Phoenix Rising: The Fall and Rise of a Writing Genre

The date is December 15, 2017 and an icon in the childhood of many passes away silently without notice…

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) finally shutters its virtual doors on the tail end of 2017, but the announcement barely makes a blip in the news due to the service already having been on its death bed for years.

The once very popular instant messenger began its prolonged death in earnest in 2011 after the dramatic rise in popularity of SMS messaging and social media plummeted its market share to 0.73%. AIM’s demise seemed a natural part of the seemingly inevitable shift from dedicated instant messaging (IM) services towards other digital writing genres that were rapidly growing as the 2010s began but in actuality it did not end up so.

Before continuing, a moment of silence for the deceased (pictured below).

AIM Running Man

AIM Running Man (May 1997 – December 2017)

Research in 2010 by Grabill, et al.’s on “The Writing Lives of College Students” placed instant messaging as the 7th most frequently written genre of writing for college students (just after mostly academic genres). Yet, the same paper show signs indicative that the genre is on the way out in terms of usage and value, which can be seen through college students rating it as the 15th most valuable genre and the close trailing by the just emerging social networking genres just behind it at the 7th and 8th place in frequency. As seen through the demise of AIM a year later, these negative indicators shined true and so began an era in which social media began to dominate (Facebook hits the NASDAQ in 2012 and its billionth user in 2013) and instant messaging became a feature (Facebook messenger, Gmail messenger, etc.) over a dedicated service.

Enter the smartphone, the handheld miracle worker of the 21st century and the savior for instant messaging. Instant messaging apps provided a inexpensive and readily accessible alternative to one of the dominant writing genres of the period — SMS texting (ranked number one in frequency in Grabill, et al.’s research). SMS texting would be surpassed by IM apps in volume of messages in 2013, and two years later a single IM app (WhatsApp) alone would account for more messages daily than SMS texting as a whole, thus the instant messaging writing genre began its climb back towards the top.

Now, not only has instant messaging majorly beat out the former number one (SMS texting), but IM has also beat out the other writing genre which had edged it out years prior with IM apps now holding 20% more active monthly users over that of social networks as of 2020.

Picture of various instant messaging apps, such as Snapchat, WeChat, and WhatsApp

Various instant messaging apps (such as Snapchat, WeChat, and WhatsApp)

Through it all instant messaging has endured, and I believe it will continue to do so for many years more since it is marked by two essential traits in any frequently used genre of written communication — versatility and accessibility.

So, here’s to the the one who all instant messaging apps can thank a lil’ for their existence — thanks AIM.

Comical Histories and Influences: From Cave Paintings to Viral Tweets

What do a nerd bitten by a radioactive spider, a redheaded football player in a deathly small town, and a galumphing Great Dane all have in common?

Answer: Comics.

Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man), Riverdale’s Archie Andrews, and the chaotic canine Marmaduke all obtained their origin stories from comic books that have since been adapted into blockbuster movies or bingeworthy TV shows.

Comic books themselves may seem like a niche market nowadays, but their influence immerses us in ways we may not have previously considered. Countless pop culture items across the world—such as anime, graphic novels, and even Twitter—sample techniques of comics (to see the world’s largest collection of cartoons and comics, visit The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University).

But where did comics come from?

Comics as we know them seem to have originated in 19th Century Europe, but their beginnings could be argued back all the way into ancient times. American cartoonist and comic theorist Scott McCloud gave a fascinating lecture at Harvard University, during which he discussed the various histories and discussions surrounding comics.

McCloud pointed to several early examples as ancient influences of comics. In cave paintings that predate 6,000 BCE, Egyptians described the world around them in drawings of donkeys and people. In addition, researchers have been fascinated by the Codex Borbonicus, a 500-year-old Mesoamerican document that used pictures to describe cycles of the Aztec calendar.

Although lacking the words of contemporary comics, these examples rely heavily on images to drive a narrative. This appreciation for visual storytelling has persisted all the way to present day, where TV and movies dominate mainstream entertainment, and even the text-driven narratives of popular books are often translated into screen adaptations. Throughout history, despite advancement in how we compose visual media, the fondness for it has remained the same.

Speaking on the linear, continuous narrative presented in these ancient comics, McCloud was fascinated by how “the story determined the shape.” Contrarily, for the characteristic squares neatly confining newspaper comics, McCloud argues that “technology [in the 1990s] was determining the shape.” He voiced excitement as to how comics would evolve with advancing technology.

Comic influences can now be seen on Twitter; some of the most viral Tweets capitalize on the affordance of combining images and texts (check out Katherine Everett’s post detailing how Twitter changed the way we write).

Some feature a caption in the text portion of the Tweet, followed by a series of images, like this one. Others feature screen grabs of movies or TV, with the captions included on the image. These Tweets mimic the structure of conventional newspaper comics, and some even appear to be straight out of a comic book, like the one on the right.

Perhaps comics did not evolve the way McCloud hoped, returning to squares of pictures and text instead of flowing, boxless stories. But maybe this is because we have movies and television to satisfy our desire for linear narratives, and thus we are content with keeping comics in the little boxes.

 

Feuding and Feminism: The Hidden Lives of Virtual Assistants

In our modern times, virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google assistant are ubiquitous. Beyond the basic concerns of surveillance many people have, should society also be worried about our machines reflecting the worst parts of humanity?

The British publication, The Independent, recently published an article suggesting that Google Assistant might be subtly casting shade on Apple’s Siri. It’s not surprising that the developers of one app might program their algorithms to respond to questions about their competitors in a less than flattering light. But is it really necessary to equate “rats” with “Siri?”

In “Asking More of Siri and Alexa: Feminine Persona in Service of Surveillance Capitalism,” Heather Woods explores the idea of Siri and Alexa as electronic iterations of female stereotypes. Reading about a potential feud between virtual assistants begs the question of whether this feminization of inanimate objects has gone too far. After all, feuding females is not a new stereotype as the many iterations of the Real Housewives of… television franchise can attest.

Virtual assistants, at their core, were designed to enable us to gain back time in our busy daily lives. In many ways, they have achieved this goal. Who doesn’t love being able to ask Siri to add eggs to the grocery list while simultaneously completing household chores? When used for these purposes, virtual assistants are a godsend for millions of people.

But at some point, society will need to grapple with whether or not the darker aspects of these virtual assistants are worth the convenience to our everyday lives. Do we really need Google Assistant to tell us how annoying Siri can be?

Talk isn’t as cheap as you think

The idea of physical accessibility isn’t something we are unfamiliar with; we’re all used to the ramps and special parking spaces that inhabit the front of most buildings, a concept known as Universal Design (better outlined here), but what about intellectual accessibility? Something as simple as communicating what you want to eat? How you’re feeling? A great number of people suffer from a number of afflictions, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, or various other physical and developmental disabilities that inhibit their ability to verbalize their desires or feelings, and rely on alternative communication devices to get their thoughts out into the world.

Here is a video showing one example of accessible communication, signage within the home. While decidedly simple to execute and absolutely an affordable communication technique, what about outside the home?

https://youtu.be/d3GHkA2FfYE

Meryl Alper’s article focused on the accessibility of these technologies being out of reach for many that could greatly benefit from them and even compared two similar devices from tech company Texas Instruments (we know mostly for our graphing calculators) produced in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s: the former designed as a children’s toy, the latter as an adaptive device. The adaptive device retailed for almost four times what the toy did, which meant many couldn’t afford the device and therefore were limited to other means of communication. Over time, the technology behind adaptive communication hasn’t changed much, yet still remains expensive and mainly uncovered by insurance plans; an iPad is not an essential service or device in the way a wheelchair or cardiologist is. I disagree though, because is not communication essential for life? To a non-verbal person, something as simple as sharing their favorite color can be impossible without alternative forms of communication. Pointing or gesturing can work for simple matters, but anything complex requires more communication.

These financial barriers only add to the burdens of persons with no or limited physical speech, creating more obstacles between them and a normal life. Alper shares that not only are the devices uncovered and financially out of reach for many, the apps that are used to communicate are an additional purchase, often several hundreds of dollars- also uncovered by insurance plans.

Communication Devices for Cerebral Palsy Patients a communication app for iPad

The inequality of disability mounts higher and higher with the weight of financial limitations that millions face in day to day life as it is just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. The idea of spending $1,000 on a communication device becomes a laughable thought due to its non-reality; despite the help it could provide.

Wow, this is so sad…

In 2018, digital rhetoric scholar Dr. Heather Suzanne Woods wrote a scathing article on our misplaced trust in artificial intelligence virtual assistants. Paradoxically, the title, “Asking more of Siri and Alexa,” reflects the opposite of what the article suggests. And she is far from alone in concluding that we need to be wiser about asking anything of technologies such as these– the nodes that comprise the Internet of Things, while marketed as product-service hybrids intended to make things easier, more often add complexity to already complicated lives, making people anxious, overloaded, and unable to cope with an excess of data. But it seems humanity might have bigger fish to fry than our chronic information pathology.

Dr. Shoshana Zuboff keys us into these concerns in her book, Surveillance Capitalism, the ultimate claim of which is that by continuing to engage in technophilia, or if not technophilia then techno-ambivalence, society is slipping toward a weakening of autonomy, privacy, and individual decision-making powerful enough to threaten our most prized institution: democracy.

Meme of an anime man labeled Silcon Valley, gesturing to a butterfly labeled

Surveillance capitalism, like all other forms of capitalism, evolved by claiming something not yet a part of the market dynamic. Older forms of capitalism claimed natural resources, land, and labor as commodities to be sold and repurposed. Surveillance capitalism claims data, but not just any data. The data interests of surveillance capitalism lie in the private lives of technology users: what do people say, to whom, and how? where do they go, with whom, and how? what do they buy, for what, and how? This raw data can then be transformed into metadata profiles used to super-target individuals, nudging people toward actions that serve commercial interests.

The common refrain of “I’d rather see something I’m interested in” is enough to assuage the creeping anxiety of most while scrolling Instagram, ignoring pointed ads of a product mentioned in passing to a friend or partner. But this surplus accumulation of data goes far beyond nudging users toward purchases. In 2016, Cambridge Analytica used this same metadata to make political predictions about people. In an age of smart cities, ubiquitous computing, and quantified selves, digital platforms become the new battlegrounds of our most pressing battles: freedom from government surveillance, freedom of speech, racial justice, labor relations, and safety from bad actors. When Google can set paid customer lures via Pokémon Go to modify shopping behaviors, when advertisement becomes propaganda, when the digital is instrumentalized to the purpose of instrumentalizing people, that is how democracy finds itself in peril. When all it takes is money to buy the data and the algorithm, new poverties of information emerge that in many ways will enforce and supersede those of economics. Too much trust is put into large technological organizations to protect the data of millions, the same kind of trust generally reserved for fiduciary relationships.

“[Surveillance capitalism] substitutes computation for politics, so it’s post-democracy,” says Zuboff. “It substitutes populations for societies, statistics for citizens, and computation for politics.”

…Alexa, play Despacito.

The Key to Writing

Though over 150 years old, the keyboard remains one of the most popular tools for communication and writing.

It began as a feature on typewriters but has since evolved to become part of desktop and laptop computers, cellphones, and digital tablets. The standard English keyboard layout is known as QWERTY and is named for the first six letters starting from the top left and going to the right.

The initial key placement made in 1873 had some minor differences compared to the keyboard we know today, such as the letter M being on the middle line of letters. While the arrangement might look random, they are actually spaced that way to prevent jamming.

Letters that frequently appear next to one another in words were placed farther apart on the layout. Before this, when the letters were arranged alphabetically, the typewriter’s type bars would stick together if quickly pressed one after another.

Despite this hardware glitch no longer being a problem on our modern devices, QWERTY has survived the test of time. It is so prevalent in the modern world that the average person will type on a keyboard for three hours a day or more. This might sound like a lot, but it is not so surprising when you think about how much time people write on social media and other forms of messaging. Many people now, especially since the pandemic, work online as well.

Thinking about the logistics of typing is interesting as well. The average person can type about 40 WPM (Words Per Minute). If they also spend about three hours of their day typing, that means they average around 7200 words a day! That is more than many authors write daily for their books. It is crazy to think about many words are produced each day, all thanks to the keyboard.

It’s Time to Forget about the Prescriptivist Approach to Grammar

According to EnglishClub, grammar is “the structure and system of a language, or of languages in general, usually considered to consist of syntax and morphology”.

And within that realm, the prescriptivist approach to grammar is the belief that there are correct and incorrect ways to use grammar, the correct version being inherently superior. This has been used countless times with Standard American English, which is the way that the “American” accent is supposed to sound. If you would like an example, I immediately think of the way that newscasters speak.

The problem here is that in the prescriptivist approach, it is easy to use language, both of the written and verbal variety, as a way to invalidate someone’s argument or intelligence level.

We’re all seen Facebook or Twitter fights where someone makes an argument, and then someone else refutes their argument by simply correcting their usage of “their” or “your”. Even in 2010, when the Grabill study was conducted, they found that first year college students ranked instant messaging, commenting on status updates or posts, and status message updates within the top 10 of their most common writing outlets (5).

It’s possible that some of us or our peers have used this prescriptivist approach to grammar as a way to refute someone else’s arguments online.

I know that I have. If I’m being honest, I did think that grammar was a valid way to argue with someone. But now I know better.

In doing this, I was using grammar as a weapon against others as a way to completely discount their argument. I invalidated people based on their education, instead of their points.

I’m here to say that it is 2021 and things need to change. It is time for all of us to approach grammar descriptively. According to ThoughtCo., “Descriptivism involves observing and analyzing, without passing too much judgment, the habits and practices within speech communities, focusing on language users and uses without attempting to get them to modify their language according to standards external to the language itself”.

Essentially, we need to view the way people write and speak through the lens of empathy. Instead of judging someone’s incorrect usage of “I” or “me”, we should take in their message.

Feel free to argue with someone online, but avoid using grammar as one of your weapons. As a society, we need to be better, and I think this would be a huge step forward.

Our Generation Can’t Spell. But Does It Matter?

Technology has destroyed our generation’s ability to spell. With spell check, word processors, and search engines, there is no need to spend time learning how to spell when you can navigate to the correct spelling of a word in seconds.

As people begin to rely more heavily on these correctors, communication becomes faster. And in the mind’s of many, faster communication is more efficient communication.

The meme above displays the Gen Z mindset perfectly. Nowadays, everything is about how fast you can do it and how flawless it can be. Why think about grammar and spelling when a computer or a phone can do it for you?

As Jeff Grabill talks about in his piece titled “The Writing Lives of College Students,” word processors such as Microsoft Word are most valued compared to other common technologies. The data from the study can be seen in the graphic below.

 

This information was published over ten years ago. Since then, Gen Z members have only grown more and more attached to word processing systems, allowing for easy editing and more importantly, instant spell check.

And like with all generational behavior changes, one question still remains unanswered; does it matter that we can’t spell?

Some may argue that lacking spelling skills encourages laziness and hinders future learning experiences. But I think that overall, our generation’s reliance on tools like spell check doesn’t really matter.

Everyone has begun to incorporate automatic editing assistance and other technologies into all forms of communication. And this means that companies, families, and everything else have begun to communicate via the same technologies. These aids are encouraged in almost all settings. And with that being the case, an instance where spell check isn’t available is rare.

Our generation may not be able to spell every word in the dictionary, but we can send emails in seconds, count the the number of words in an essay with the click of a button, and easily check the grammar and spelling of everything we type.

And in a more abstract sense, think about any famous writer–famous songwriters like John Legend, famous authors like J.K. Rowling, famous speech writers, famous poets, famous journalists. These individuals no longer need to worry about the logistics of their writing. They have to focus more on the execution and the content itself. This allows for greater creativity and stronger, deeper meanings within different medias.

Our generation can’t spell. But I don’t think we are any worse off than others. We are a population of technological reliance, and so we must accept that and use it to our advantage.

The new written language in Emoticons(Emojis)

I bet there’s about ten things this skull emoji means to you.

In our day and age of digital media, emojis have become a part of how we express emotion through text, tweets and posts.

Often times, it’s the best way to relay information that may be difficult doing through text alone.

This is evident in many forms where individuals may find a sense of relief or a way to ease the weight of a message by adding an emoji that would help their message run smoother.

Look at these two text for example:

“You going to the kickback tonight?” vs “You going to the kickback tonight 👀?”

Yikes

In the text with the emoji, the eyes can represent a sense of interest, or urgency as opposed to the one lacking. The one without it(even though the same question) can lack that interest depending on a multitude of factors such as who you’re sending the message to.

This is where context comes into the picture and is given based on the how and when of the emoji being used.

The context can be better understood by looking at German Philosopher Paul Tillich’s research on Signs vs Symbols stating:

  1. If x is a sign then x points beyond self but does not participate in the reality of that to x which it points.
  2. If x is a symbol the x points beyond itself and participates in the reality of that to which it points.

With this knowledge, emojis are placed within the category of both symbols and signs. They can offer dialogue without being placed with words, or sometimes they do need context for clarity.

Emoticons are slowly easing it’s way to representing more in our culture of memes, entertainment and more and will become a language within itself soon enough🧠🧠.

 

Tiktok and Its Evolving Approach to Writing

Can an app for making viral dances point us to our next steps in how we communicate with each other?

In the digital era, we are seeing a push to leverage the new technologies we use to better communicate. From comics to social media, many experts are showing that the limitations of pen and paper can be circumvented online if we only take them seriously.

Our writing can go beyond words. We have already have been sharing emojis and memes to communicate meaning for years. While some apps like Twitter are changing how we write, we are seeing a resurgence of ideograms and symbols from apps such as TikTok. Apps like these use audio, visual, and writing at the same time to communicate meaning. For example, this TikTok’s meaning can only be fully grasped with sound, visuals, and writing.

 

Here we see what Scott Mcleod was talking about in reference to comic books and graphic novels: expansion beyond what physical media can give us. But, these new combinations of media open up an entirely different problem: accessibility. People with disabilities may find it hard to grasp the full meaning or create media like this. But, many users and Tiktok itself work to address this issue, such as creators who work to caption their videos or the new speech to text feature.  Here are examples of both these features being used on the app.

As one can see, social media apps like TikTok are expanding what we consider writing and how we use the tools in front of us to communicate. By making it easy to combine multiple forms of media, apps like these show what language in the digital age can look like, and how we can better increase accessibility for all.