Tamara Plakins Thornton and Langdon Winner Responses

I found Thornton's article to be interesting, although I didn't agree with a main theme she discussed. I liked her mentioning of the, "marking of handwriting with telltale signs of class and gender." I couldn't imagine reading something today and being able to tell, off the bat, which demographic that piece came from. In her distinction between the written and printed word, I am not sure if she hit the nail on the head, though. If the written word is the only one which truly presents itself to the reader, then what am I doing right now? This blog was created specifically for the purpose of expressing my thoughts and opinions to an open array of peoples interested in the subject. Also, what about the incorporation of graphic design with fonts, colors, bolds, italics, and even the insertion of images into the printed word. I would say that this text needs to be updated to reflect the shift in the roles of printed and written word, as printed word is, today, much more dynamic, and personal than it's written counterpart.

Winner's article was really interesting because I had never thought about the topic in quite the same way. I had always assumed technology to be more of a digital thing, than the wider forum which he discussed. And Winner did make a point to acknowledge this difference and discrepancy between what we modernly assume, compared to what actually is. In this way, it is not only informative, but I would argue important, to analyze what Winner calls, "the social and economic system embedded within technology." For instance, his discussion of the overpasses in Long Island as discriminatory is a captivating analysis, which was very eye-opening for me. In this example particularly, I completely am for the idea that, yes, artifacts do have politics, though then we may be left in a discussion of what defines artifacts. I don't understand, though why the piece comes at such a stand still here instead of criticizing and perhaps offering pleas to remedy the situation. Why haven't these bridges been rebuilt if everyone is aware of their social significance? If so many things can be reconstructed to accomodate the handicapped, then why can't these bridges be rebuilt?