Baron

Dennis Baron, "From Pencils to Pixels:  The Stages of Literacy Technologies" WAW (p. 422)

Before you Read

1.  To me, technology is things invented or developed to better the world.  Examples of technology would be an iPod or a computer.  Something that is not technology would be a piece of paper and a pen.  But in a way a piece of paper and a pen are technology because someone had to invent a pen and figure out that you could make paper and write things on it.  So I think that anything could be considered technology really.   

Summary

In Dennis Baron's article, "From Pencils to Pixels" he attempts to explain how all forms of writing are technology.  Some people don't agree with computers ans all of the new technology.  They would rather just use paper and pencil.  He goes over the stages of literacy technologies.  He explains how humanists are always considered out of the technology loop.  He also explains why things came about, such as actual writing and the telephone.  Lately, he explains the computer and the pattern of literacy technology.   

Synthesis

I would compare this article to be similar to Berger's article.  I believe this because in Berger's article he goes back and talks about how people feel about the topics and peoples different opinions about it just like Baron did. They both also talked about the history of their topics and where they came from.  Berger's article is the only one I can really compare Baron's to.

Response	Quotation
No matter how we write, whether it be on a sheet of paper or on a computer, writing is writing.  It will always be technology.	“When we write with cutting-edge tools, it is easy to forget that whether it consists of energized particles on a screen or ink embedded in paper or lines gouged into clay tablets, writing itself is always first and foremost a technology, a way of engineering materials in order to accomplish an end.” (424)
What this quote means is, that people are concerned about the authenticity of computers and new technology. All technology could be potential fraud.	“Moreover, in a kind of backward wave, the new technology begins to affect older technologies as well.” (424)
Not all people are for technology.  Some people think we should stick to our old ways.  I personally think technology is too great to stick to old ways.  It makes everything so much easier.	“Henderson, who is a director of the Lead Pencil Club, a group opposed to computers and convinced that the old ways are better, further boasts the Thoreau wrote his anti-technology remarks with a pencil that he made himself.” (425)
I think this quotation is just so cool to think about.  Someone had to come up with the pencil.  Someone had to invent it, which makes it technology.	“The pencil may seem a simple device in contrast to the computer, but although it has fewer parts, it too is an advanced technology.” (426)
Writing allows us to communicate in ways that speech does not.  It allows is to record things that were in conversation.	“As literacy technology like writing begins to become established, it also goes beyond the previous technology in innovation, often compelling ways.” (428)

Questions for Discussion

1.  I am not exactly sure who the unabomber was.  I know that he attacked society's grwoing dependence on communication technology and that he excluded humanists from his list of sinister technocrats.  

Thoughts

I really enjoyed reading this article.  I found it interesting to think about that everything is really technology.  It made me start to think about other things other than writing that I didn't before consider as technology, but now do.