Jay David Bolter redefines writing as a technology in ‘Writing Space.’ Bolter seeks to “broaden our definition of technology to include skills as well as machines.” After reading this extract, it seems obvious that writing is a technology. “Even if the capacity for language is innate . . . Writing is certainly not innate.” Writing is a skill that involves learning and practice before it can become second nature.

To illustrate his point, Bolter looks at the history of economies of writing. Writing materials and techniques have always varied between cultures. The Egyptians etched hieroglyphics into stone, whereas the Sumerians adopted a wedge-shaped stylus which they etched into clay. Today, English speaking cultures have adopted an alphabet and write horizontally across the page. Conversely, the Japanese use characters and write vertically.

An important distinction is made between hard and soft structures. Bolter defines hard structures as “tangible qualities of the materials of writing,” such as stone. “Soft structures are those visually determined units and relationships that are written on or in the hard structures.” This includes characters or symbols drawn, painted or etched into the hard structures.

Bolter goes on to address how electronic technologies have changed the conditions of writing. He contends that new electronic structures “constitute perhaps the greatest single technological change in the history of writing.” These new hard structures take away from the connection between the words and the reader. “The author no longer writes on the page, but must instead work through layers of technology and a number of middlemen.” Online, language is coded, re-coded and decoded before it reaches the reader. But, electronic hard structures also provide rapid access to writing and ensure long periods of storage. Like all technological advances, there are pros and cons.

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