Machine Rhetorics, Remixing, and Markdown, Oh my!

AI and Cummings

Week two brought me a lot closer to understanding AI and the methods in which it is used and studied. Before these readings, I was an avid AI hater. I say this coming from the perspective of a creative writer. The first time I heard of AI was in response to authors raging over other authors using AI to write their books. This made the creative writing community upset, because the craft of writing is to be unique to yourself, which when using AI you use a computer to do the work for you. This makes the writing not authentic to the author’s mind, due to the computer… or at least that’s what I was told; Computers are taking over creative writing… Now this doesn’t make my hatred for AI 100% valid, but I think I can make a strong argument on why I don’t like it.

Regardless of my personal opinions on AI, Cummings article made me think of all the good AI can do, if and when we teach it correctly.

Although, as a writer, Cummings’ idea of becoming a “co-author” with AI made me upset. Cummings writes, “This shift means we’re no longer just authors; we’re becoming co-authors with machines…,” which I am not a fan of. I don’t like the idea of doing all the work (teaching AI, writing, and editing) while AI ultimately contributes nothing. I do understand that being a co-author with AI doesn’t necessarily mean AI is changing your work and the meaning of your work. Instead, it’s more of a tool to use in the process of writing. For most students, I know they use AI tools when it comes to taking notes or making outlines, not always does it mean AI is writing their work but rather helping them with the process.

I’m sure Cummings had a good argument about that statement about AI being “co-authors” with us, but for me, I cannot get behind it. I like my work to be entirely my own, from the second I think of an idea, to the final word I write. So, no matter how much AI advances, I don’t think I will give up my creative freedom as a writer to AI. This of course does not ring entirely true, no matter how much I want to be entirely AI free, I use tools such as auto correct and spell check when I write. This is a small form of AI, but it is still AI…

Remixing and Ridolfo & DeVoss

On the other hand, Ridolfo and DeVoss’s piece on remixing was fascinating to me. The idea of writing being remixed around (sometimes even immediately) after something is published, and the process of writing your piece to expect and anticipate the remixing of said piece, is at the root of the digital age.

To add to this point, Ridolfo and DeVoss use an excerpt from Lawrence Lessig, which states, “what we do when we mix together culture or knowledge, and then give others the opportunity to re-express that which we have mixed… culture is remix, knowledge is remix, politics is remix. Remix is how we as humans live and everyone within our society engages in this act of creativity.”

Remixing is at the foundation of our culture. We remix every day, even when we aren’t aware of it. Think of that song you heard and it sounds like another song from the 70s, but you aren’t sure if it’s a cover or a remix… or maybe your favorite artist painted a piece that looks a lot like the Mona Lisa, but instead of a person it’s a dog… Remixing is everywhere.

The beginnings of Markdown

Lastly, Markdown. We briefly discussed Markdown and how it is a markup language that formats your writing when using special scripts/ methods. The majority of our time was spent with exploring and playing with the markup language. This was fun for me, because I made lists and learned how to block quote words while in Markdown. I unfortunately did not learn how to use emojis, which will be a bummer for my future Markdown endeavors.

Overall, week two was filled with lots of new information and fun tools that I am excited to use throughout this course. We discussed machine rhetorics, rhetorical velocity, remixing, and even learned the basics of Markdown.

Until next time my digital writing friends!