http://www.donovan-wright.com Writing, Technology, and the Web Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:44:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en What is wrong with the people of America? Wasn't this country founded on principles of democracy and freedom of speech? As far as I can tell, today we are a citizenry of scared, silent lemmings who speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil. Being scared is valid. Being silent ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2008/off-topic-sort-of/ I'm back to my friend author Sven Birkerts again today, and his book, The Gutenberg Elegies. He postures that reading today is not like reading "back in the day," where the book was the main medium for learning and gaining information. On the other hand, today's "readers" have grown up ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2008/digital-literacy-reading-as-we-knew-it-is-no-more/ ... or a magazine, or newspaper, or even a web site with solid, informative text? For me, it's books. I have stacks throughout my house. In fact, many books remain in their bags because I love the touch, feel, and smell (mostly) of new books. And at the rate I'm ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2008/does-anyone-know-what-a-book-is-anymore/ I am outraged. I am incredulous. I am disgusted. Oil companies are making record profits Pharmaceutical companies are raking it in. HMO’s are doing very well Yes, I am outraged, incredulous, and disgusted about the aforementioned, but I am more outraged, incredulous, and disgusted that the people of our country are taking it in ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2008/do-unto-others/ I promised to publish more comments from my class of budding business writers and their preparation for same in higher ed. Here is another insightful commentary: Question: Please discuss the changing nature of writing and how higher education should therefore prepare its students. I think that the nature of writing has changed ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/digital-literacy/2006/from-the-mouths-of-youth/ I love horses. In fact, I have a wonderful little Standardbred I rescued from a dire fate. But this post is not about horses. It is about higher education, and the perception of students relative to writing and their experiences in the hallowed halls of academe. A little prelude first. I ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/digital-literacy/2006/from-the-horses-mouth/ The other day, I came across the site of someone who calls himself a writer and I was appalled. The writing was amateurish, the punctuation was wrong, the pronouns and antecedents did not agree, among other issues. This is disturbing. I have spent 26 years as a professional writer, honing ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2006/beware-of-so-called-writers/ It is more than knowing how to use the computer. It is more than knowing how to send an email. It is more than using the cadre of Microsoft products. It is about rhetoric, audience, message, purpose. It is about design, using image and word, and minimizing possible misinterpretation. It ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/digital-literacy/2006/digital-literacy/ I just finished reading an article by David Wallace on Search Engine Guide titled "Are Your Web Pages Haunted -- That Is With Grammar Errors?" Short though it is, it hits on all those common and all too frequent and inexcusable errors that make us all look like slugs. Enjoy and ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/digital-literacy/2006/more-about-writing/ I teach college writing: I teach students at all levels from freshman to graduates students, and what I see in today's classroom makes me want to cry. Bottom line -- a majority of students today simply can't write. They don't know a noun from a verb. They don't know ... http://www.donovan-wright.com/blog/marketing/2006/tragic-dearth-of-writing-skills/