Comments on: The Challenge of Writing in a Digital Age

By: bodnotbod

bodnotbod — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:57:02 +0000

"If he carries all that information there, what does he need to carry in his head?"

Judgement.

By: michael ellison

michael ellison — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:21:17 +0000

Given the content of your speech, I feel obliged to ask about the “US Weekly’s of the world.” Are they related in any way to the US weeklies of the world? And if the US weeklies were not in the world, where else might they be?

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:35:56 +0000

I attended your speech and I am in a class you spoke to. I really enjoyed your topic and perspectives, and I appreciate you representing Drake in such a positive light. Thanks for coming back. Come again soon!

By: John August

John August — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:02:28 +0000

Matt (#2):

Fixed and fixed. Thanks.

By: Karsten

Karsten — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:25:54 +0000

NINTH!!

Sorry... had to.

In all seriousness; this is an amazingly insightful and well-put piece of writing on a subject that is very very interesting and important. I'm certainly passing this one forward.

Thank you for a blog that is a great resource, and, in fact, an authority.

By: Juno

Juno — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:19:25 +0000

Thanks John, this was a great read. I linked to it.

Reading this brought to the forefront of my mind thoughts I've been having recently about the state of learning/information/knowledge in "the digital age."

The boy I tutor has an iPhone and a laptop, which means that he's able to connect to the internet virtually anywhere and at anytime. That means he carries the entirety of wikipedia and infinite google search results in his pocket. If he carries all that information there, what does he need to carry in his head?

I don't have some climactic revelation to all of this, but I do think it's fundamentally changing something about the purpose of learning, or at least what is fundamentally important to learn. On another angle, if the space in our brains that we spent on memorizing facts can be used for something else, (since the iPhone/internet can be used as a repository for facts) what can we do with this newfound brainspace?

By: mister topps

mister topps — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:17:24 +0000

PLANT!!!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:36:54 +0000

I liked your speech. My only complaint would be that the Ain't It Cool News story could have been summed up a little bit earlier. It started to feel like you were continuing it just to rip Michael Marker. If you cut out a few of the later excerpts you would get the same point across and keep the speech on the topic a little better (in my opinion... of course, I'm not a professional writer, or even an English major, so what do I know?).

I do like the call to arms to become an authority on something/anything. To often people just post a bunch of links and call it a blog. They should at least comment on the link if they are going to post it.

Also, I think the response area has made the current iteration of media far greater than the old newspapers. It allows people to express their views (agreeing or dissenting) of the original article. Sure, occasionally people will argue like grade schoolers, but when an intellectual point of view is posted it enhances the whole article/post/blog.

Thanks for sharing the speech!

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:29:23 +0000

"You can write something tonight, and be a worldwide sensation the next day."

that's not easy! But hey, John, you are a worldwide sensation everyday!

By: Einar, Iceland

Einar, Iceland — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:16:13 +0000

“Esoteric”….fortunatly you found that word again.

By: Joshua James

Joshua James — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:57:01 +0000

Oh and John,

I grew up in Iowa, and went to the University of Iowa and passed WHAT CHEER all the time, which always brought a smile . . .