What is Writing?

We chose to go to the library and the Daniels College of Business while on our quest to discover how writing is defined in the DU community. We interviewed the receptionist at the library, a writing professor, and an academic advisor. We also stopped by the writing center, and asked a few people working there to write down what writing meant to them. The responses were a mixed bag. Overall, each person we interviewed seemed a little overwhelmed with the question, in the same way we were when we first pondered it.

We did not give much guidance for people answering the question, besides asking the follow up question of “How do you use writing in your own life?”. Answers for this also varied. One of the most surprising was when someone responded that they mostly used writing when they composed their own poetry or fictional works, even though their specific job may have them encounter other types of writing much more often.

People also gave different answers depending on if they thought of writing as a verb or writing as a noun. Some attempted to describe the physical act of transcribing thoughts, while others considered the values of written works as objects.

Probably the most surprising part of these interviews was the fact that nobody mentioned social media or text when we asked what writing they most encounter, except for one teacher that answered “email”. When you really think about it, much of the writing we see has little to do with our personal lives (social media posts by someone we’re not close with, billboards, road signs, labels, etc.), and nobody mentioned these things either. And besides these, people certainly didn’t think of writing as the basis for virtually all technology today. And I think many of us had probably not considered the value of writing in so many aspects of life either until we really dug deeper into questions of what writing really is and where it came from.

-Trisha, Molly, and Becky

As demonstrated with each person's response, writing is unique and personal to each individual. Enjoy our video :)

https://youtu.be/lFEFw9XkbIE 


Here are the responses from the writing center - copied down in each person's handwriting!