Week 2 – The Tradition of Western Literacy

A B C’s – A Graded Society

On reflection of week two’s readings I am curious as to why it is that we often assign higher levels of intelligence and greater meaning to literate communication rather than oral? The invention of the alphabet and literacy by the Greek’s circa 700 B.C. created an enormous turn in power as it put the Greek’s well ahead of society and enabled them an advantage in the world of communications (Crowley & Heyer 2011).  The technology advancements ing writing brought on a shift in the way that human beings began to relate to each other (Murphie & Potts 2003, p. 13) and initially it created a class system whereby only the privileged had rights to literacy (Crowley & Heyer 2011, p. 38). Fast-forward the power of written communication to the 15^th century printing press that enabled information sharing and education (Dittmar 2011, p. 1134). This revolution began to empower people with knowledge and helped to lessen the divide between people.

Something I found interesting throughout the readings is the importance that society has placed on written communication since its invention as opposed to verbal communication, which existed long before any such form of recorded communication. It is also interesting to note that in the process of transferring our internal thoughts and personal experiences into words it can lead to slight adjustments being made, often more elaborate than the original (Ong 2011, cited in Crowley & Heyer, 2011, p. 52). However, the idea that written communication separates the information from the writer in literate communication creates a sense of objectivity and authenticity and is often perceived as having higher merit than verbal communication (Logan 2011, cited in Crowley & Heyer 2011, p. 44), even if the written communication is somewhat distorted from the truth.

References

Crowley, D & Heyer, P 2011, Communication in history technology, culture, society sixth edition, Pearson Higher Education, Boston.

Dittmar, JE 2011, ‘Information technology and economic change: The impact of the printing press’, Quarterly Journal Of Economics, vol. 126, no. 3, pp. 1133-1172.

Murphie, A & Potts, J 2003, Culture and technology, Palgrave, New York.

Week 11 – A Background to Technological Determinism

Growing Apart or Growing Together

As technology has evolved over the years so has there been a consistent trail of cultural changes that have also been effected along the way. This relationship between culture and technology is hard to separate in term of which one may have had the greater influence over the other (Murphie & Potts 2003) and instead of taking sides in the debate of technological determinism, I have acknowledged all that I have learnt this semester and have decided to simply view culture and technology as one and look at the common factor, which is the human element. 

The statement, ‘as technology continues to evolve, so must our relationship with it‘ (COMM12022 week 11, 2015) reflects how diverse human culture is and the different levels that cultures may choose embrace technology resulting in a range of potential possibilities for human thought, expression and activity that makes up culture (Murphie & Potts 2003, p .13). Moreover, culture and the human requirements of society play a massive role in deciding which technologies are adopted and how they are implemented (Murphie & Potts 2003, p. 20). An example is the situation of the widening gap between our ageing population and technology advances in the workforce, here, the workplace requires technology for efficient practices whereas the older population having not grown up with technology may find it more difficult to adapt to a changing business world.  

To maintain steady growth in society both technology and cultural habits need to evolve to together, as in the past the direct links can be seen where different technologies have influenced different periods of human experience (Crowley & Heyer 2011).

References

CQUniversity, COMM12022 course notes, Term 1, 2015, https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=216, 26 May 2015.

Crowley, D & Heyer, P 2011, Communication in history technology, culture, society sixth edition, Pearson Higher Education, Boston.

Murphie, A & Potts, J 2003, Culture and technology, Palgrave, New York.

Week 8  - New Media and Old In The Information Age

New Technology Replaces Old Habits

Since the 70’s the availability of technology to support our daily needs has increased dramatically, so much so, that one may argue that we have come so heavily reliant on technology to perform even the most simple tasks (Crowley & Heyer 2011, p. 274). For example, the use of the calculator versus memory based mathematics in the classroom, communication via text and email rather than face-to-face exchanges and goggle doctor for online diagnosis of our symptoms. Modern life seems to be more concerned with efficiency than it is with appropriateness and as hypothesized by Ong, this choice to supersede technology over more common traditions may lead to an erosion of metal capacities (Ong 2011, cited in Crowley & Heyer, 2011, p. 274). 

In an article published by the Sydney Morning Herald (‘Messaging each other to death’ 2011) the writer expresses concerns over our capacity to have thoughtful exchanges especially through the use of modern media where communication is often being manipulated to the point where it looses its integrity. The Sydney Morning Herald article (‘Messaging each other to death’ 2011) also discusses the central idea that we are the ones who have created this need for an, ‘ever-faster, ever-simpler approach to the exchange of messages’ and it is perhaps leading us down a path of destruction as far as social interaction and meaningful communication goes. With the vast availability of technology available, our response when we come across a barrier is generally to use another way to get our point across and simply bypass the issues rather than solve it, however, it is also important to note that many fields of research we have harnessed this mentality to assist in building better procedures (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Pool, Simon, Woods & Chau 2011, p. 89).

References

Crowley, D & Heyer, P 2011, ‘Communication in history technology, culture, society sixth edition’, Pearson Higher Education, Boston.

‘Messaging each other to death’ 2011, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 November, viewed May 25 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/messaging-each-other-to-death-20111104-1mzqw.

Schermerhorn, J, Davidson, P, Poole, D, Simon, A, Woods, P & Chau, SL 2011, Management fourth Asia-Pacific edition, John Wiles & Sons, Milton, Qld.

Week 1 – The Media of Early Civilisation

From Carvings To Computers 

As we delve into history, as far back as the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods where notched bones and tokens made from clay were developed as methods for communicating (Crowley & Heyer 2011, p.7) and ask, what may have prompted the requirement for these methods of communication in early life? To debate the precedency of a deterministic perspective versus instinct as the major the influence it is clearly evident that strategic communication knowledge existed (Moore 2010, p. 227) but whether it was a product of science or human forces is debatable in modern literature (Al Lily 2013, p. 45). Jabusch (1992) described communication in early cultures as a ‘innovative, flexible, adaptive and functional’, furthermore, the fact that these communication methods were made to fit within a certain setting (Al Lily 2013, p. 46), I believe that creating ways for communication in pre-modern society came as a logical response to new and unfamiliar circumstances as well as managing obstacles created by time and space (Moore 2010) and thus comes back to human instinct and our ability to adapt to a changing environment.

Today, even with the vast availability of mediums in modern society it is still common for many cultures to use pre-modern communications, proof that the significance given to communication is shaped by culture (Al Lily 3012, p. 46). For example, body painting and lip and ear plates as a sign for wealth among the Surma culture of Ethopia (Jabusch 1992, p. 5) and having witnessed for myself the magnificence of the remains of Ancient Egypt, ‘a culture that enjoyed a rapid organisational, social and technological development’ (Agnese & Re 2003, p.12), it is clear to me that society has helped to shape communications.

References

Agnese, G & Re, M 2003, ‘Ancient Egypt art and archaeology’, The American University in Cairo Press, Egypt.

Al Lily, AA 2013, ‘Social change and educational technologies: By invitation or invasion’, Journal Of Organisational Transformation & Social Change, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 42-63.

Crowley, D & Heyer, P 2011, ‘Communication in history technology, culture, society sixth edition’, Pearson Higher Education, Boston.

Jabusch, DM 1992, ‘Communication media in ancient cultures’, pp. 3-12.

Moore, S 2010, ‘The origins of strategic communication: Precedents and parallels in ancient states’, Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 227–240.