Characteristics Of Oral Scribal And Typographical Cultures Term paper
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Discuss the characteristics of
Oral, Scribal and Typographical in the light of
McLuhan and Ong s work
In this essay the paper is to discuss the characteristics of Oral, Scribal and Typographical in the light of McLuhan and Ong s work. To enable the paper to do this effectively the paper will discuss the importance of each, mentioned, styles of communication discussing their strength and weaknesses in comparison to one another. Throughout the Essay the paper will refer to McLuhan and Walter Ong s works. The paper will firstly discuss the Oral culture followed by Scribal culture and finally Typographical culture.
Oral culture
An Oral culture is one that uses communication by word of mouth. Pictures may be used as an addition. Reading and Writing are not involved in the communication process of Oral culture.
Oral transmission needs personal, often (depending on the nature and complexity of the information) prolonged, contact between two or more individuals who have to be physically present at the same time and in the same place .
(A History in Writing, page 14)
With reference to the above quote it is noted that in an Oral culture one of the main downfalls is the distance between communicators. A physical presence is required to pass the information. If a person is absent then the information must then be passed onto them by repeating the action and message. Although this form of communication is immediate to people present it can be a very slow process when information has to be passed over great distance.
In Orality and Literacy Walter Ong believed that in an Oral society knowledge was passed on directly to the specific individual that required such knowledge. For instance a carpenter would pass down such knowledge by form of an apprenticeship. The only problem with this method of communication is that no one can prove that the knowledge they give is there own or prove that someone else s words are theirs. A society, which understands just Oral communication, cannot own knowledge they can only
perform it. There is also no way of preserving knowledge other than mentally storing the ideas, which gives no indication into its authenticity and exactitude.
In regards to authenticity and exactitude Walter Ong had a process for this that he called homeostasis this could also mean Chinese whispers . When, for example, a story is passed down verbally the story will change gradually to blend in with the changes in society.
Scribal culture
A Scribal culture is one that has writing, although, may be not the entire culture would be able to write. The people that could write are seen as a higher class, they would be seen as a man in harmony with the will and purpose of God. These calligraphers were often persons of high social standing such as princes, or statesmen. Having mental ability is seen as an important skill, which is equally important in creating an influential debate through the subject of religious rite and expressiveness.
One advantage that the Scribal culture has over Oral culture is the possible forms of exact multiplication of works. Multiplication can be achieved well by hand, but this takes time, everytime a copy is made almost exactly the same amount of time, effort and skill must be invested just like when the text is written for the first time.
Typographical culture
Typographical culture is centrally based upon the printed word. This culture is essentially faster than Oral and Scribal when considering space and time. The Typographical culture is removed from dominance if not replaced by the graphic revolution caused by Photography, moving film and broadcasting.
Typography had made the word a commodity. The old communal oral world had split up into privately claimed freeholdings. The drift toward greater individualism had been served well by print'
(Orality and Literacy, page 131)
According to Walter Ong writing had a number of extreme effects on social cultures. The ability of reading and writing produced many changes such as self-consciousness and the power of expression. The social cultures began to think for themselves and make their own opinions. With Oral transmission the society would believe what they heard, generally because they had no idea. When the Scribal culture was born people still believed what they were told, but compared to Oral cultures there were some differences. In a Scribal culture people that could read and write...
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