my former writing spaces, it does not mean I have to agree with it, as I do not see myself changing with the times. Do not get me wrong, I use electronic writing virtually all the time, but nothing can beat the tangibility of a notebook.
