Experiencing the "Writing Technology Project"

This project was very interesting, to say the least. When I first read over the assignment instructions, it sounded relatively easy and actually quite fun. However, then I started considering what my actual technology would be and referring my ideas to the instructions, only to realize that my materials weren't “natural” or my technology would in no way be portable, etc. Thus, a pizza with words spelled out in pepperoni or a beautifully frosted cake weren't options.

Carving into something seemed to be the most obvious choice, but it seemed to primitive for me. I considered weaving with hay into a leaf, but it would have been too time consuming. Carving a message out with a stick in my backyard was appealingly simply, but not portable. Then, throughout my struggle to find an appropriate technology, something dawned on me. There is a reason that some of our earliest documents are those carved into stone or painted on walls. What other materials did such early civilizations have? So I began to think, what could I carve into that would be semi-permanent but also portable? I ended up choosing potatoes because they were soft enough to carve into with a rock and the images I carved into them has lasted several days, making them semi-permanent. Also, a potato is rather portable.

Here I am, slaving away:

I had two ideas with carving my potatoes, the first being to record short hand messages. This one reads, “Out 4 The Day.” I could leave it at home and my parents would know I was out for the day. It communicates a message simply and effectively.

I made another that reads, “I 'Heart' You.” What a “sweet potato!” Aha Aha, I know.

The other method I used was to carve individual words into potatoes and line them up in order to create a coherent message. This reads, “This project is very hard.” Indeed, it has been.

So while I learned that carving with a rock into a potato works well enough, it was the thought process that was the true struggle with this assignment. After doing this, I definitely better appreciate the thought and effort that has gone into the evolution of written language. I couldn't be more thankful that we write with pens and paper and not potatoes and rocks! Barron's article made me consider our dependence on our modern forms of writing technology, specifically computers. To lose them would be so detrimental to our everyday lifestyles, especially mine as a student. I depend on the computer as a resource, to communicate, and as a means of “writing.” I have panic attacks whenever my computer crashed because I might not get my homework done on time or I fear the loss of my documents. If computers worldwide were to “crash” and pens all of a sudden ran out of ink, the conveniences would be gone and we might have to resort to carving potatoes! This is an extreme, of course, but it made me aware of our dependency on modern written technology, the work that has gone into “perfecting” it over the years, and how lost and “primitive” we would feel without it.

In Manguel's article, I came to a realization of the power of Gutenberg's invention. I remember in my social studies classes that Gutenberg's printing press was always mentioned, but never did I fully understand the degree of importance and impact his invention had. With the printing press, all of a sudden communicating language through print was done quickly and efficiently and above that, the public had access to these texts in mass numbers. Books were beginning to move from luxury to universal property, as books grew smaller in size and lighter in weight to better accommodate the needs of the average person. That, indeed, is powerful!