Dialectical Journal: Baron

Author/Title:

Dennis Baron: From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies

Summary:

What can I say? Baron does indeed spend a lot of time with the mighty pencil in this piece. Tracing the histories of literacy technology, Baron provides us with often humorous tales of old and new ways of writing.

Reflection	Quote
Defined: The study or forecasting of potential developments, as in science, technology, and society, using current conditions and trends as a point of departure.	“futurologist” (423)
Setting up the stages of writing technology (and technology in general). I like that Baron is demystifying the process of how technology gets to the public—it is important we understand that many of the items we use, that we think of as “new,” have been around for awhile either in “testing” mode or being retained for private use.	“Each new literacy technology begins with a restricted communication function and is available only to a small number of initiates. Because of the high cost of the technology and general ignorance about it, practitioners keep it to themselves at first—either on purpose or because nobody else has any use for it—and the, gradually, they begin to mediate the technology for the general public” (424).
This is deeply important because it brings awareness to how economics impact our ability to gain literacies.	“As costs decrease and the technology becomes better able to mimic more ordinary or familiar communications a new literacy spreads across a population. Only then does the technology come into its own, no longer imitating the precious forms given us by the earlier communication technology, but creating new forms and new possibilities for communication” (424).
Yes! Very important! The piece eventually gets to the use of signatures as a way of authenticating, reminds me of how we are now attempting to use digital signatures—most commercial enterprises have a digital pad for you to sign (like UPS, checking out at a store, etc), but the average person does not have a signature pad hooked up to their PC—when will that change??	“In order to gain acceptance, a new literacy technology must also develop a means of authenticating itself” (429).