Something for the History Books

Computer technology has taken enormous leaps of advancement from where it once was, decades ago. Computers and the internet have changed the world dramatically in a couple decades. Technology is always evolving, getting better and running faster. The internet allowed people to upload information, which most people in the world can see. This was the catalyst for the movement called electronic writing. Electronic writing in the future will have to separate itself from print in order to succeed, for only the strongest survive. The future of electronic writing is directed towards communication with others, and educating people.
Social Networking will become a primary way for people to communicate. Social networks allow people to express themselves online. These social networks target teenagers, because this demographic group prefers to always be in touch with their friends. Social networks allow people to share photos, plan events, and stay connected. There are roughly 65 million people who own a facebook account according to the article Controlling Access for Social Networking. In the future, everyone who has internet access will have a social networking account. This is because social networks allow people to communicate periodically and conveniently. Writing on social networks is convenient because it allows users to leave messages, updates and news through a user friendly network, in which people can periodically check if they have internet access. Writing on social networks involves leaving posts, commenting on pictures or videos, updating events or creating groups. The future of social networks will allow people to do much more on the web site. This allows people to expand their writing experience by writing on new subjects. Writing on a social network is similar to writing on an email. People converted to using email faster than any other form of communication besides talking of course. When writing an email or on a social network, one can be formal or casual depending on the recipient. Emails in the future will not change much because they are simple and efficient. The only flaw with emails is that information cannot be exchanged fast enough, but that’s why instant messengers were developed.
Instant messaging and text messages are also ways people communicate with writing. Instant messaging is growing now and will become one of the most popular ways to communicate. Sometimes people need information immediately and cannot wait for people to check their emails, so they instant message the person instead. This allows people to commutate in a conversation format. The difference between talking on the phone and using an instant messenger is that people, who talk with their voice, can only do so much without the conversation going stale. Were as with instant messengers, people can do several things at once, and the conversation can continue; this is called multi-tasking. Instant messaging has potential to become the primary means of communication. The future of instant messaging looks bright because of recent innovations such as file sharing. Writing on instant messengers will continue for a long period of time. Text messaging has the same characteristics as the instant messenger, but in a mobile phone. Writing on instant messaging and text messages is much different that writing papers. Writing styles online will broaden from casual slang to professional looking documents. Currently, a large portion of the population writes online with abbreviations, writes in slang, and or litters the page in smilies or other symbols. People suggest that this will change how people write in print, but it will not because students are educated enough to know the difference between a casual conversation online and a term paper. People use abbreviations because they are too lazy to type out the entire word. Although this may sound terrible, it really has no effect on how students write their papers. Students will catch any mistakes when editing, thus the problem is solved. The future of online writing will make way for both casual conversations and formal papers turned in via internet.
New advances in technology allow students to be schooled from home via internet. The future of electronic writing involves having students write and turn papers in online. Some schools already incorporate this technology, while most others use the more conventional paper essays. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, turning in papers online saves the environment, allows a broader audience to read and or grade the work, and is more convenient for the professor to receive. On the other hand, turning papers online makes it easier for people to plagiarize, professor cannot make notes on the paper as easily and you need internet connection to submit the essay. It would be easier to plagiarize because there would be more essays online for the general public to view on blogs and other websites. There are websites that prevent plagiarism such as turnitin.com. To plagiarize is defined as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own”. Students know that it is risky to plagiarize online because turnitin has “created a series of computer programs to monitor the recycling of research papers”. These programs have slowed the cheating process down but have not eliminated it. Future programs will become smarter and will be able to detect paraphrased information. Writing online in the future will eventually become the primary means of writing. This is because of the technology to stop plagiarism, the convenience of the internet and because of the broader audience who cans see the paper.
Although there are plenty of educational websites, they will never replace textbooks or the classroom. Classrooms have the personal communication and interactive lessons that the internet does not. Text books are more useful because one can highlight and make notes on the margins and mark pages, while online writing has far less of those capabilities. Also, books have a sense of nostalgia because they have been around for so long. They can be taken anywhere, and they do not need internet or battery to access them. Also they do not strain one’s eyes after reading for a period of time. They are something that will never be replaced. There are sites online such as Write It that allow students to “read and critique works-in-progress, publish their writing online, learn techniques from featured writers, and expand their creativity with interactive writing activities”. Even future sites will not surpass the classroom and it’s because there is an interactive connection between the teacher and the student. Online there is no personal connection, thus the student will not receive the most out of their experience.
Although education will remain strongest in the classroom, the internet adds variety to the educational system. There are online sites, programs and tools that help students get more out of their education. For example, Wikipedia is good for students to get background information on a topic but should not be used as a source. There are plenty of valid sources on the internet, but it is difficult to locate them. The future search engines will make searching for specific pages much easier. Writers have to adapt to online writing by changing their writing styles so that search engines pick their work up. This includes making tags, repeating words and other techniques. Writers have to make their work unique so that the search engines can single them out.
People are starting to learn more about the news online rather than the television or the newspaper. There are several advantages to reading the news online. For instance, the news is always update online because authors can post a new article anytime there is breaking news. The newspaper only gives you news about issues of the day before and upcoming events. The news on television is only on air certain times of the day. Also one cannot jump to the story they want on television like one could online or in a newspaper. The population is shifting towards reading the news online because it is more up to date and more convenient.
People are starting to express their opinions on blogs. This is a major shift in writing because now people can converse on an online about an issue or topic. For those who are unfamiliar with blogs, a blog is “short for Web log. Blogs are publicly available web pages, with personal views and links expressing the opinions and observations of a particular person, usually on a specific topic or theme and are usually updated regularly reflecting the personality of the author”. People who periodically post and update blogs are known as bloggers. Blogs can be about anything and there are plenty of blogs online. Blogs can be written to explain a topic, inform others, express an opinion, or just act as a journal. Other people can comment on the blog post. This can cause conflict if the person comments negatively or rudely. People who enjoy causing conflict or starting arguments are typically called “internet trolls”. These people slow down the progress of the blog. Blogs are a major portion of online writing because people can post questions and anyone can answer the question and post their source afterwards. The only thing that is blogs back is the ability for search engines to find them. Once that problem is solved then blogs will explode into the next major writing medium. Until then, online writing must compete with print writing.
No one medium of writing is more dominant that the other today. People read and write online for different reasons. For example, people read and write online to find information, learn about the news and most importantly communicate. People usually read print for their education (textbooks) and for entertainment (novels). Also, older generations will typically read print because they are not familiar with how to use a computer. The more tech savvy younger generation will be more prone to writing and reading online. Writing online does have its advantages but there are not enough pros for people to convert to online writing and reading. In the future, online writing needs to separate itself from print. Print is improving itself with moving pictures. Online writing will eventually be the dominant medium, but print will always be around. Print has been around since the ancient times and will continue to our future. It will continue into the future in the form of novels and text books. Print book are much more appealing to people than online books. Thus, online writing is forced to focus on communication and education.
Writing online is a fairly new concept and yet, it has become one of the most popular forms of communication. As technology evolves, the writing styles also have to evolve. Emails and instant messaging have become the foundation of communication between people online. Blogs have the potential to become the most interactive common place for electronic writing. Electronic must separate itself from print texts. Electronic writing will evolve with the technology and eventually it will become the dominant medium but it will always focus on communication and education. The future of electronic writing will cause a major shift in everyday life and alter how people interact; it will make everything more convenient; this revolution is something for the history books.