Molz Journal

In Jennie Molz's Connectivity, Collaboration, Search, Molz not only places emphasis on mobilization as a means of circulating material, but also emphasizes the cultural impacts that mobilization affords to society. Mol says, "To reflect on mobile methodologies is to reflect on movement, in its various forms, not only as an object of knowledge,but also as a mode of knowing." Mobilization therefore, fosters an intellectual curiosity in the mobilized and the mobilizer. Material not only exists in the physical sense, it also exists in the ideological sense which is carried out through modes of circulation--mobilization. Further Molz explains, "Interlinked practices of investigating mobilities and mobilizing research techniques are not just about how people make knowledge of the world, but how they physically and socially make the world through the ways they move and mobilise people, information, objects and ideas." Essentially, Molz is highlighting how the act of mobilizing isn't the only dynamic at work. Molz suggests that the ideas that are mobilized simply dictate the ways in which they are circulated in the first place, making mobilization and imperative component to any ideology. In terms of personal reflection, it is interesting to see how ideas are mobilized electronically. Consider the election for instance. Many social media users have mobilized their internal thoughts on the matter through a rather public interface. Contingent upon what social media platform is selected, whatever idea that was expressed by the original user is essentially not original any longer because of the mobility of the message. Tying into Molz's idea of mobility as action, as communicative beings, we essentially dictate how we mobilize our own ideas through verbal and nonverbal expression.

Journal Reflection #6 – Shannon Herlihy

The concept of mobility has always been an essential aspect to the process of writing. Historically speaking, many written texts were intended to act as a form of record-keeping, and, therefore, they were meant to travel within (and sometimes even outside) a community. Furthermore, written works with the purpose of entertainment were also intended to gain a sense of mobility and circulation in order for individuals to enjoy specific texts wherever and whenever they wanted.

However, in our modern world, the idea of mobility has been completely revolutionized with the introduction of life-changing technologies like laptops, cell phones, and, subsequently, the social applications downloaded onto those devices. With the entire “new” world of social networking introduced to the Web, individuals now have endless opportunities to connect with various people across the globe from right in your hometown all the way to the other side of the world. The unlimited connections of the internet have supported the evolution of the term “mobility” from the concept of a text moving within a physical space to the idea of it flowing through the nonphysical—the digital. For example, nearly everyone you know carries a “mobile phone”—a device you essentially have on hand at all times—which grants him/her access to said “mobile world.”

However, interestingly enough, the idea of this digital mobility has also directly affected the production and reception of the physical world. Having all information of the Web in your pocket may discourage you from using your university’s library and research centers. The production of eBooks has altered the idea of a “book” itself, reducing the need for physical texts. Likewise, digital mobility can also act to support physical mobility. For example, the digital realm can offer you opportunities to order physical books or search for physical locations (like libraries).

All in all, our newfound concept of mobility has altered the way we write as a culture, promoting the digital realm to ensure said mobility and opting out of the traditional physical experience in favor of something “better.” Nowadays, all individuals who write on social media do so fully understanding the text’s easy mobility, as opposed to just considering the possibility as writers of previous times may have questioned.

Journal 6 Lizzy Sellers

Molz gave examples of how mobility has been a factor in writing through different cultures throughout history, through the use of stone tablets, pads, papyrus etc. Mobility was never a serious issue in history, maybe except cave writings or the like. The thing that really changed was the practicality and the overall ease of mobility in writing. Today, we have phones, laptops, tablets (the Apple kind), and even the simplicity of notebooks and fountain pens (no more quills for us.) Modern technologies have been able to advance the way humans are able to write at all and this in turn effects what we write. We have the ability to document basically any thought that we have, through Facebook, Twitter, or even just regular journaling. We no longer have to go through the process of putting a stylus or some sort of sharp object to a limestone tablet to painstakingly engrave our thoughts, or go through the trouble of dragging a quill and ink jar that would probably spill everywhere anyway just to write down our thoughts that we feel are too important to leave unwritten. Now, we have so much freedom of writing whenever and whatever we want, we can document any conjecture we have, no matter whether the idea is good, bad, or terrible. We had to create laws that allow for people to say what they want when they want because writing and speaking our minds has become such a commonality that it often results in oversharing of opinions, lines drawn in the sand, and conflict that arises through disagreement in beliefs. This is because the process of writing has become just that easy thanks to the increase in mobility of our writing outlets. Communication is simple now, a text can reach a loved one a million miles away in under 10 seconds, an email can confirm a meeting or appointment in the click of a mouse. Mobility highlights the importance of communication between people and makes it easier than ever to spread thoughts, beliefs, and ideas to a much larger audience. When writing was on a stone tablet, only the people with the physical tablet itself could read it. Now, a text can be sent, forwarded, screenshotted, and shared on multiple outlets to reach a massive audience.

Journal

In short, mobility has changed writing by drastically increasing the size of the audience.  Before the Internet, writing was mostly a thought out, methodical process that involved an author editing his work multiple times so that it was perfect before sending his work off to the press to get published.  The art of getting published was a significantly bigger deals because it wasn’t easy to have your writing be spread to a wide audience.  When the mart phone was invented as well as social media and the internet, it was no longer necessary to go through the act of getting published, one could be a published author within seconds thanks to the device in their pocket.  In the old days, I feel that being an author had a certain nuance to it.  People viewed authors as educated scholars who were so bright and interesting that their thoughts would be published for the world to see.  A certain romance came along with being an author in the old days.  Nowadays, being a “writer” is taken a lot more liberally because essentially anyone can be a writer thanks to the Internet and public forums.  In my opinion, mobility highlights the fact that just because someone can publish a thought or idea in a public forum doesn’t mean they’re an author.  Mobility in writing diluted the importance of published work but also gave society a much bigger basis for information.  Now the public can be thoroughly more educated on certain issues (such as politics) because individuals can now share their personal experiences with the public.  These days, with one click of a button, your audience expands from your geographical location, to anyone who may “follow” you, or click on the link you published.  Mobility has helped us in that it has largely eliminated the biased of media outlets.  Whereas before we were subjected to whatever stories and issues media outlets chose to share with the public, we can now gain access to real life events through millions of online sources.  It has helped to make sure that all information is accessible to the public, not only what the media outlets want us to see.

Journal 6 Talia Colarusso

At first I saw this journal prompt and immediately saw mobility, mobility...mobile. That was my initial thought, that mobility of writing was a new concept, one that only came about due to this technological age that we live in. I at first though that writing only became mobile when we all went mobile. Soon after reading the Molz piece I realized that mobility in writing is much more than just that. "Travel and change of place impart new vigor on the mind" was my favorite part of this piece. The Molz piece explains that mobility has everything to do with writing, but much more than just writing mobility effects knowledge in general. Mobility in writing allows to create special communities among people. These communities are created by people reading and writing about a similar topic. In the article travel blogs are mentioned many times and the community these blogs create. The writers on these travel blogs are not only mobilizing their writing but they are mobilizing themselves by using technologies such as gps pinpoint location, mobile check in, mobile phones, etc. But the mobilization of text has not only become a thing in recent years, as previously mentioned they mobilization of writing goes way back. People have always wanted to use their writing for connectivity. Letters are my personal favorite example of mobility of writing before technology. People have always wanted their writing to be heard and letters used to be the perfect way to accomplish that. The letters only downfall was that it did not have the ability to create a community like blogs and social media posts are able to today.

 Another huge different about mobility today in writing versus mobility 100 years ago in wiring is the speed and effectiveness in which writing is shared. The main difference is now people have the ability to share their writing at the clock of a button and share that wiring with people who have the same ideas and goals at they do. Causing the writing to be much more powerful and moving that wiring had the ability to be 100 years ago.

A downfall of this instant mobility is that people now have the ability so write and share whatever they want, and sometimes it’s not very good what exactly they want to share with the world via Facebook post. That has been extremely apparent o me especially today being election day scrolling through my Facebook has been a great example of why not everyone should share everything they have to say.

Dakota Helbig J6

To say that the modern era of writing is the only era with an aspect of mobile writing would be grossly incorrect. As the Molz excerpt explains many cultures had elements of mobility in their writing be it quills and ink or stone tablets that could be passed around and transported easily. However, the modern era may be the first era to have an active focus on mobility in an overall sense as more and more businesses work on keeping their customers lives as uninterrupted as possible. This shift to the active encouragement of mobile lifestyles has affected writing as well, as many people write daily for social media, blogs, or direct communication with each other through technology. The massive movement towards a more mobile and personal writing style reveals an interesting trend in the general population as well as an interesting revelation for writing: more people are willing to write for connectivity than almost any other reason.

Obviously, people have been writing for connectivity’s sake for almost as long as formal writing has existed. Letters and journals are two of the most popular written texts over the course of history. But this new mobile lifestyle has encouraged the documentation of every individual’s daily activities and feelings like a public journal. One of Facebook’s original templates for writing on your own page was “User is…” encouraging users of Facebook to communicate what they were currently feeling or doing. This immediacy translates to a more mobile form of connectivity as users begin to post their activities and feelings as they occur. Facebook has grown to support over 1.4 billion users worldwide, over 20% of the global population. In less than 12 years since its initial founding Facebook managed to gain almost a fifth of the entire world as a user base. How did they do it? They gave people a subject they were more than willing to write about, themselves. The success of social media leads to the interesting notion that people are more than willing to both write and communicate to each other about daily activities. In an age where things like the death of the book and the decaying state of literature are sometimes discussed as if they were facts, over a billion people write daily to communicate their thoughts and feelings to each other because it’s the topic they have the most interest and knowledge in.  

Max Dietz J6

At first I was going to write about how mobility allowed for us to express ideas spontaneously, without forethought or planning, and how this is new and can be attributed solely to the modern era based on expanding technologies. After reading Molz’s examples of historic mobile texts, my opinion has changed slightly and become more specific. As she clearly points out, mobile writing was always a possibility. The clay etching pads of ancient Egypt and Babylon come to mind. Their purpose was to be carried around to record crop production information, legal contracts, and important conversations before they were to be formally written down. These are all very practical things to write down. In ancient Rome, they tablets were used to compose poetry and love letters that were meant to be destroyed before a jealous husband found them. Before the age of self contained pens (those that have an internal supply of ink), writing on the go was not a completely carefree task. One had to remember to bring ink and replacements quills, and if there was motion when the ink jars were open, it could spill. Also, the writer must account for the time it takes ink to dry. Ballpoint pens are more affordable and more convenient than ink pens, and they do not take long to dry. This made writing on the go tremendously easier, but it still required some degree of planning. Modern technologies symbolize the apex of spontaneous writing. No planning is required. As soon as the inspiration hits, you can write as much or as little as you wish. This morning, I, myself, felt the urge to write about why I feel Election Day should be a nation holiday, so I made a Facebook post. This spontaneity also has downsides. Because so little personal effort is devoted into the writing process, the final product may not be as well thought out as it could be. Sometimes this has devastating consequences, leaving a written trail of Faux pas. This is especially relevant to the Twitter feed of the current Republican nominee who is known for posting things that usually end up hurting him.