Experiments in Visual Writing

Tonight (2/5/2015) Cheryl Ball gave a public lecture entitled “The Asymptotic Relationship Between Digital Humanities and Computers and Writing”. This title was very confusing to me as I’m sure it is to many others who did not attend the lecture. However, Ball uses this title as a segue into many interesting topics. She discussed the history of both the digital humanities and the computers and writing “fields”. For me, this was a very enlightening experience. Prior to the lecture I knew very little about both of these fields.

Ball talked specifically about the similarities and differences of the two fields. This is where the title comes from. Historically there has been what appears to be an “asymptote” dividing these two fields. However, as the years have gone by the differences between the two fields has decreased but not yet merged. The idea that they may never merge seems to be realistic. That is why it appears to an asymptote. The two fields may forever grow closer, but they may never meet.

, Greer Howard

Dr. Cheryl Ball’s public lecture called “The Asymptotic Relationship Between Digital Humanities and Computers and Writing” was very informative and really allowed me to understand the different areas of Digital Humanities: Electronic Literature, Media Studies, Rhetoric & Composition, and Literary Studies. Dr. Ball talked a lot about the pedagogy and emphasized the “evolution” of writing. Starting from the 1950s with writing as just a process and then going on to 1960s where they began student-centered teaching and then peer review. In the 1990s, people started using multimodels, visual rhetorics, and digital technologies as a way to teach students and for delivering presentations. I found it really interesting that the first dissertation on comps & writing was completed by Hugh Burns at UT Austin (yay Texas :D). I was able to learn about designing and assessing multimodal assignments from her presentations and enjoyed her humor.

I attended the lecture by Cheryl Ball titled “The Asymptotic Relationship Between Digital Humanities and Computers and Writing.” In her talk, she discussed the histories of Digital Humanities and Computers and Writing. The focus on the lecture was how the two separate fields in writing are actually similar and seems to be coming together, hence the “asymptotic relationship.” The lecture give me a glimpse of how large and diverse writing. I did not realize there were so many subfields within writing. It was interesting to see the histories of these fields laid out and how there have been defining moments in each that occurred just a few years ago. Ball made a point that I thought was particularly interesting that how over the years the so-called “generations” in writing have started to change a lot quicker. The lecture encompassed the categories in which this class falls in so learning about the history and how each shift has lead to where we are today was intriguing. Ball ended the lecture by answering a question on whether she thought this asymptotic relationship was figurative or literal.  I can’t say whether I agree or disagree because I still don’t know that much about both fields but she said she thinks it is both.