Text Sense

“Text sense” or “a sense of the text” is explored in Christina Haas’ novel, “Writing Technology: Studies on the Materiality of Literacy.” After her extensive research on the impact of writing technologies on writers, Haas argues that a writer’s understanding of their text’s message and format is what encompasses this concept of text sense (117). She explains that although an author may think that their text’s message and meaning exists separate from the material or medium it is presented on, the two are actually “intrinsically tied,” (Haas 117).

An example of the bond a message and its medium shares can be a love letter. Although it may still have the same romantic written sentiments, no matter the medium it is presented on, there is still a more personal and sentimental feeling gained when reading the message handwritten as opposed to send through email. The tangible letter allows for the reader to interact with the message more than what a computer screen can allow. One could physically see all the imperfections that make the message more personal and real, or smell a scent attached to the paper that can help the reader connect with the writer even more. Without realizing it, the reader is able to invoke their other five scenes that deepen their understanding of the message.

Haas’s text sense understands Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan’s idea of the medium having the ability to send another message to the receiver, whether it is done purposely or not by the writer themselves. In McLuhan’s novel, The Medium Is the Massage, he uses a collage of photos and short texts to comment on the collision of information that society is receiving with the use of new technology. McLuhan’s text sense allowed him to understand that to best explain to his audience how new technology has affected the way in which people typically communicate, he must mimic that controlled chaoticness in his novel with different mediums. Thus, “… new situations—in this case new technological contexts and situations for writing— bring to the fore aspects of writing that may have been there all along, but have not been previously noticed,” (Haas 117).

Haas coined the term text sense and has it refers to the mental representation of the structure of a piece of writing within the minds of the reader. The phrase comes from writers themselves, according to her research. In one of Haas’ interview studies, writers told of their use of computers for writing; However, most of the writers mentioned problems as well (Haas 118). Text Sense is a product of reading and writing switching over to digital mediums in recent history. Text sense may also encompass smaller nuances such as spacing and temporal factors in a writing, however, it centers mainly on the medium or media utilized (Haas 118). Text sense assumes that the medium affects the way an individual will look at or interact with a piece. “The medium, or process, of our time- electric technology- is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life,” (McLuhan 8).