Hass begins this chapter by associating writing as the actual act of putting “stick to sand, pen and ink on parchment, #2 pencil on legal pad, and cursor to monitor” (3), but it is the last association that propels his argument forward: “What is the nature of computer technologies, and what is their impact on writing?”. Haas thinks that by looking at how we write, we will have a better idea of what and why we write. Moreover, Haas says, “the materially-based conduct of human activities has profound implications for the development of human culture and the shape of the human consciousness” (4). Haas’ argument is split among three “instances” in literacy: the philosophical, the historical, and the sociopsychological. The first instance decides that, “questions of writing are questions of truth, knowledge, and power” (5); the second instance looks at how technology impacts writing in Ancient Greece; and the third instance, “provide a corrective to some of the dichotomization of speech and writing, and the confusion of cultural and cognitive effects” (5).
Haas ends his chapter by addressing the cultural myths associated with writing and technology, as well as considering a space for technology studies. Haas explains, “Technology is implicated in every literate act, and to ignore this implication is to remain confused about the essential relationship of writing to technology, and about our relationship—as writers, as teachers, as scholars—to both of them” (21). Haas eventually asks for literary scholars to, “do more than merely observe as the discourse of our culture ‘make’ technology, in turn, remakes discourse” (23). I think Haas is more interested in the how and why of writing rather than the what of writing.
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