Technoliteracy Memoir Part III

Then there was the classic typewriter that my mother introduced to me at the age of seven. I typed many stories on the typewriter however when the bell would ring the typewriter had to be manually turned to the next line of text. If this task was not done the typewriter would continue to go until it came to an end and then just type letter over letter until I would look at the typewriter. This continuously caused me problems because I often lost valuable time and text. I was ecstatic when the electric typewriter was introduced to me in the 7th grade. Once all settings were programmed into the typewriter it would do everything for you minus the revisions which if a mistake was made it had to be manually backspaced and corrected. However this was still much more advanced than the original type writer because if there was a mistake there was not a correcting tape so the letter would just be typed over another letter and it was sometimes difficult to distinguish what was the intended letter. The electric type writer used some type of correction tape that dried instantly and then you could type over the letter to be revised and it looked much neater and much more professional. Finally, there was the personal computer which consisted of a program that completed spell and grammar checks. However one cannot be totally dependent upon the grammar checks because sometimes they are incorrect. It is still very advanced and it is something that I use within my employment on a daily basis. Emails are also one of the new technologies that have recreated the thought of writing a formal business letter. Emails have taken some of the formality away from business technical writing. It actually creates a virtual bridge between individuals who hold upper level management positions and staff. This makes management feel more tangible which was not the case prior to interoffice emails and correspondence. I have also become acquainted with text messaging and I believe that because of it my writing competency has digressed.

With all of the abbreviations that are used within text messaging it has made it much easier for me to have spelling and grammatical errors in my writing. I am extremely disappointed with this form of technology however it has its advantages such as the easy access for communication. However I am curious to study this particular subject to see how text messaging can affect SAT/GRE scores. It has to some how stagnate the vocabulary when text messaging is utilized continuously. For instance if there was a half man half beast on television I wouldn't dare text someone the phrase "turn it to channel 32, there is an extraordinarily large anthropormorphic character on this movie". I may simply type "look at that big creepy thing on 32". So, will that create some sort of gap in cognitive functions such as word association,memory, concept formation and mental imagery? Could we become so technologically advanced that we revert back to the "cave man" era with simple grunts and smiles as a form of dialect? Only this time it will be through the use of some electrodes and copperwiring that we send the smiles and grunts? I may live to find some support for my theory. Other types of technology that are available now such as blogs, podcasting, instant messaging etc. I have not yet used and never heard of prior to this class. I find the concept of all of these forms quite difficult to grasp however I am anxious to continue the course to reveal more hidden potential for my literary skills.

Technoliteracy Memoir Part II

A few years later I was introduced to video and electronic games such as the Nintendo which included games such as Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers taught me part of the analytical process that is a key element in the literary arena. On the original Mario Brothers world six there was a duck that would walk down the large staircase prior to achieving the task of grabbing the flag at the end of the level. Mario had to kill this duck but if the duck was paralyzed at a specific point on the stairs points were obtained and enough extra men to last the entirety of the game.

PLEASE NOTE: On this particular snipette when the level begins it shows the number of men. That crown and square actually represents the unlimited amount of lives that Mario has on this particular example. Whoever completed this game used precise analytical and critical thinking to obtain this status.



Simon was another electronic memory game that I played in my early childhood. It helped me expand my memory and taught me concentration. This simple game had four basic colors and each color was assigned its own tone. Simon would start off with a simple sequence and the sequence would continuously get longer and more complex. This game used some of the senses that are necessary for writing, reading, and speech because you had to use visual, and auditory senses in order to perfect the game.

Technoliteracy Memoir Part I

The first form of technology that I can consciously recollect to help develop my verbal skills was Mattel’s See ‘n’ Say. The See ‘n’ Say introduced alphabet, sound, and letter recognition. See ‘n’ Say allowed for me to learn without feeling like I was in a virtual learning setting through the use of fun and innovative techniques. The colorful décor and the ambiguity of the arrow’s next position caused an intense interaction between me and the See ‘n’ Say. This product solidified its primary goals, which was to build children’s basic verbal fundamentals and it created a strong foundation for my reading and writing capabilities.

The television played a significant role and through the use of technology it actually had a rather strong influence in my reading, writing, and speech development. Prior to attending Kindergarten I would watch Sesame Street, Pin Wheel, Scrabble, and Classic Concentration, all of the aforementioned shows taught me word and letter recognition. Scrabble the television show was hosted by Chuck Woolery. The game show used technology to make the tiled letters move up and down the blank spaces. If the tiled letter was part of the word then it was placed in its appropriate location but if the letter was not in the word the other player received a turn. Scrabble was actually a key element in developing my word structure as well as allowed for the expansion of my vocabulary. Classic Concentration the television show was hosted by Alex Trebek. The game show connected pictures, syllables, and letters to create words and phrases. This was a great exercise for the mind and the development of my writing and reading potential with word association.

Bolter's Assumptions

Yesterday in class we discussed Chapter 1 in our required text Writing Space by Bolter. Bolter had many biased opinions as to how multimedia is creating paper text to become somewhat obsolete. I am quite sure that everyone has an opinion on this particular subject, and I would like to be the first to state my opinion. I truly believe that everything that is created in our ever progressive society is eventually reinvented to make it more user friendly. Rachel mentioned in class that there was the usage of hieroglyphics in ancient times which, during that particular era, hieroglyphics was the most advanced literal technology that ever happened to mankind. After continuous progression hieroglyphics were revamped into something much simpler and more user friendly and it was introduced as the Greek alphabet. This Greek alphabet eventually became the foundation for our English alphabetic system. All original documents had to be handwritten with nothing more than the human eye for corrections and revisions, until white out was introduced centuries later. Then somewhere around the 15th century a simple machine was created which made it that much easier to distribute large amounts of literary text. Although printing presses are not yet obsolete, it has had numerous modifications to keep up with the high demand for newspapers and magazines. This invention was followed by the classic typewriter which in the 1970's and 1980's was viewed as the best invention ever created and two steps ahead of technology. The typewriter allowed for backspacing to correct typo's and some were even equipped with automatic margin settings. However, typewriters also became nearly obsolete when multimedia introduced the medium of a personal computer to create literary text. Now it is equipped with spelling and grammar checks to ensure a properly composed thought and/or ideal. Now, virtually in our forefront there is the ability to distribute literary thoughts without leaving the comfort of our home or office space. Will it eventually eliminate the usage of paper? I believe that possibly about a century from now with everything already intended to become more green and Eco-friendly, paper text will become obsolete leaving everything to your disposal through hypertext multimedia. There are many people who find this assumption absurd and I am sure the same individuals who continued to utilize hieroglyphs also thought it absurd that there would ever be another means of communication. Absurd?! I think not, only a multimedia evolution.