Anticipating readership (9 of 12) **To add to later**

When you put on text (on your person- as clothing/text, tattoo, or jewelry), do you honestly anticipate readers?

Before we get dressed in the morning or when we buy the shirt?
Are we dressing for other people?

Crayon Response Transcribed (8 of 12)

First is a photo of the paper with the text itself. The transcription can be found below the photo.


I'm going to have to agree with Zadie

Smith. I think people who are able

to take on multiple different voices

are capable of adapting themselves

to different situations. Language

is a very powerful tool, and its

reperassions can go beyond the

simple act of conversation. A

person able to mold modify the way in

which they communicate are also

likely to be able to modify other

things (ie, thoutght, ideas) depending

on the situation.




Irina F.

Crayon Critique (7 of 12)

Consider the material nature of the crayon response you are reviewing – this is not your own writing! Is the writer influenced by the writing implement s/he uses? Is the writer more expressive or less expressive as a result of the physical constraints of the crayoned page?

Is this writing any good? How do you know that it is good (or not)?

In this written response, the writer appears to be influenced by the crayon she is using. She seems to be less expressive in the volume (amount) of writing on the page, and her writing contains little to no grammar outside of simplistic usage of periods and capitalizing at the beginning of each sentence. While multiple contractions are intended, she fails to use the proper punctuation requiring this intent to become usage. Some words are spelled incorrectly as well. Regarding the volume of text on the page, she uses almost all of the space available on one side of the page, but only fills 13 lines of text. A lined notebook page, or even the standard 12-pt-font typed page uses many more lines of text to fill the page.

I think this writing is good, but seems juvenile beyond the usage of crayon. Her argument is an interesting one, and has the potential to be good, but there is a lack of support. There seem to be some missing steps of logic from one sentence to the next- as if her brain was thinking faster than she could write (or she couldn’t write as quickly as her thoughts came). It’s possible that the use of crayon impeded her ability to record her thoughts. A pen or pencil flow much smoother than a crayon, and can more quickly fly across the page.

Twouble with Twitter (6 of 12)

This post is a response to this parody of twitter, found on youtube:



Respond to the character's question as he enters the twittersphere:  "Who are they talking to?"  Do you wonder who your audience is when you post on twitter?  Do you feel differently about your audience in online writing environments?  Is your relationship to your online audience distinct?  Who do you imagine is reading your tweets, for example?


This animation clearly doubts the viability of twitter as a valuable tool?  What do you think?   What is the purpose of microblogging?

I agree with the view this video presents- people are talking to everyone and no one at once. Actually, I don’t even think it’s talking. Reading someone’s twitter posts is like taking a cross section of their mind- every passing thought as they go through life. I’m not even sure if stream-of-consciousness thought can be directed at anyone specifically…I mean, who do you direct your thoughts to?

I don’t really use twitter…I have one, but discovered quickly that it’s a social media that people expect you to use EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY or not at all. I think it would depend on the reason why someone starts a twitter as to whether or not they think about their audience. Some people start twitters for an organization or a youth group as a way to update others on events and happenings that those groups host or participate in.

I think the relationship between an online audience and the tweeter can be distinct. For example, two classmates might follow each other on twitter, but may not speak at school. Twitter also allows the safety from immediate, direct (and physical) consequence upon putting a thought out in the twitter universe than saying it to someone’s face. This allows for the creation of a persona (or multiple)- different voices, perhaps. Some people have a persona at school, and express their ‘true’ voice via twitter, or vice versa.

I think this video underestimates the power and influence twitter can give/have on someone- whether it’s over their own life or someone else’s. While some random thoughts in one person’s head are in response or reaction to some situation or person, all the tweeter’s audience receives is that thought- not the context in which it came. I think that is a possible unforeseen danger in twitter. On the flipside, twitter can also be used as a means to gather or rally people on a particular topic. It allows for live updates from awards shows, or it can provide live questions from an audience around the world to people interviewed on TV. I think the video doubts the viability of twitter as a valuable tool for everyone- I do believe twitter is a very important tool of the media, but that might not be such a good thing…

Twitter as a writing space (3 of 12)

What I really think about the writing space that twitter affords is...a textual space encouraging expression within a confined boundary. Twitter is more a textual space than a writing space because you can do more than just put words in your tweets. You can post pictures and link to almost anything you want. It also allows for small conversations to happen between any sort of person. People one might not see every day in day-to-day life you can tweet at and have a conversation with.

A tweet's purpose is for a short quip; a snippet of information about what is happening in real life. A tweet is like one's internal commentary on a situation- twitter provides a space for everyone to comment and give their opinions on life in real time. This raises a few interesting questions: Is twitter a place of legitimacy? Does this place provide validation for people's thoughts and opinions? Do people use twitter as such?

Portable writing (2 of 12)

I'm not sure why so many people war texts on their clothing and on their skin. Perhaps they feel that such portable writing serves to...make a statement about who they are. Some people choose their clothing very carefully every day, while others just throw on the first thing they find, but I would venture to say that the majority of us choose clothing we like to have in our wardrobe (what we have accessible to us to wear). Tattoos are a different story, I think. Every person I hvae ever met with a tattoo (that I notice), I ask about it. Tattoos almost always mean a great deal to the people I've spoken with. It was something very important/with a lot of meaning to them for them to even consider getting it permanently inked into their skin. I think clothing might be less of a permanent statement about ourselves than tattoos. But to some people, clothing is a way of life...Although the experience for transgender* people differs by individual, for me, clothing is my statement to the world that my gender is not defined by society's cookie cutter outlines. For other transgender* people, however, clothes can tell the world that individual identifies as a particular gender not typically associated with their genitals.

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