Comparison of Katherine Hayles's two pieces

¶ … Katherine Hayles's two piece

The evolution of technology and that of science and society as a whole has put an important toll on the way in which people tend to perceive diverse aspects of life, from social gatherings to media and literature. At this point, mostly all our lives have been affected by technology and with it by a change in our perception and in things we usually knew to be in a certain way rather than in another. One of these things is literature. Katherine Hayles points out some of these aspects in two of her writings, "Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes" and "Writing Machines." These two writings have interesting yet different writing styles although they have the same author. The writer has adapted its perspective and therefore her methods of conveying the information largely because of the topics the two writings discuss. Even if they are somewhat connected and deal with certain forms of literature, the need to adapt the style, technique, and wording was important for sending the proper message.

The first writing, "Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes" points out the fact that students as a particular group in the society have changed dramatically in the last decades in particular and no longer consider the focused attention on a particular subject to be sufficiently challenging. This change is particularly important because it determined the society and the market to change according to these modifications at the end-user. Moreover, the question Hayles is asking on whether teaching methods should be adapted to further excite students is very important because it may influence the way in which students receive the message or are interested by it.

The style used by Hayles on this writing is much more appropriate for the topic under discussion. The tone is much more official and adapted to the subject as well as the format of the writing. Being an article in a professional magazine, the language is much more accurate and standard, while addressing an issue that relates to the core nature of her assignment as a professor.

The second reading on the other hand has a more literary approach, while fully analyzing and conceptualizing aspects related to the teaching environment. She analyzes several pieces of literature and the way these adapt to a different, modern environment with hypertexts. The change is usually rather dramatic because it is not only the literature that must adapt but also the requirements from the readers. One cannot expect to consider different types of literature as appealing in the technology era compared to the era of printed books and materials. The literature and the approach have changed to keep up with the changing environment.