Remediation: the teacher's problem.

As I read through "Writing Space: Computers, Hyptertext, and the Remediation of Print" I was struck when Bolter said, "Digital technology is turning out to be one of the more traumatic remediations in the history of Western writing. One reason is that digital technology changes the 'look and feel' of writing and reading" (24). I certainly identify that this is (and will continue to be) a hard transition for many people. I personally have no desire to read a book on a computer screen; however, my preference for paper is of little importance. I think it is fair to say that most  composition teachers have some attachment to the printed word, and therefore, are having a hard time accepting that reading and writing is going to eventually be primarily represented through digital technology. 

I think our resistance is futile, and as composition teachers, we simply need to turn to our students for evidence. Even though my students are only about 6 years younger than me, I can see a big difference in how they use computers and how I use computers. I use my computer for school, communication, and sometimes entertainment (youtube, facebook, cnn). In comparison, my students use their computers for EVERYTHING. These people are not even a decade younger than me, and I think they would have little trouble with the remediation process. Later in Chapter 2 Bolter claims "what all media and media forms have in common for our culture is the promise of immediacy" (26). For this reason I think reading and writing will become primarily digital. Authors may jump on the band wagon of bands, and start leaving publishers (as opposed to record labels) in order to reach the public through the internet. This will allow authors to receive all the profit, and allow them creative freedom to do what they want. Further, instead of waiting in lines for Twilight or Harry Potter (like many of our students have) they will  simply wait until midnight of the release date and click their mouse to the screen to immediately receive their favorite author's new book. I think if we look to history, and realize that no one goes backward to older, less immediate forms of technology (especially in concern to reading and writing) then we should recognize it is time to accept the remediation process. Print will turn digital with or without the field of compositions support.