Modern Technology as a return to oral/auditory processing- Television, podcasts, music, YouTube, etc. Modern technology and entertainment relies heavily on oral forms of communication. However, technology also causes these forms of communication that were once directly in the human lifeworld to become much like writing (dead on impact). You can not interact with these auditory processes like you can oral communication (but you can call into a podcast, radio, etc.) Technology is an interesting middle ground between interpersonal oral communication and writing. Like oral communication what is said cannot be undone but like writing it is also no longer apart of the human lifeworld as you are watching it after the fact (in terms of YouTube and recordings of TV/Streaming, entertainment, etc.). This focuses on digital recordings as communication and entertainment compared to written forms of entertainment (stories, books, fantasy, etc.)
Printing press a. Changed the entirely of how we learn,communicate, b. Spread of ideas, literacy, and the writ en word in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries
The quipu of the Inca as a communication system that rivaled the written word. Though contemporary Spaniards and even some modern historians claim a major factor in the conquest of Latin America was the lack of ‘civilization’ of the native populations (including writing among the criteria for civilization), the Inca in fact had a system that quite effectively allowed them to communicate across their large and mountainous empire.
Dance notation-in an exhibit on early English Country Dance I saw last fall, there were a number of examples of a sort of dance notation, which is a technology I had never before considered. The particular style, I learned after some research, was called Beauchamp–Feuillet notation. How do we capture movement on paper? English Country dance is a very formulaic style-it draws on set figures to compose new dances. How is it shaped by the way it is transmitted-by example, by verbal or written language, and by this strange visual representation?
Ballpoint Pen was a tool that in 1888 helped those who write. I want to explore how it facilitated faster writing and the effects that that led to.
as keyword (to find chapters in books about history of writing)
Another topic includes the impact of hangeul in Korean history and society. I came across a few newspaper articles from the 1950s discussing the importance of the script for national identity, yet its difficult and often clunky implementation/standardization. I might cover its entire history or zero in on its pre-modern or modern history.
2. The creation of the telegraph and its influence on written communication.
telegraph AND history as subjects
Topic 2: Calligraphy is prevalent in East Asia and the Islamic world. It combines the visual as well as the written aspect of information transmission. How does calligraphy modify the relationship between the written word and visual communication in East Asia and the Islamic world?
Another idea involves the invention of the newspaper. How did newspapers change how people distribute information? How did it change people’s concept of local and global events? What was its impact on popular culture? How has it changed in the modern day?
newspapers AND history AND ("social aspects" OR impact OR influence). you'll need to focus to a specific century of location.
I recognize this may be too narrow but I think a topic that is either centered around or includes something about the Navajo code-talkers could be fascinating. I'm not quite certain this would truly attack the essay prompt, but I wonder how this concept of codes could potentially be used. I also could see how other forms of code, such as Morse code, could be used in this umbrella topic too, along with other forms of verbal or non-verbal codes. This idea definitely needs to be fleshed out more.
Native American/Indigenous language (how oral cultures eventually translated their languages into writing)
Do translations of the Bible lose the original meaning of some phrases? For example, Christ uses the word agape for the first two times when asking Peter if he loves (agape) Him, while Peter only replies with philia, a weaker form of love. On the third and final time, Christ condescends to philia, which Peter accepts. Does this cause a loss of meaning, or is it really not all that important?
as subjects, Bible AND Translating AND interpretation
as subjects, Bible AND Versions AND History
as subjects, bible AND translating AND history
as subjects (bible AND translating AND versions AND history)