What Counts as Writing?

Reading for Reflection: Introduction: Writing and Recording Knowledge by Elizabeth Hill Boone


Looking at Pre-Colombian America and what they used as forms of communication raises the question of boundary lines between writing and art and between pre-literate and literate. Boone presents the idea that pictographs, hieroglyphic and other non-alphabetic Pre-Colombian fit into the definition of writing. This is a highly debated issue crossing fields between anthropologists, linguists and more.

I would agree that these markings are communication. I think that DeFrancis is completely off track in saying that "The forthwrite answer to how pictographs work as a system is they don't...It is at best exceedingly limited in what it can express and who is able to understand it." (7) My argument would be that they understood it. The civilization of the time new that those pictures had meaning outside of art. It can be paralleled to our society today using "Txting Tlk." That wouldn't be understood by the many other generations of people who didn't have texting. Even some older people still alive today can't understand it. 

I also disagree that notation systems should be included in the definition of writing. (9) It is just that, a notation, not writing. It does having meaning, but it is my opinion, much opposed to Boone, that to be writing it must have whatever passes as "words" in that society. (The social influence is another topic that could be discussed, though it may take another post at another time.) At the most, notations would be considered a form of writing, or non-traditional writing. 

The real issue I see when reading through is introduction is "What is Communication." This is related but not the same as "What is Writing." For example both notations and traditional writing are communication, but not necessarily writing. 

This post has barely scratched the surface of this issue and of my thoughts on the matter, but there is a whole semester yet to work on this all some more. 

How We Write and Learn to Write

Article for Reflection: What's Right with Writing by Linda Rief

I was lucky. I had the absolute best English teacher in high school. I actually still keep in touch with her and she is currently completing her masters at UNI while continuing to teach high school english. She followed a lot of the rules that Reif mentions in this article, so it is easy for me to forget that not everyone had that while they were learning to write. 

My Conception of Writing
Writing is a way of understanding. Whether it is understanding ourselves, a historical figure, a topic, or the world in general. Reif has a couple great quotes along these lines: 

1. Writing let's us communicate what we know and helps us think of things we didn't know until we began writing. Writing is one way of communicating our understandings and misunderstandings of ourselves and the world. (33)

2. [Writing] helps us pay attention to the world. Good writing lets writer and reader learn or think or feel something. Putting words on paper gives us a voice -- allows us to be heard. (35)


Those who write, creatively or otherwise, have an instinctual understanding of this. However Reif puts it into words as it has value for teaching writing. Reading it, as we learn to write through reading, also helps us as writers understand why we are compelled to write and how we we write. The importance of reading mentioned in the article is also noteworthy. Reif says that "a person can read with out writing, but can not write with out reading" (34). However I think that writing is just as essential to reading, for, as previously stated, writing is a way of understanding. I know that I personally have learned more about any and every piece of literature by writing about it than by purely reading about it. Writing helps you access those understandings that you can't quite verbalize in conversation without writing it out first. And on a final note regarding writing to understand our world, Reif mentions that the only way to become "thoughtful citizens of the world" (35) is by writing. "They must commit their thinking to paper."

This thing called Writing

Defining writing has often been the topic of debate in my classes. Is it strictly putting words down whether digitally or physically writing them, or is it more than that? While I wouldn't go so far as to say that what we choose to wear or facial expressions and the like count as writing, I do think they count as communicating, which I think is how they get thrown into the mix of what is writing. Writing to me has to be in word form whether digitally or otherwise. However I do stand in opposition to those who say that the little things we write, such as status updates on Facebook or twitter, do not count as "real writing." They are every bit as much writing as anything else as they are still communicating something in word format. Another blurred line is design. I do think that this is invaluable in regards to communication (the psychology of colors and other design aspects just can't be ignored in terms of communicating) however whether they could be considered "writing" is still something I have to decide upon.