YouTube Video

I found this, at first, annoying, boring, and just plain a waste of my time to watch. I can remember thinking, at the time, "there has to be more to this than watching a hand or mouse moving around, otherwise Professor Stearns wouldn't have been so excited about it." So, after the video ended, I reluctantly rewatched it. It was then that it finally hit me (and likely would have sooner if the video had included the typewriter) how we have gone from the control of the pencil and eraser to that of the typewriter keys and ribbon, and now to the keyboard and monitor.

It is basically a concept that has been around for several years now, only someone has decided to create their own video to show the limitations of pencil and eraser and the infinate possibilities of creation with the computer keyboard and monitor.

Of course with all of this apprent ease we still need to be cautious about making sure we have edited our work before hitting the publish button. It is just way too easy to make errors that we will regret later and these errors do not look good to others when they read our work. Whether a person's text is professional or just for fun, I have found myself making snap decisions about a person based upon their lack of editing skills. I realize this isn't always a clear indication of the real person, but it doesn't help when I've never met the person before either. Whenever I see these types of errors (not just one or two but throughout the document) I have to wonder if the person is like his writing--uncaring and indifferent--or if he is just in too much of a hurry to pay attention to small details. Not a pretty picture is it?

Sometimes snap decisions can have some interesting consequences. Our words can easily be misread (not that they couldn't have been before) and are subject to an even bigger audience than before. Mispellings, unneeded commas (one of my downfalls I admit), extra spaces, the unintenial use of the wrong words, left out words and many, many other editing errors can easily happen.

I guess overall, for me, I didn't find this video to be that "exciting" to watch since the concept behind it is a concept that I've already embraced and thought about as a result of taking computer-related courses at SUNY Morrisville College about 10 years ago. Still, it is a concept that is worthy of a revisit every now and then. Especially since it reminds me that we have come a long ways not just within the techonology field, but also in the field of communications. It also reminds me to be thankful for the technology that has made it easier to write something, like say, this blog post. Years ago, on the old, not so trusty, typewriter, I would have given up by now and I can say that there probably would have been a wastebasmet loaded with wadded up paper. My version of this blog post would also be considerably condensed and likely not as effective in conveying my thoughts. I believe that I would have cursed a few thousand times as well and would be totally frustrated by now.