yay for new media!

In my previous writing classes at the University, all of the writing assignments have been extremely organized and polished. I took English 100-Introduction to Speech Composition. In this class we would spend about two weeks outlining, writing, and preparing our speeches. We would turn them into the TA to be reviewed and commented on and we would also have peer-review days. All the speeches we constructed had to follow a strict format. I also took Zoology 152 which is considered a comm. B class because we had to turn in a 20 page scientific research paper at the end of the semester. This was a very formal paper and was also reviewed by TAs and other students throughout the semester. It was an extremely long process to get it to its final draft. After learning the content of this class I was excited to learn some new things rather then having to write another formatted essay.

New media challenges this sort of “slow rhetoric” writing (as Lester Faigley would put it), in that, with new media you can create a piece of writing in about 20 minutes. You don’t have to brainstorm ideas for days or have anyone review and comment on your work. It is a very fast process and it is pretty informal in terms of formatting and structure. I think some people feel that brainstorming, writing, reviewing, and perfecting are the only way to make a good piece of writing. However, in this day in age when everything is moving so fast and communication is at a click of a button, I feel it is important to incorporate this sort of curriculum into academic writing.

In the coming generations, new media is going to become even more prevalent than it is today and slow forms of communication will probably become nearly extinct. For that reason, I think it is important that college students have the opportunity to become informed as to how to use this new media. Students will be much more prepared for work environments in which they will need this knowledge to succeed. If they don’t need this knowledge directly in their field of work it is still useful in everyday life and helps those educated to be one step above the rest. However, I don’t feel that new media should be the only academic writing option for students. I think slow, thought out processes of writing are also of great value and should not be overshadowed by this new wave of media. I think this overshadowing could be a major consequence since students will probably be more inclined to take a new media class rather than an old-fashioned English writing class. Moreover, some students who come from less privileged backgrounds may not have any experience with computers and new media and may feel inadequate to take these sorts of classes. I think it is important for everyone to learn these skills, but if a student cannot exceed in a class based on lack of previous knowledge I don’t think that is fair.