Journal 1: Words that Matter

What is writing?

Writing is a process of recording. Recording in the sense that it is physically being marked into materials. This process of recording is built on the necessity of preservation. There is something innately human in not wanting to be forgotten or to forget. While writing facilitates the preservation of the old, it also paves a way for the new. If less of the mind is spent memorizing, then more can be focused on new ideas and expounding on what is written. Writing allows for this, but it also changes how people communicate. Mass communication is brought about by the development of writing. Writing also changes the kind of information that is communicated. What writing does, really, is change how people interact on a large scale. 

Writing Key Terms:

• Transferred: Writing is the imprinting of what exists outside of writing. Written language is derived from the world around it. This is more literally conveyed in written languages that are visually derived (like hieroglyphics), but even those that are not have environmental contributors. Then, language is transferred from people to people. The written word is constantly being updated.  
• Perspective: Writing, although generally constrained by systematic limitations, is also based on the writer. Writing is just as much based on the writer as it is on the environment/society. Perspective defines how people address everything, not just writing. Writing also cycles back and impacts perspective.  
• Direct: Writing bridges the gap between people. It does this in a different way than oral communication. Writing can create direct communication across boundaries like time and physical space. Although, it can be argued that boundaries are created by the interference of the materials. In other words, books have covers for a reason.  
• Varied: Writing is varied as it relates to perspective. The constraints of the written word are often broken and stretched. Out of the structure of language comes poetry and music, which do not necessarily fit what is traditionally expected. 
• Learned: Writing, just like oral language, is a learned process. It is an artificial system that is repeated and normalized. Because of this normalization, writing is redirected so that it directly impacts the society out of which it originates.