Journal Response #2

Writing, materiality, and network are three terms that are all interconnected terms applied and seen throughout history. Writing is seen virtually anywhere and can range from a single word on a billboard to a fifteen page research paper to a ransom note. It is a key component in communication and is an evolutionary aspect of our writing world. Materiality is the central element in writing because it determines the level of significance and meaning of the writing. David Henkin discusses the process of the growth of the Postal Service in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. He states that “back then” it was an event to receive a letter rather than something that was part of the daily routine. He discusses the anecdote involving a man, Sanger, receiving word that he has a letter in town. He sends a messenger to receive the letter, however, several miscommunications arise and the messenger’s son eventually delivers the letter two months later. Henkin had previously mentioned “receiving a letter was, for most Americans, an event rather than a feature of ordinary experience” (3) meaning that the letter most often contained sensitive or important material, however, Americans at this time, did not have their shit together so most mail was not delivered on time, or at all. Writing and materiality go hand and hand and are both critical for communication; however networking is the connecting factors between the writing and the audience. The main type of networking discussed in both Henkin and Bazerman is the letter “in its directness of communication between two parties within a specific relationship in specific circumstances (all of which could be commented on directly), seemed to provide a flexible medium out of which many functions, relationships, and institutional practices might develop — making new uses socially intelligible at the same time as allowing the form of the communication to develop in new directions” (Bazerman 1). This form of networking evolved, and continues to evolve, into several different forms of networking such as e-mail, Facebook Messenger, and the modern day Postal Service. Without networking, writing and the material contained in the writing would have a very difficult time reaching the receiving party alone.