[Air-L] ipad, laptop, desktop

[Charles Ess]

Two last comments -

1) Let me thank Annette for her reference to the essay by Daniel Chandler on
the Phenomenology of Writing - I've now (finally) read it, and think it's
terrific in many ways.  Chandler's careful account of the different kinds of
writers and writing techniques (from Hemingway's preference for pencil to
the fluidity of composing with wordprocessors) provides a comprehensive
spectrum and taxonomy for thinking about the many sorts of writings we can
do, how these are shaped in part by personal style and perhaps gender, etc.
- leading to a rich pluralism of possibilities for us to choose from, rather
than the otherwise tempting move of asserting one modality as better than
another per se (especially if it is somehow connected to more recent
technologies and devices - technological determinism just doesn't want to go
away, eh?)

In particular, Chandler's account of how many different ways handwriting can
be undertaken - and for many different ends - reminds me of a passage Naomi
Baron quotes in the earlier mentioned volume:

Reading is fast, but handwriting is slow ­ it retards thought¹s due process,
it consumes scupperfuls of time, it pushes every competing utterance away ­
and that is its great virtue, in fact, over mere underlining, and even over
an efficient laptop retyping of the passage: for in those secret
interclausal tracts of cleared thought-space Š new quiet racemes will emerge
from among the paving stones and foam greenly up in places they never
otherwise would have prospered.

-- Nicholson Baker, who ³copies out passages longhand when he wants to
understand or reflect upon the words of others² (Baron 2008, 197)

(Typed out for your reading and perhaps reflective pleasure on my nifty
full-sized computer keyboard ...)

Secondly, as regards tactility - enthusiasm for the importance of a specific
feel is not restricted to pre-electric/ electronic writing tools.  Consider
the passion for the importance of the tactile dimension expressed by the
fans of the IBM Model M Keyboards ("the best keyboard ever," as a google
search will tell you). FWIW, this seems similar to the passion certain
calculator enthusiasts show for the HP "voyager" series calculators (11-15)
- i.e., because of the distinctive feel of the keys that, apparently, has
never been duplicated, even by HP in later models, despite fervent pleas
from fans.

All of this is certainly, at least in part, a generational thing - but I
suspect that in part it is also tied up with our being embodied beings who
know and navigate the world in both overt and tacit ways (proprioceptively,
as the neuroscientists tell us), such that the tactile dimensions of a given
tool or technology make some difference in any event.  Insofar as any of
this is true, then it may be relevant for Internet research in ways that go
beyond our simply sharing experiences and recommendations about good gear.

In any event, in my mind the point is not, at the end of the day, to say one
interface / modality is better than another.  It is rather to recognize the
wide range of possibilities that are available, and to make informed choices
as to which we learn and take up in light of specific goals, personality
styles, etc.

And that's all I have to say about that ...
Peace,
- c.



On 1/16/12 8:46 AM, "Tilton, Shane" <tiltons at ohio.edu> wrote:

> A simple response....
> 
> http://www.shanetilton.com/2012/01/15/writing-from-the-ipad/
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
>