Who needs suspended inscription?

Abstract

A survey of British academics reveals a notable divide between writers who favor a word processor as their main writing tool and those who favor the pen or pencil. Each tool has particular characteristics that make it more suitable for some purposes than for others. Most fundamentally, while the act of inscription on paper is direct and immediate with a pen or pencil, and immediate but indirect with a typewriter, it is both indirect and delayed with a word processor. Some writers value handwriting for the sense of “closeness” that it gives them to their evolving texts. This seems to be especially so for “discovery-oriented” writers. The use of the screen in particular is felt as most restrictive by those whose approach to composing involves oil painting (jotting down ideas and organizing them later) or bricklaying (polishing each sentence or paragraph in turn). Educators may need to legitimate handwritten drafts or reversion to handwriting for some word-processor users who seem to feel that such practices are somehow improper (and perhaps for most users for particular tasks).