#comp19

The quote that stuck with me through this reading was “This situation becomes all the more disturbing when one realizes that computers often exacerbate the very inequities that technology is so frequently supposed to ameliorate” (Selber 81). I felt like this was very important because as a generation we think computers are the best thing ever; we can do the simplest task with the tap a finger, it almost too easy. Although this is amazing and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, it can also be a problem. We are so used to everything being technology-based and that being the easier route to take, but sometimes it can also the reason you pass or fail a class. For example, this Tumblr post. When we first got the assignment it seemed too easy, who doesn’t know what Tumblr or a blog is, who doesn’t know how to find the reading then write about and post it? The assignment seemed like it’s a good idea; however, look at how many problems most of us had the first and second blog post. We all struggled in some way to either figure out how to properly do and turn in the assignment.  Until Dr. Villa spent a whole class on setting up a Tumblr, and how to write and post, teaching that critical literacy of using the website, as a class we couldn’t all get it together. The point is we thought the incorporation of technology was supposed to make this course easier but that first simple task made it harder. I feel like that carries out through our whole college experience, in some classes the excessive use of technology can hinder some student's ability to learn. For example, if class notes were all online, but a student didn’t have a personal laptop to access those notes during class; which is also mentioned in the “power moves associated with technological regularization” as a form of segregation, in my opinion. 

Also, the idea of critical literacy with technology is always thrown to the side. I remember my freshman year every teacher talked about using D2L and how everything you need is there but in all the orientation classes I was forced to sit through, not one person taught us what D2L was and how to navigate it. That set me back the whole first week of assignments because most of my time was trying to figure out how to use it. We are the generation of technology, we figured out how to use everything on our own that is why we are so tech-savvy, but that often makes everybody think we will just “figure it out” instead of teaching us how. Sure we all know how to write a paper but how many of us know how to retrieve a file if its accidentally deleted before it was saved. Yes we know computers but do we understand how to work it?

Overall, the text was about how technology is a big part of our life and it's only going to continue to take over in the education system so we have to prep students now. However, because technology is constantly changing it's not enough to have a computer technology class in high school and expect students to take that knowledge and apply it correctly in college to become successful. As far as the “systematic requirements for change” in Ch.5, I feel like we are going through those stages right now in this class with these Tumblr post. We are learning about critical and rhetorical literacy and using Tumblr to demonstrate our understandings is incorporating technology into our learning.

In The Department of Writing and Rhetoric and Understanding Rhetoric both readings discuss how all writing has one or more modes that writers can utilize. The Department of Writing and Rhetoric talks about multimodality and how writers must make rhetorical considerations beyond the written word. This allows writers to better convey their message to readers and have some leeway when writing. 

In Understanding Rhetoric the authors discuss how writing is influenced by what the writer knows about their audience. These writings will eventually be shared to the public through online spaces like social media, text messages, emails amongst other forms of expressing ones thoughts. The previously mentioned forms of sharing a written piece are all examples of multimodality and how there are different ways of conveying a message.

To conclude both readings discuss how there are different methods or outlets an author can utilize. Whether it be written or online spaces. There is never one set way for a writer to share their literary work.