Week 10 Response: Wait a second just found this really cool link, Hey, something shiny.

     I understood the premise of all of these “activity” theories, but, as with most research like this, I think it is difficult or almost impossible to really understand the whole writing process (or the activities that inform it). I found that researching the origins of CHAT to be helpful; however, I think that CHAT has totally different possibilities in the 21^st century and that the theory will have to continually evolve to adequately research many of the questions it poses. I say this due to the growing amount of “tools” that one can access at the click of a button or touch of a screen. I understand that the basic premise is based on the outside stimuli one negotiates while composing and developing a “written” document, but that's where I see that so many other things have to be taken into consideration.

     I did find this theory to be useful as a tool to explore my own activity process. I, honestly, have more down time when it comes to my writing. Meaning that I spend more time not writing and reading than doing the former or the latter. I see writing about certain things as an enormous task that is going to take too much time and not have much pay out in the end. My papers end up being half genuine inspiration and sincerity and half filler to meet a page requirement. That is the one thing that I appreciate about journalism: Brevity. This was more of an aside, but I believe that this aspect of writing is a very large part of activity theory. It was also a sentiment shared by a couple of the people in the paper I read. Just the idea of a writing task, small or large, can make the composer feel overwhelmed. Even squeezing in this blog post can be arduous at times.

     Now, back to my 21^st century concerns. While I'm actually writing, I listen to music, break for a snack, watch a movie clip, look up something about pop culture, check my email...etc. Most of these things would not be possible 20 years ago, but they are all part of my writing process. It's hard form me to discern work/not work while doing anything. When I'm at the library or some similar “work-oriented” place, I do spend little time “wasting time,” however. It's all a matter of what is “private” and what is “work” and how the aesthetic is achieved. The work/private line is ever blurring with today's technology and I think Bazerman would agree. I think the overwhelming amount of tools one has can be counterproductive, too. For example, my computer was getting repaired a few weeks ago and I had a few days to kill with no internet access. I spent most of that time reading and working on things that I was composing. I got more work done without a computer than I did with a computer. This may not be the case for everyone, but it is for me. I find it hard to get things done when I have the internet right in front of me. On the converse of the technology issue ,however,  listening to a song or some film has ALWAYS inspired my writing. Some song that brings up an important social issue or a television show that is clever makes me think more, thus the film/music acts as a catalyst for writing and cognition. This is one reason that I have chosen pop-culture oriented rhetoric/composition as my research project.