GROUP 1 caity, hunter, brighton and holly

People who study everyday writing all seem to have several different viewpoints on what everyday writing is and what the true definition happens to be or what it even consists of. Famous writers and researchers, Lillis, Lyons, and Gillen and Hall tackled this task of what everyday writing is by creating their own definitions and how to classify everyday writing in literature and in life. These definitions have some similarities, but also distinct differences that include and exclude certain types and characteristics of writing.  These differences are particularly apparent when they assert who everyday writing most effects and how and who it has the most significant impact on in societal terms.

            To start, some similarities between all the theorists include the fact that Gillen and Hall identify everyday writing with the revolutionary technology of post cards, the efficiency and size accompanied with the postal service made them an essential key in the evolution of everyday writing. This ordinary and efficient idea started to spread everyday writing. Lillis also believed that YouTube and blog posts can be classified as everyday writing and a revolutionary way to create everyday writing by means of technology. She believes that everyday writing, for the blandness and ordinary work that it is, has been more efficient and created more work for research and in-depth study of what everyday writing is through technology. They both agree that technology spreads the idea and implication of everyday writing, for Gillen it was the post card and for Lillis it was the internet and social media. Lillis and Lyons both agree that we can interpret the world through studying everyday writing and what it means. They both agree that everyday writing is a form to look at life and its components, whether it is post cards or love notes.

            With all of the similarities, there are still apparent differences between the three theories. For example, Lillis and Lyons differ on who everyday writing is available too, for example, Lillis says in a socio-cultural way that writing is different per culture, in western society it is looked at as a needed degree in order to “write” and everything that is not based on hard writing with a degree is everyday writing. While Lyons says that everyday writing should be seen as everything with different aspects and domains.  Lyons states that everyday writing is life and its domains do overlap; for example, it keeps a household together, families, businesses, it is all of society and it is all everyday writing. Lillis states that everyday writing is just casual and ordinary and can be studied from there, while Lyons states that everything essentially is everyday writing. 

            In conclusion, each of these texts has ideas of what everyday writing is. Lillis emphasizes the omnipresence of everyday writing and how it can give us insight into a singular writer’s point of view and life, while Lyon focuses on the importance of everyday writing and what it means for society as a whole. Lastly we have Gillen and Hall who give us the origin and evolution of the postcard and the prodigious effect that it had on the Victorian Era in Britain. As a group, we feel that Lillis has the best theory for the concept of everyday writing, but all theorists bring an equally supported idea of what everyday writing is.