Remediation, check.

It’s amazing the difference a decade in the digital age makes. According to Bolter and Grusin, “many cyberenthusiasts assert that the web and computer applications are creating a digital culture that will revolutionize commerce, education, and social relationships” (60). Just over ten years later we can go down the list and check each one off.

Revolutionized commerce, check. I spent my entire paycheck on a variety of things without ever touching my wallet. With my last paycheck spent I’m left wondering how to pay for next quarter’s fees—which I will eventually pay online. Revolutionized education, check. What you are reading now is an assignment for a class on computers and literacy. Yes, computers and literacy. Revolutionized social relationships, check. I now have 277 friends on Facebook. I never realized I even knew 277 people and now I’m friends with them, well kind of.

The list can go on, remediation has always been reforming reality and the way we live. Society changes, cultures change, and remediation sits at the core of much of that change. Remediation reforms, no doubt. But does such reform improve life—who knows?