Marionettes of the Interface

The strings connect through the keys. Pulling each finger down in succession, the interface guides the cacophony of words and punctuation. Strange. I think, "No, I am the one pressing the button. It responds to me". Computers do what we say--We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.

How we write depends so much on the tools at our disposal. The machine may not be in control, but it constructs the entire schema of interaction, exerting cookie-cutter precision. The conventions of software and human relations, no matter what the programmer says, are dictated by the interface.

The control that software interfaces exert over the writing process, as noted in Computer and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education, 1979-1994: A History, can be detrimental or have unexpected results. The authors note that at the University of Delaware in 1988 there were sections of composition in which students used both Macs and PCs. At the end of the semester the director of the program surveyed the instructors, asking them if any issues occurred or anything else happened that they might have observed. It was observed that the sections of composition that exhibited the most problems were the ones using Macs. One of the instructors replied, "[It] dawned on us that the sections we have been complaining about all semester because of sloppy writing and the fluffiness of the topics are Macintosh sections"(75). Another instructor responded noting that "Students write differently on the Mac--frankly, i think their writing is worse....There is something about the large print and big margins on the Mac that seems to encourage a sentence structure and childish vocabulary" (75).

Granted, this was noted in 1988 during the infancy of computers in the classroom. Since then, word processing has become fairly homogeneous; Microsoft Word dominates both platforms of computer. It has become the industry standard, no matter the industry: engineering, publishing, academics, retail...etc, documents are expected to be in Microsoft Word file types.

Because of the universality of Microsoft Word and the expectations of its usage insisted upon by economic constructions, I have to wonder how much writing and the process of writing has been molded and sterilized by its implementation? Are there forms of writing that allow for more varied approaches to writing and thinking? Limiting the forms and interface of writing also binds the structures of communication. In many ways, a move towards multi-modal approaches would give students avenues of communication not governed by the physics of Word. It would allow them modes of inquiry and authority that are outside the bounds of traditional word processing.