Journal Reflection 6

I find Molz' discussion regarding travel bloggers very relevant to the question, “how has mobility changed writing?” Molz discusses how travel bloggers write, with acute details, all about their travelling experiences, and how many times, although these blogs are most often published for the public to see, they are not hugely read by people other than those in the author’s close circle. I think in some ways, mobility has made people eager to publish everything about their lives and experiences on the Internet, more so than ever before. But at the same time, history has shown that people have always written things down, whether for informational purposes or just for personal musings.

         I think mobility has changed the way people feel about publishing what they do. The Internet and digitized media have created in people a sense of urgency in sharing information about their lives and experiences. This has its pros and cons. But the sharing of these writings from travellers, or anyone with shared experiences really, has completely changed the way people prepare for an experience like travelling.

         The mobility of information has also changed the way writing is written—people no longer need to go out and buy a book to obtain information on the subject they’re trying to learn about, for the information they seek is often at the tip of their fingers on a Google search bar. And so, the information that before would have only been found in a travel guide, for instance, can be found within so many different mediums now, like discussion boards or the travel sites Molz mentioned in the readings.

         I think the mobility of the 21^st century highlights how many different ways writing can be applied to the same purpose. People are constantly innovating new and improved ways to most effectively relay information for themselves and other people to use. For example, the information someone might find in a travel guide could be used by a person set to prepare every piece of information they could possibly need for a trip. This same information might be found in a discussion board or an app like Yelp for a traveller making travel decisions on the go.