[56 1/2 Main Street: 8] From May 23rd - More Judy Redman/Orality and Literacy
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56 1/2 Main Street » 56 1/2 Main Street: 8 From May 23rd - More Judy Redman/Orality and Literacy

Popping Up for Air - More on Orality and Literacy - Judy Redman

In my opinion, Redman is right on with her blog posts/statements concerning both orality versus literacy and online communities versus offline communities. I believe she supports her claims using accurate references, and this lends credibility to her ideas regarding how text-based our culture is.

Mark Goodacre, responds in the blog with his belief that our culture is, outside of the academic sub-culture, dominate by orality. He lists the examples of news broadcast media to support his claim including TV, radio, and other oral media, (whatever those would be), and he states that more people depend upon these for information and news than on newspapers. He goes on to say that “many” people are using newspapers combines with other options such as watching online videos, listening to podcasts, etc. He doesn’t support his claims with any references, and he doesn’t give any data regarding what he means by “many” people. He describes himself as an avid Guardian, reader, and he goes onto say that this includes the use of podcasts and video material.

Redman’s acknowledges that there are many non-text communications “out there.” These communication platforms such as podcasts and videos, however, are more permanent than the spoken word. They can be downloaded or bookmarked and listened to over and over, or transcripts of podcasts and videos can be obtained. Longer videos are sometimes problematic in that people find it difficult to invest the time to view them. We read much faster than the average person can speak.

Those productions that are not scripted beforehand are easy to identify. Generally, they make for poor viewing, the speaker(s) tend to ramble, and they tend to take even longer to view. This brings to mind one of the examples of hoaxes in Rettberg’s, Blogging. The video blog of lonelygirl15 was one of the most popular video blogs on YouTube. This was due to the intriguing plot/overtones in which the character, Bree, was assumed to live. In addition, the production was done by screenwriters and professionals. The fact that these video posts were scripted and “tight” lent to the success of the posts.

Overall, due to the amount of data necessary to create both the visual images and the recorded voices, videos and podcasts cost those with Internet data limits a good percentage of their allotment to download. In Redman’s experience, users/viewers will ask for a written summary of the broadcast in textual form so they won’t have to sit through the entire video/podcast to hear it. Thus, the perceived shift from being a literate culture to an oral/video culture due to the Internet is not complete.

Another participant in this conversation is Loren Rosson, who quotes Robert Fowler’s ideas regarding the characteristics of oral cultures and the idea that there is a significant shift in that there is a development of a sense of knitting together people who have never met into a community. Redman disagrees, saying that in her opinion and experience, this knitting together people into a community via the Internet, is illusory. Redman states that it is much easier to maintain a community with people whom you don’t have to get along with in real life. The relationships are less immediate and more distant. She believes that there are some common interests, those that would draw people together online, and they would not be enough to keep people together in real time. In spite of those common interests, there are enough differences to make it unlikely that those people would come together and stay together as members of a community.

Redman goes onto describe how the Internet makes it possible to avoid dealing with “community members” with whom she might disagree or may not like. Those posts made by these people can be ignored or even deleted, and this would not be the case in real life. Such behavior would be far more obvious in a physical community, and it would be considered destructive to that community. Oral cultures appear to be far more in-your-face than our own culture in which being “politically correct” is considered appropriate and proper. Redman agrees that while there are online communities, they tend to be less tightly knit than our own physical communities. In turn, our present literate culture/community is less tightly knit than a typical oral culture/community.

In closing, Redman states that when describing a culture as being either literate or oral, the bottom line is in what that culture does to preserve the information that is considered important. A literate culture will use text-based media. (It is interesting to note that this would include those video and oral media platforms that appear to be oral while using a written script to keep the flow of important information fluid and efficient). An oral culture will use the spoken word. Redman believes we may be shifting towards being a multi-media culture. We are not, however, going back to being an oral culture.

I believe Redman is correct. In my experience, online “communities” and relationships are unsatisfying. Rettberg’s text describes the mirrors and veils used to allow people to present themselves and/or hide themselves. They ‘reinvent’ themselves. How does this lend itself to building ‘community?’ Of course, we all choose to reveal parts of ourselves and to hold back regarding other aspects of ourselves. It could be that how this is done through social media, (the Internet), might actually lend itself to building a more ideal community as people come into that community/culture presenting a more ideal self.

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