Yearly Archives: 2007
Be Enterprising and Show Us the Water
A student wrote me last night with some excellent information for the class. All ASU students and faculty (anyone with an ASUrite ID) can download a little client (Mac or PC) to his or her desktop and use a ton of free software, including the major Adobe design apps, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and other things like…
Must New Media Depend on Writing?
“Written texts all have to be related somehow, … to the world of sound, … to yield their meanings.” “Reading a text means converting it to sound, aloud or in the imagination… Writing can never dispense with orality.” (Ong, 8). “Oral expression can exist and mostly has existed without any writing at all, writing never…
From Computer Literate to De-Literate
“Computer literate” is obviously not a new term or concept; we hear it often to refer to one’s general ability to understand and use a computer. I suggest it applies to the general ability to use a mouse/keyboard, perhaps to navigate the Internet, or to create a basic Word doc with bold headings and numbered…
When will the keyboard go away?
I have little to say on this point. Rather, I was hoping that others might opine on this. It seems that there are increasingly ways in which to communicate/interact with the computer. This topic does have obvious hints at my interest in orality. I could see successful communication with a decent microphone/software set-up and a…
Is it wrong to type 2 spaces?
Recently, I was speaking with my Father, who is truly one of the smartest, most well-read people I know. That said, he is, well… less-than-proficient in his knowledge and skill of computer use in general. I know many people who relate to this situation (that a similar statement can be said of their well-educated, successful,…
It’s Still Orality to Me – or – But, We Still Teach Orally
In Chapter Two, “The Theory of Transformative Technologies,” in Michael Heim’s Electric Language, he discusses Walter Ong and Eric Havelock and their (separate) studies of orality. The background for my next point is essentially his discussion of the reason for epic poems and sagas of oral cultures being not for poetic purposes as we generally…
A New Literacy?
One consideration within my larger discussion and interest of new media (NM) as a return to orality is that it requires a new literacy. Clearly, I do not believe that the advent of podcasting and comparable trends are returning us to a solely oral culture. You can’t unknow what you know. That is, we have come this…
Welcome All
I welcome you to my blog, which is largely devoted to my Dissertation research, ideas, and direction. However, one can assuredly expect other rants, digressions, and discussions. Feel free to comment, question, or initiate new (related) discussions on topics found herein.