I remember our first computer. It was a Tandy from Radio Shack. The year was 1990. It came with programs that sparked my creativity: a MIDI player / recorder, simple drawing program, word processor, and database. I spent hours on the machine using these programs to express my thoughts and learn new things. Drawing floor plans, typing, and listening to and making my own MIDI files was fun.
Up to the nineties, most people used a typewriter to publish their words, instruments to perform music and paper and pen to draw. There was an organic relationship between the creator and his work. Our personality, mistakes and diligence were all reflected in what we made.
Mankind has used tools since our beginnings. We mixed pigment in out mouths and spat on walls to produce vivid imagery. We chipped away at stone to create figures of the world around us. We beat against objects to produce tones and rhythms. Over time our tools became more complex and communicated more succinctly our thoughts.
We entered the computer age with enthusiasm. But the first computers, while functional, were limited. They did not reflect the true range of expression of the creator of the piece. Music was tonal and synthesized; lines and textures were limited by the included features of the machine, the printer, and the monitor; printed material was generic and difficult to format on those line-feed printers.
The machines matured as we pushed them to their limits and beyond. They housed games we could play, collected and stored our music, and connected us across distance and time. Typographers added stylistic fonts and engineers teamed with designers to build hardware and software that enabled the machines to mimic our own range of expression. In many ways, the computer caught up with our own physical methods of expression.
Now the computer has surpassed our ability of physical communication. Movie makers are masters of using computers to express concepts beyond our physical world. Musicians use computer technology to clean up and fill in voices within their productions. Writers communicate ideas across language and media with one publication of their work.
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3 comments:
I remember reading a post by Alex McManus where he quoted his daughter as saying something like "pretty soon computers will be so big we'll be inside of them." Here's a link to the post. It's fascinating. http://alexmcmanus.org/index.php/2006/08/23/when-the-walls-talk-back/
Forgot to say, great post - I am technologically challenged most of the time - I don't have a knack for that stuff, yet I press on. I want to be an early adopter yet struggle to keep up. My peers hardly know how to send a text message. I don't have a circle of tech savvy friends to rely on or to urge me on to the next level. So, I read blogs, try to figure things out, and spend a lot of time reading manuals and locking up my computer! I want more than anything to harness the power of technology to enhance my own creative endeavors. When I finally get there, it will be worth it!!
Speaking of evolving--YOU certainly have evolved as a writer. Wow! Tremendous post.
Thanks for joining us at the watercooler. Please bring a friend next week.
Randy
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