J2011: Media and Public Culture

Assignment #1: A Superior Means of Communication?

In Plato's dialogue called The Phaedrus, the character of Socrates expresses strong opinions in a comparison of the relative advantages of speaking (oral communication) and writing. According to Walter Ong, in his book Orality and Literacy (1982), Socrates asserts that writing is inhuman, that is, "it pretends to establish outside the mind what in reality can be only in the mind"; that it destroys memory, leading people to become forgetful as they come to rely on the technology of the written word to store important ideas; and that a written text is unresponsive, by which he means you can ask a person to explain what he or she means, but you cannot do the same with a written text.

Think of another case of a new form of communication being introduced, from any time since Plato to the present, in which you can draw comparisons between the "new" form and a form that was widely in use before that time. What are the characteristics of the older form with which you are making a comparison? What are the characteristics of the new form? What does/did the new form offer that the earlier form did not? What, if anything is lost in a transition to, or increasing emphasis on, the use of the new form? What is gained? Use examples to illustrate your argument.

Feel free to ask your instructor for suggestions on possible forms of communication to compare.

Maximum length: 4 double-spaced pages

Due date: Friday, September 10 (at your recitation meeting)