Imagine you are writing a story longhand. The pen hits the paper and you’re just going. Not every word is perfect, the phrasing isn’t on point, and you’re not sure how to spell every word. But it’s not about that. It’s about getting it on the page. Once your done, you have all these marks and scratches and weird stuff that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But it’s there. Why can’t we get that satisfaction on a computer? We have to go to a tab to figure out the changes we’ve made along the way. Even then, there’s no emotion to it. It just outlines when you made changes. Why can’t the way we write be like the way we write? So here’s the pitch: an interface that mimics the visualization of an artist going insane. Actual marks on the page. Imagine microsoft word, but every time you hit the backspace, the letter doesn’t go away. A line just goes through it. You see the changes you’ve made right there as though you have written it longhand, except for it’s accessible to everyone. You don’t have to deal with your own garbage penmanship. All that chicken scratch is right there for you.

This inkling first came about while we were reading something I’m not allowed to talk about on the internet, but those in the know will know what that is.

But this really relates to the Kari Kraus reading. That was all about how the way we’ve read in the past and the way we read now and the way we will read in the future are all connected. In order to innovate, we have to manipulate, make new things happen. But what of the old way? One could argue the way we track changes in word processors is more efficient and less messy. But what happens to creativity? Isn’t that supposed to be messy? What I’m trying to do with this idea is make computing less robotic and more human. We don’t think by separating our mistakes and our final outcome. We think about all of the at the same time. Whether it be for research or the next young adult novel, the most important part of writing is rewriting. With the system we have now of looking at revision, there’s no soul. The objective is to hide the mistakes and provide a perfect piece. But the problem is in our mistakes we find the best work. Young writers have a tough time with editing themselves. This new system would make it easier to visualize the editing process and learn from the natural cutting and adding that happens in writing. The current system is taking away from the old system of editing effectively. Learning from our mistakes rather than getting rid of them. Nothing shows that humanity isn’t perfect like chicken scratch in a moleskin. Why are we going away from that?