Media & Culture

<h1>Media & Culture</h1> <h2> [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> <p3> As human culture becomes ever more <b>connected</b>, we will examine and reflect on the history and forms of media that have facilitated this great <b>cultural explosion</b>. </p3> <iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/19088241?autoplay=1" width="950" height="475" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p2><a href="https://vimeo.com/19088241"target="_blank">A History of the World in 100 Seconds</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user5817916"target="_blank">Gareth Lloyd</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com"target="_blank">Vimeo</a>.</p2> <h2> [[Credits|Credits]] </h2>

<h1>Writing Culture</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> <p> Writing is something that we all do without much thought or consideration. Although it is a staple in most cultures worldwide, few people know its origins. In fact, the origin of writing goes back longer in time than most modern religions. Writing not only evolved as humans did, but also helped advance our species and society. Written communication started around 35,000 years ago as paintings on cave walls by Cro-Magnon Man in Mesopotamia (Mark). These cave paintings weren’t just ways to tell stories, but according to Joshua J. Mark, an Author for //Ancient History Encyclopedia//, they “appear to express concepts concerning daily life. These images suggest a language because, in some instances, they seem to tell a story (say, of a hunting expedition in which specific events occurred) rather than being simply pictures of animals and people” (mark). Cave paintings weren’t just crude drawing on a cavern walls, but also communicated thoughts to other members of the community. As society started developing and growing, the need for improved forms of writing did too. Pictographs became a way of keeping track of grains, livestock and beer (Mark). Pictographs are symbols that represent objects (Mark). As life got more complicated for our ancestors, the more the need for ways of tracking trade developed. The need for improved record keeping continued to grow and more elaborate record keeping became essential. Phonograms began to develop. Phonograms are symbols that represent sounds of the people of Sumer. With this new record keeping system, a person could keep track of goods and their status, whether they were coming or going and to whom they were going to (Mark). Again, life for humans in this period was growing more multifaceted, and out of the need for better record keeping came the development of more complex ways to record and pass along information. Writing was becoming important in people’s lives in many ways. People started realizing that writing had more uses than just business transactions and telling others about your latest hunting-and-gathering outing. People realized they could use it to record their religions as well as other texts they found important. According to //Ancient History Encyclopedia//, “The first writer in history known by name is the Mesopotamian priestess Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE), daughter of Sargon of Akkad, who wrote her hymns to the goddess Inanna and signed them with her name and seal.” Writing continues to be an important tool in documenting history and religion over thousands of years. Using writing as a tool for trade, religion and storytelling wasn’t just contained in Mesopotamia but also becoming more relevant in China and around the world. Soon writing took another and maybe most important step for thousands of years with the creation of an alphabet. Phoenicians adapted the other forms of communication into a system that would make it possible for civilizations to pass along poetry and legends for future generations. There have been many tools used for writing, from clay being scribed on with a reed, or early ink on animal hides. The materials that were taken advantage of to record the important things in people’s lives has changed as writing itself has. Today we use pen and paper, pencil and canvas, and keyboard and monitor. When people thought that there were no more ways to document history, other people were saying, “Hey check this out.” As technology continues to advance, we will have to wait and see the next big thing in communications and what role writing might play. </p> <p2> <b>Works Cited</b> Mark, Joshua J. “Writing.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 28 Apr. 2011. https://www.ancient.eu/writing/ </p2>

<h1>Language and Text</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> <p>After reading //From Papyrus to Hypertext// there is a lot to be learned about tabularity, hypertextuality, and the transition from language to textual cultures. Vandendorpe indicates a clear divide between language and text, as well as some of the drawbacks of both. Although language dominated a large portion of the way people communicate there were some major drawbacks. Based on what Vandendorpe wrote the key points are a listener’s inability to determine when the communication took place, the rate of delivery which is chosen by the storyteller and being unable to play back or review the content of the communication (Vandendorpe, pg 5). These same obstacles created a need for innovation that would remedy the drawbacks of speech, this came much later in the form of text. Apart from the obstacles there was another that pertains to both text and speech which is personality, that comes with a voice and the lack thereof that accompanies text. As writing began to replace speech the need for style and uniqueness would change what started as a neutral medium and transformed into one of equal or relevant individuality. Continuing forward, as text has transcended from purely physical and has went on into the digital realm so too has the level of personality that accompanies it, to the point of limited distinction between speech and text. Regarding personality, within the digital realm of text it’s clear who the author of an article is because it’s clearly indicated. Furthermore, one can learn about this author through an inquiry, or clicking on their biography and or about me rather than with speech where it’s a feeling-based process. Text and speech are often one in the same as Richard Nordquist mentions in //Text in Language Studies// stating, “Text is understood to be a piece of written or spoken material and refers to content rather than form.” (Nordquist, What Is a Text) Nordquist then goes on to address the fact that the concept of text isn’t a stable one, it’s ever changing, especially with modern technology and like Vandendorpe, Nordquist noted that technology seems to bridge the divide between text and speech. As Anne Merritt of the //Telegraph// learned digital text carries with it, its own obstacles that must be addressed. According to a study conducted by schools “89% of all parents, said that this growing prevalence of text speak has created a veritable language barrier.” (Merritt, Text-Speak) Going forward, in the 21st century there are bound to be further problems as text and speech intertwine like never before, with things like emojis and icons taking the place of what previously had to be spoken, written, or read now being expressed in its own form. Like text before it, this new method has expanded access for users to interact and make it their own, and simultaneously the decline in distinguishability becomes minimalized. A few bits of knowledge that were expanded upon were how complex text and speech are, as well as how integrated and at odds they can be with culture. As Claire Kramsch writes in //Language and Culture// “Words people utter refer to common experience. They express facts, ideas or events that are communicable. Words also reflect their authors’ attitudes and beliefs.” What these two have in common is described as cultural reality, this is an unspoken understanding between the author and the audience. While cultural reality bridges text and speech, things like text-speak are creating a divide between what was acceptable and what has yet to be accepted by culture. </p> <p2> <b>Works Cited</b> Kramsch, Claire. Language and Culture. Oxford University Press, 1998. Merritt, Anne. “Text-Speak: Language Evolution or Just Laziness?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 3 Apr. 2013, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/9966117/Text-speak-language-evolution-or-just-laziness.html. Nordquist, Richard. “What Is a Text in Linguistics?” ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/text-language-studies-1692537. Vandendorpe, Christian. From Papyrus to Hypertext: toward the Universal Digital Library. University of Illinois Press, 2009. </p2>

<h1>Print Culture</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]]</h2> <p> The culture surrounding print media is ever evolving. The creation of printed media caused an uproar, both positive and negative. Religion became less exclusive for those considered “educated,” and more accessible for the common person. The creation of newspapers allowed for mass communication of local, national, and global news, but also spurned the creation of the “muckrakers,” journalists who exposed social ills to society, regardless of backlash. An influx of printed media caused those in power to feel the need to regulate those who were not. Censorship became a global phenomenon, important news articles were likely to be cut from publication if the person in charge disagreed with its content, and even books were banned if they featured themes or ideas deemed “unjust.” Chapter Three of //Revolutions in Communication// discusses the effects of print on various cultures in the twentieth and twenty-first century. This reading suggests that print culture has greatly evolved over time, which it has. The chapter discusses the great controversies that were sparked by early journalism, and how they shaped journalism to be what it is today. Prior to this reading, I had next to no knowledge about the so-called “muckraking” of the early 1900s. “Muckraking,” a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt, refers to “writers who exposed social ills in magazines and newspapers” (Kovarik 107). While reading this, I could not help but draw a line between the early days of accusing a journalist of muckraking, and today’s culture exasperating overuse of the term “fake news.” Although today, muckraking doesn’t have such a negative connotation to it as it did decades ago, fake news is still considered a “hot-take,” and the term is used much like a fight or flight response to news that people don’t want to believe. Throughout decades, various forms of censorship have been enacted and redacted, each varying by culture (Kovarik). Censorship is still very much an issue to this day, although a better term would be “selective censorship.” Selective censorship of media is so common now, and especially dependent on the political bias of newspapers, news channels, or any other form of news media. It is important to remember that the “central principle of the hermeneutics of censorship is that interpretations can be radically different depending on what one selects as the context of the utterance” (Patterson 40). Annabel Pattersons claim seems to agree with the claims of censorship discussed in our class’s reading material. Conclusively, although print culture has evolved over time, there are still things that have remained constant (to an extent). Censorship has always been, and likely always will be something we face in media consumption, whether it be redacted articles or words, banned books, curse words censored on television, etc. It will likely always exist to some degree. Similarly, muckraking may not be as popular a word as it was in the early 1900s, but culture will ever evolve to provide strictly opinion-based terms and ideologies for those who continue to disagree with fact, as proven by the modern term “fake news.” </p> <p2> <b>Works Cited</b> Kovarik, Bill. Revolutions in Communication, 2nd ed. NY, NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2018. Patterson, Annabel. “Censorship and Interpretation in David Scott Kastan’s Staging the Renaissance.” Routledge, 1991, pp. 40-49. </p2>

<h1>Hypertext</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> <p> It is difficult to truly appreciate the revolution that hypertext represents from the modern perspective, after all it has become completely ubiquitous in our lives. The concept of linking passages of information together electronically has not only grown deep roots, but blossomed into something greater than we could have imagined. //From Papyrus to Hypertext// by Christian Vandendorpe first published in 1999 gives a peek into the recent past, and gives insight into just how far our perspectives on hypertext have shifted in the intervening two decades. In the book //FPTH//, there is much ado made about the limitations of hypertext. Put simply, Vandendorpe asks, “What is the point of continuing to click on words when one has absolutely no idea what type of text they are going to lead to?” (78). The argument being made is that without an author’s strict and careful guidance through a linear narrative progression which artfully plays with the reader’s expectations, there is no incentive to continue reading. He suggests that a hypertext author provide context to aid in navigation, and if possible auditory and visual stimulation to keep a reader’s interest. I wonder how the Vandendorpe of 1999 would feel clicking through the Wikipedia of today? You know, Wikipedia, the unembellished information repository that many of us have lost an entire afternoon to just riding the wave of clicking random words and producing unexpected results. From a traditional view, this line of thinking is entirely logical. When a new medium comes along it’s natural to consider what is lost in the transition. Perhaps some ancient orator opined that if their stories were written down in text to be read privately, how could the audience receive them properly without the speaker as the medium? Of course, it’s not fair to criticize these narrow views with the benefit of time and experience. Only through time and use do we discover the whole new vistas of possibility that new mediums afford. Early hypertext novels were clunky in comparison to today’s lightning fast response times and razor sharp visual design. Some of Vandendorpe’s counsel on how to engage readers through hypertext would prove out to be sound advice, but so too have reader’s minds adapted to the medium such that the challenge of reestablishing context isn’t such a barrier to our hypertextually wired brains. Troublingly, as recently as 2015 the idea that the reader simply can’t be reliably trusted to make decisions while experiencing a work of literature persists. In their paper //Why Don’t We Read Hypertext Novels?// Mangen and Van der Weel declare the hypertext fiction revolution a failure. Well, maybe it’s true that chopping up old media books into hyperlinked frankenbooks isn’t the hottest new craze, but isn’t that a relatively restrictive definition of hypertext fiction? If the criteria for a work of “literature” is characterized by a work’s resemblance to a book, then books will always be the purest example of the form and we can safely halt all further progress in literature. But, if literature continues to evolve and take new forms that might even challenge readers, then we might with cautious optimism reconsider the result of the hypertext fiction revolution. </p> <p2><b>Works Cited</b> Vandendorpe, Christian. //From Papyrus to Hypertext.// Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2009 Mangen, Anne, and Adriaan van der Weel. “Why Don’t We Read Hypertext Novels?” //Convergence//, vol. 23, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 166–181, doi:10.1177/1354856515586042.</p2>

<h1>Print Culture</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]]</h2> [[<img src='https://i.imgur.com/n4Ajo53.jpg' alt="Books on Shelf" width="800" height="606">->Print Culture]] <p2 style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/45674264@N00/3508275007"target="_blank">"books"</a><span> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/45674264@N00"target="_blank">whereisyourmind</a></span> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html"target="_blank" style="margin-right: 5px;">CC BY-NC-SA 2.0</a><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="display: inline-block;white-space: none;opacity: .7;margin-top: 2px;margin-left: 3px;height: 22px !important;"><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-by_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-nc_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-sa_icon.svg" /></a></p2>

<h1>Writing Culture</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> [[<img src='https://i.imgur.com/CfFmPBL.png' alt="Cuneiform" width="611" height="606">->Writing Culture]] <p2 style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_account_of_silver_for_the_govenor_(background_removed).png"target="_blank">Sumerian Account of Silver for the Governor</a> - Public Domain</p2>

<h1>Hypertext</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Language & Text|Language & Text Cover]] | [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> [[<img src='https://i.imgur.com/7sh0O8i.png' alt="Patchwork Girl" width="756" height="606">->Hypertext]] <p2 style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48158598"target="_blank">"File:Patchwork Girl Structure.png"</a><span> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Wweatheroutside"target="_blank">Wweatheroutside</a></span> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html"target="_blank" style="margin-right: 5px;">CC BY-SA 4.0</a><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="display: inline-block;white-space: none;opacity: .7;margin-top: 2px;margin-left: 3px;height: 22px !important;"><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-by_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-sa_icon.svg" /></a></p2>

<h1>Language and Text</h1> <h2>[[Home|Home]] [[Writing Culture|Writing Culture Cover]] | [[Hypertext|Hypertext Cover]] | [[Print Culture|Print Culture Cover]]</h2> [[<img src='https://live.staticflickr.com/5266/5889720469_f0c7911794_b.jpg' alt="Text" width="910" height="606">->Language & Text]] <p2 style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00/5889720469"target="_blank">"Atypical welcome"</a><span> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00"target="_blank">quinn.anya</a></span> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html"target="_blank" style="margin-right: 5px;">CC BY-SA 2.0</a><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="display: inline-block;white-space: none;opacity: .7;margin-top: 2px;margin-left: 3px;height: 22px !important;"><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-by_icon.svg" /><img style="height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;" src="https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-sa_icon.svg" /></a></p2>