glossary: January 2008 Archives
Key Concept:
Schemata
I've set up the course with four main touchstones.
Oral Culture
oral -> manuscript -> print -> digitalEras overlap; all modes of communication continue to exist to the present day, but their function in society changes.
Oral Culture
- personal (one-to-one; one[-speaker]-to-many[-listeners])
- interactive
- memory and improvisation (the agora & the courts)
- limitation: the sound of the human voice
- private (one-to-one; several-to-several)
- contemplative
- scarcity and fidelity (scriptoria and the church)
- limitations:
access to writing materials; access to written documents (for study or
copying); hundreds of hours of precision labor for each book
- public (one-to-many)
- compartmentized
- accuracy and efficiency (standardized manufacture, standardized education, university culture)
- limitations: cheap paper only lasts a few centuries; competition favors authors with mass audiences; mistakes harder to correct
- impersonal (many-to-many)
- ephemeral
- immediacy and interactivity (erosion of privacy, erosion of print culture borders)
- limitations: spam & crap; competing notions of "ownership" (file-sharing and digital rights)
Recent Comments
DavidCristello on Ex 5: Response to Kindle: PSAW! http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DavidCristello
Daniella Choynowski on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: warning: conclusion deals with Harry Potter (the b
Dennis G. Jerz on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: David, could you please let me know that you've re
Dennis G. Jerz on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: Right. Can be informal.
Daniella Choynowski on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: around 3-4 pages for the Kindle, right?
Jeremy Barrick on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: Dave, rest assure. I have the Kindle. Can I give i
Jeremy Barrick on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: Dave, rest assure. I have the Kindle. Can I give i
Daniella Choynowski on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: no, both essays will be in before midnight
Dennis G. Jerz on Ex 6: Of Books as Books: That's correct, Dani. Actually, I suppose if thi