Bolter Proj. 2 Draft

Technology

Writing changes over time. It relies on technology that is remediated constantly through invention and public preferences.

Technology replaces technology. We often find that society is repudiated by the new technology until they quickly find out that they can’t live without it. This was apparent with the horseless carriage and printing machines. Handwriting was prevalent in the time before the Renaissance and was often used to copy books. This slow, odious, and meticulous work was replaced by printing machines that raised the distribution of books and drastically increased book learning. From a scribe having to copy each letter of a book into another book, to someone pulling  copying a page at a time, was large improvement. One feature of the new technology that was replicated from the old technology that deemed important is the style of the handwritten books. “Printing had the additional virtue that it could produce books that were nearly identical to the best manuscripts: the press rivaled handwriting in quality while far surpassing it in quantity” (Bolter, 14). “[t]he absence of any apparent change in product was combined with a complete change in methods of production, giving rise to the paradoxical combination of seeming continuity with radical change” (Bolter, 14).This was done to pacify the public but over time, the letters became thinner, easier to read, and cleaner.

Contrary to thought, public derision helps technological progress instead of hinders it. In Megan Allen’s group’s Prezi on chapter 1, they write, “Without people rejecting advancement such as the movement to electronic writing, there would be no reason to continue reinventing the writing process.” For example, when electronic books started coming out, the public was outraged. They refused to accept it, and they denounced it by pointing out its flaws. People complained about how with the new book one cannot read in the sunlight, there are no page numbers, the pictures are not in color, and so on. In response, the electronic book companies took the complaints and responded by adding these features and more until the product was so greatly improved that the people’s misgivings were overcome. Now everyone has a Kindle, iPad, eBook, or Nook.

However, the jump from the paper and pen to a computer did not go through this slow process of improvement. Instead, the technological change occurred so suddenly which is why digital technology is such a big adjustment from print. Previously, technologies went through remediation.