Monday, September 8, 2014

Literacy and Orality, 2nd half

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Reading the second half of Ong's Literacy and Orality, a topic I found interesting was the concept of writing being seen as an unknown "thing" many wanted to avoid or couldn't resist avoiding event though they didn't understand it. And then computers being the unknown "thing" that was confusing and foreign to many. The inevitable question in my mind was "what comes after the computer?"

Computers are designed to do all kinds of amazing feats; some are interesting and exotic, but they aren't that hard to imagine since we are in the era of technology. Since Ong wrote Literacy and Orality in the 1980s, it easy to see why computers were the new and unthought of form of communication. However, in the age of technology, what will we create that is so out of the box that we can't begin to fathom it?

Not only was writing and computer technologies seen as unfamiliar, but also as a method to be lazy. This is something that I also find interesting because typing an essay or writing notes for a class seem so extensive and in no way lazy. However, for those in an oral culture, memorization is only done verbally, while the written text can always be viewed again. While the physical act of writing and using the computer seem in no way lazy, I understand the concept Ong et. al. is trying to make.

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