3 ms·

We are all writers now

10 points by robg 17y ago

emontero1 17y ago
I couldn't agree more. The author nailed it here. The web is bringing all these disparate voices, all these writers from different backgrounds, ethnicities and walks of life, together. The resulting collage is enriching for aspiring writers and normal folks alike. Also, I think this is the crux of the article: True, much of what is written online is quotidian, informational, ephemeral. But writing has always been so: traditional newspapers line bird-cages a day later; lab reports describe methodology in tedious detail; the founding fathers wrote what they ate for lunch. And the quality of many blogs is high, indistinguishable in eloquence and intellect from many traditionally published works. Well said.
kes 17y ago
The author would seem to be suggesting that the process of writing is a task that not only expresses what we are trying to say, but benefits us by making our thoughts coherent. While I think this is a valid argument (I often start writing when I'm trying to get my thoughts in order) I don't think that it necessarily benefits our culture in total. A response to our supervisor’s clever status update on Facebook is written carefully, so to keep the repartee going. Concision and wit are privileged in these new forms. Who would not welcome shorter, funnier prose? An interesting ideal, to be sure, but not something that is actually seen in our interactions. More people are writing, but this does not imply that more people are thinking about writing. The "25 Things" lists mentioned are not filled with creative, original and interesting thoughts as implied by the article, instead they are filled with nonsense and inane "LOL"s and "I don't really know...haha". It would be a nice world if more people cared about what they wrote, but writing only reflects thinking. If a persons thoughts are crap when they speak, nothing will change when they start pecking at a keyboard.
- michael_dorfman 17y ago
  I think the author missed the bigger point: we are all publishers now. The key innovation is not that people are writing more (or worse, or whatever) but that they are self-publishing it for all to see. Never before has it been so easy for someone to distribute their ill-advised random noodlings (or brilliant essays) unedited, to such a large potential audience. If a person's thoughts are crap when they speak, their audience is small (and limited in time), so the effects are small. If their thoughts are crap, and written down, and published widely: well, that's a different kettle of fish.

10 points by robg 17y ago

I couldn't agree more. The author nailed it here. The web is bringing all these disparate voices, all these writers from different backgrounds, ethnicities and walks of life, together. The resulting collage is enriching for aspiring writers and normal folks alike. Also, I think this is the crux of the article: True, much of what is written online is quotidian, informational, ephemeral. But writing has always been so: traditional newspapers line bird-cages a day later; lab reports describe methodology in tedious detail; the founding fathers wrote what they ate for lunch. And the quality of many blogs is high, indistinguishable in eloquence and intellect from many traditionally published works. Well said.

kes 17y ago

The author would seem to be suggesting that the process of writing is a task that not only expresses what we are trying to say, but benefits us by making our thoughts coherent. While I think this is a valid argument (I often start writing when I'm trying to get my thoughts in order) I don't think that it necessarily benefits our culture in total. A response to our supervisor’s clever status update on Facebook is written carefully, so to keep the repartee going. Concision and wit are privileged in these new forms. Who would not welcome shorter, funnier prose? An interesting ideal, to be sure, but not something that is actually seen in our interactions. More people are writing, but this does not imply that more people are thinking about writing. The "25 Things" lists mentioned are not filled with creative, original and interesting thoughts as implied by the article, instead they are filled with nonsense and inane "LOL"s and "I don't really know...haha". It would be a nice world if more people cared about what they wrote, but writing only reflects thinking. If a persons thoughts are crap when they speak, nothing will change when they start pecking at a keyboard.

michael_dorfman 17y ago
I think the author missed the bigger point: we are all publishers now. The key innovation is not that people are writing more (or worse, or whatever) but that they are self-publishing it for all to see. Never before has it been so easy for someone to distribute their ill-advised random noodlings (or brilliant essays) unedited, to such a large potential audience. If a person's thoughts are crap when they speak, their audience is small (and limited in time), so the effects are small. If their thoughts are crap, and written down, and published widely: well, that's a different kettle of fish.