The Evolution of Writing
Writing has always been my passion. Writing stories as a kid, writing sports blogs as a young adult, writing short stories and novels as an adult. And those are just a few examples. As with any passion, I started thinking about the history of the thing I was interest in. In the history of writing, there’s been an interesting cycle that, I think, is coming full circle.
The written word began on leaves and cave walls and rocks. Over time, with the creation of paper, words were transferred to something more portable. Next, words could be printed and distributed. Then, they could be displayed digitally. That’s a high-level history, but the real history I want to explore is the ownership model of writing over time.
Whether it was scratches on a cave wall or ink on a leaf, writing was owned by the creator. In the case of something like a cave wall, that writing was public and accessible, but that was by choice and ownership remained with the creator.
The same is true with the introduction of paper. From a single sheet to a journal full of thoughts, that writing belonged to the creator and the creator alone. Information could be shared, sure. But no one could use that writing without the creator handing it over. No one could keep the creator from that writing.
Digital writing has changed this construct. I’m defining digital writing as anything done on a computer, tablet, or smartphone and stored on a computer or in the cloud. Suddenly, the work of the creator no longer belonged just to the creator. It belonged to the storage service. It belonged to the software developer. Access was no longer restricted to who the creator allowed, it was dictated by others.
So now, with distributed ledger technology and platforms like Blockstack, it is possible to retain the convenience digital writing has allowed while getting creators back to a place where they retain ownership over their creations. This is exactly what Graphite has enabled. Your writing is yours. You share it if you want, you keep it private if you’d prefer. No middleman gets to decide who has access to your work. No organization or company can lock you out of your work. Graphite never sees or touches your data.
Just like writing is supposed to be.
If you’re ready to own your writing (and other data) again, give Graphite a try.
