Reading Response: An Alpine Guide Breakdown
Clambering your way through the DIW Guide to Digital Writing
Like all dynamic platforms out there in the digital world (for better or worse), Substack is ever-changing, always adapting and evolving to meet the needs of its audience. This means that the technical details of what I teach this quarter may change by the next. As you can imagine, and no doubt understand yourselves from your own experience using various platforms, even Canvas, this means that when we use digital platforms, there will always be an element of trial and error, of experimentation, of getting things wrong until you get them right.
So there are really two parts to a class that teaches any kind of multimodal writing and composition. The first part is the technical understanding of a digital platform or compositional medium; and the second is the more foundational - almost eternal -practice of writing. These eternal practices have to do with things like genre, rhetorical situations, and message, audience, purpose.
As I've written about before, such as in the post On Genres, Mediums & Templates, these two parts can get mixed up and easily misunderstood, especially in the digital world. In my classes, we are working together to learn the how-to’s of both these parts, but also unpacking them and practicing them. This takes time and a willingness to revise and edit.
For this Reading Response, you will read the Alpine guide to digital writing, and select two sections to write about in a post on your personal Substack. I composed the guide as less of an “article” to be read from start to finish, and more of a tool to refer to during the composition and editing processes, to help you develop your pieces towards the many constraints and nuances of digital and mainstream media writing.
The Task
With this in mind, read through the Guide, and select two sections that interest you, either from a technical or foundational standpoint.
In a post on your personal Substack of 300-500 words, incorporating a header, subheader, at least 2 images, relevant hyperlinks, short paragraphs, and details drawn from your experience and the course, consider the following:
Why does this section interest you, either regarding your writing for this class, or something you did not previously know?
Take a sample of the work you and your team have done in the class and revise it using the information from at least one of the two sections.
For example, if you choose the “scent of information trail,” take a piece of work from class and revise a paragraph or two with that in mind. Include those paragraphs in your post.
How does the information in this guide differ (if at all) from the type of writing you have done in the past, or your understanding of writing in general?
How can you apply this information to your writing and work for the class?