George Sirc’s Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding he Teaching of Composition is about composition, technology, and a box.
According to Sirc, “The means of media are not as important to me as the expressive or conceptual uses afforded by them” (113). His views on technology matches to that of Duchamp’s. The technology is just a tool. The overall product is what is important.
Technology is always evolving and improving. One has to be up to date in order to use it to its full potential. Teaching changes so that it could keep up with technology. Teaching what is new helps people not be at a disadvantage with their competition.
The idea of a box is important to Sirc. “Text as box = author as collector” (Sirc 117). The box could be physical or metaphorical. Anything is up for grabs to use. What the person makes out of other materials is a new creation. Meaning something new could come from something old.
The box makes us realize what is actually needed. There are so much that can be done and the box simplifies it, at least to a degree. “The grammar of the box can keep us grounded in the basic image, in things we really care about” (Sirc 119). If one is able to focus and pinpoint what is actually needed, it is easier to make what they were planning to make in the first place.
