Life is a Garden, Digg it!

At first I was a strong advocate of defining the differences between a writing tool and a writing space, but I have come to realize a red flag needs to be thrown out onto the field of this debate.  Okay well maybe it's a yellow flag, forgive me, I don't follow football unless my boyfriend forces me to watch a Green Bay game and even though I always watch the Superbowl, I am always doing homework on the floor paying little attention to the game and only look up at the good commercials.  Hilarious.  But if any of you saw the original E-Trade commercial a year or so ago when he talks about hiring the clown and "underestimating the creepiness of clowns," that was hands down the best but "Milk-a-what?!" is pretty hilarious too.  Laughter = the foundation of life.  But back to the flag throwing.  I was trying  so hard to personally define for myself in my own mind the (Image from Cafepress.com) difference between a writing tool and a writing space, but a few days ago I threw a time out flag in my own game of obstacles and heavy hitting line backers.  I have come to discover that I need to stop trying to define them as two separate things but rather accept them as one because they contribute to the technologically driven world in such similar ways.

Personally I have a few requirements or rather criteria that are involved when determining if something is a writing space/tool:
1. Communication to a broader audience.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide spaces in which users can write their thoughts for a broader audience to view.  Initially I considered Twitter to be simply a tool because it is often used for rather insignificant means like telling someone that you ate Pinkberry for the first time.  Although seemingly insignificant, it communicates to a broader audience nonetheless and therefore becomes not only a tool but also a space.
2. Anything online in which someone writes a comment I consider a writting tool/space.  The new site Digg, that I have been looking into is the determiner to my conclusion that anything written online in this web-connected cobweb we call the internet is both a tool and a space.  I may sound a little out there but try to stay with me.  Stay at home moms write reviews of a new baby crib on Target.com.  Their review is written in a space or area where there are lots of other mothers just like them who judge the quality and dependability of the particular crib, thus they are writing in a space that is suitable to their lifestyle and personal home environment.  The space in which the online reviews take place is also a tool that assists others in similar environments to discover the quality of a particular thing.  This type of judgment and rating system takes place all over the internet from "like" comments on Facebook to "thumbs up" comments on Digg.  Ordinary people just like us have the chance to see how smart certain celebrities can be sometimes.  This story was digged or rather dug (?) 200+ times.  The cool thing that I like about Digg is that ordinary people/users just like you and me have a chance to make the front page for millions of people to see.  Submit something intriguing that sparks the interest in other users on the site and if enough other users "digg" it then it will be promoted as a headliner on the main page.  A moment of allowed celebrity-ness?  A chance to shine?  I digg it.  It's like the shinning spotlight we missed out on getting throughout all those years of pitiful elementary stage performances that our loving parents have one VHS video tape to show at our wedding rehearsal dinner  a few years from now.

.......Sorry about the tangent, I tend to pull those out quite often so be prepared.  My point with the second point is that any area on this world wide web whether it be a WOW fansite or a movie rating site, where you have the oppurtunity to write something that is personal from your own mind, I believe is a writing space and a tool simultaneously because you are giving your opinion, which others can view, even if your opinion comes in the form of a click-able thumbs up.

 

(Image taken from http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2009/10/thumbs-up-on-orange-line-this-morning.html)