Bolton: Chapter One Response

In the first chapter of Jay David Bolter's book "Writing Space", he begins by saying how the first forms of the written Bible were thought to have a great effect on human thought. The "written word" in any form is preserved, and therefore has a more solid impact on the minds of people and on their culture. It was originally thought that once written in book form, the "truths" within would be indisputable, but this was not the case. People still continued to question, read, and write on their own. Printing presses, which made way for computers, have made it easier for people to distribute what they want to teach and the Internet has opened a whole new world for digital communication.

Now it is not so much the question of written, or typed, but printed, or digital. What form of writing will last through time? We have already lost a lot of our dependence on books; electronic devises have in some cases made it too easy to find information outside the library. It is not all about ease, but also about mental stimulation. Digital devices such as computers,  make it easy for users to combine a variety of visual stimulants to stay attentive for longer periods of time. The "voice of the text" and the "visual and conceptual space" of writing is being changed as we move forward. Bolter explains this very well when he explains how we think of browsing the internet as taking a virtual "trip" and "exploring" different sites. As a reader, one makes a connection with the "writing space" in order to interact with it. In any technique used, from writing in literal stone to typing on a computer, our process of interpretation is changed by our writing space.