Cambridge Forum: Papyrus to Cyberspace
A beautiful sunny day today and I completely failed to notice. Instead, I found myself traveling back through time while listening to the Cambridge forum audio broadcast, “From Papyrus to Cyberspace”, with James O’Donnell and James Engalls. In this radio broadcast from 1999, Engalls and Douglas not only touched on the history of text from papyrus scrolls and codex books to the inception of digital media, they examined the costs versus benefits of our current technology.
Why would anyone consider papyrus as a superior means of preserving the written form over digital technology? Engalls brings up a very succinct point, one I had not thought of before. Papyrus has already stood the test of time. Thousands of years after being written, papyrus scrolls continue to exist. Although fragile, they can still be opened and interpreted. Technology is constantly in a state of change. The lifespan for digital storage is still unknown. With every evolution it is possible that previously stored date could be lost forever unless there is a printed back up copy. Is it feasible to have both digital and print versions of text? This then requires double storage; physical library space as well as cyberspace. Now comes the challenge of cost as well as new problems around management and storage.
At the time of this broadcast, many homes did not yet have computers. Many schools and classrooms did not have labs and computers in the classroom. The high cost had to validated. But even now, with computers everywhere, the ongoing cost for technology is massive. Replacing aging machines, paying for storage, internet fees and wireless maintenance, the costs never end. With a library, once you purchase a book it is there to stay; a one time cost. This argument continues in our own school even today. So what are the benefits?
Historically, the ability to access the written word was limited to scholars and the elite. The gave a small number of people power. However, as the number of printed books increased, as schools developed to teach the skills of reading, information was shared. This resulted in an increased number of people having information and there was a shift of power away from the elite and into the hands of the people. With the introduction of the internet, the democratic sharing of ideas and information has meant that people all across the globe now have access to a world outside of their own small domain. As pointed out by O’Donnell, this global exposure to ideals creates changes in ideologies. Educating the people about the world outside of their own brings a sense of power to the masses.
With each evolution of text there are improvements. Codex became desirable over papyrus as information in a long text could be quickly found by flipping pages, rather than working through a long, linear scroll. Today, massive amounts of information can be found with the touch of a few buttons. At this point in the radio broadcast I reflected back to my fourth year of university. My professor took our class into a tiny computer lab and he proceeded to show us this exciting new thing called the “internet”. I cannot remember the prof. I cannot remember the course. But I can envision that computer screen as if it were yesterday, my mind blown away as he showed us a website advertising a ski lodge. The concept of a computer being used for something other than word processing, of being able to look something up from a different place, absolutely blew my mind! But at that time there was little information available online. So it was novel and new but not yet very useful. As pointed out by Engalls, change is slow, complicated, and often unpredictable. The inception of the internet has changed the world.
Our students today are digital citizens. They have access to the entire world their fingertips. Many of us continue to be digital immigrants. Often our students are more digitally literate than their teachers. Who is teaching whom? It is an exciting opportunity for all to learn and for all to teach. From papyrus to cyberspace, the journey continues.
Source:
Cambridge Forum radio broadcast: From Papyrus to Cyberspace, 1999 with James O’Donnell and James Engalls
Hi Tina,
I was so weary about having to sit still for an hour to listen to a radio broadcast! I am a bit of a multi-tasker but knew that if I tried to do something else, I would not give this broadcast my full attention. But I must admit that I too was taken back in time and found the broadcast to be quite interesting. The speakers made so many interesting points and many of the ones you mentioned were what made me think as well. Books have certainly surpassed some technology in their durability and longevity. The floppy disk, for example, hardly lasted a couple of decades before becoming obsolete. Anything that was once on a floppy disk had to be updated or transferred to a newer form of technology, whereas original copies of books written hundreds of years ago still exist. However, as you mentioned as well, electronic data is so much more easily accessible to most everyone, not just to scholars or the rich as it would have been in earlier times.
I was also very interested in the comment that was made, that mass media like radio and television is a one-way flow of information. Many people have expressed an opinion that sitting in front of technology has limited social interaction among children, but now when we think about the interactivity of games and online courses like this one, there is actually much more interaction than there was when I did distance courses in my undergraduate degree. I read all the text myself, mailed in papers that I wrote and never received feedback from a professor on my work, just a grade. The interaction that we can now have with our classmates certainly enhances our learning experience.
Today’s digital learners must also learn the very important skill of critical reading/listening/viewing. I was impressed with the speakers who commented that there were often things written in books that was not true and legitimate. Many times this is not acknowledged. But with the ease with which anyone can post information to the internet, it is very important that students have the ability to critically think about what is presented and ensure that it is legitimate.
Thanks for your thoughts Tina! I look forward to more discussions on this broadcast!
Jennifer
“Digital immigrants” – great term!
With the speed of technology, I think the generate gap between students and teachers today have never been so great. As the “tech guy” in my school, I see this almost on a daily bases. All teachers are experts in their subject area. Question: do they also need to be experts in navigating technology? Is that a requirement these days? Lets say, the senior English 12 teacher. This person teachers all four sections of English 12, prepares secondary students for probably the most important provincial exam in their short lives. Are we now at a point in time where the success of this teacher depends on the ability to navigate technology?
This teacher also gave me a phone call this week. The computer would not turn on after vigorously shaking the mouse. So, there is no access to this teacher’s email. As it turns out, someone turned the monitor off. Funny story … until you realize that this is the most incredibly gifted teachers I have ever worked with.
Anyways, reading your post made me think of this story. I actually do not have a stance. I am simply not sure if we have passed the point where technology is essential for effective pedagogy.
“Historically, the ability to access the written word was limited to scholars and the elite. The gave a small number of people power. However, as the number of printed books increased, as schools developed to teach the skills of reading, information was shared. This resulted in an increased number of people having information and there was a shift of power away from the elite and into the hands of the people. With the introduction of the internet, the democratic sharing of ideas and information has meant that people all across the globe now have access to a world outside of their own small domain. As pointed out by O’Donnell, this global exposure to ideals creates changes in ideologies. Educating the people about the world outside of their own brings a sense of power to the masses.”
___
Hi Tina!
Thank you for your post, and to Jennifer and Daniel for their responses. I want to direct your attention to something that has been happening during the last weeks in regards to a project called “internet.org” promoted by Mark Zuckerberg and others:
“On Monday, 65 advocacy organizations in 31 countries released an open letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg protesting Internet.org—an effort to bring free internet service to the developing world—saying the project “violates the principles of net neutrality, threatening freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, security, privacy, and innovation.”
It is interesting to take a look at it because it puts issues of access on the table, issues that somehow were not in the radar during the Cambridge forum. This situation rises some interesting questions for us in this course: Is it preferable to have a “curated” internet that having any at all? What are your thoughts?
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/backlash-facebooks-free-internet-service-grows/
Most of these companies have hidden agendas, a me first attitude. The present marketing trend is to be seen helping the poor. Josh Levy, Access Now: “The goal here is for poor folks to get limited access to internet services and then, eventually, be prompted to pay for a data plan so they can get the full internet. But very likely, a lot of those people will never be able to afford those data plans.” These new users will be shamed by marketers into agreeing to a data plan that is out of their financial means just to stop the hounding.
As for privacy issues, I can just see the labeling/codenames attached to their free account.
On other issue concerns me. what about any misrepresentations by users to get access to a free account? Child predators, terrorists in disguise? Facebook is becoming passé with young people. Curating their internet might be a means to clean up their image and reputation before it goes further downhill.
Terry
Thank you, Jennifer and Daniel for your thoughtful replies!
To Ernesto, your post and link have prompted some good discussions in our home over the past 24 hours!
Facebook is teaming up with internet.org in the hopes of providing some limited free internet services to billions of impoverished people around the world. It is interesting that the backlash focuses merely on the suggested gains to Facebook. There is no mention that Internet.org offers a bundle of 38 websites, including news sites from around the world. Yes, it is true that offering a limited amount of internet service might tease people into wanting to invest in a more costly data plan, but surely limited service is better than no service. So the only real argument to be made is the choice for internet.org to be provided on the “Reliance” network. The “not for profit” internet.org is only available on this “for profit” network. At the moment, are there any other options? One step at a time.
Network aside, I think it is important to look at the pros and cons from the side of the users and also from a political viewpoint of the countries taking a stand against internet.org .
Keeping people ignorant is the greatest way to maintain power. If you have a billion people who only know about the places they can walk to, who can only worry about how they are going to feed their family or get clean drinking water, who have no choice but to defecate on the roadside, who can never even dream of going to school, then you have a billion people who are fairly easy to control Moving further around the globe, if you have a country where beheading and stoning are considered acceptable practice, where teenage girls are being routinely cirucumcised, and where children are married off at age 10, you also have a large population of people who are obviously negatively influenced but many others who are feeling trapped. Unfortunately, so many of them accept life as it is due to ignorance or due to the fact that they cannot access help.
Providing free social media and world news services will educate the people. It will help them to see life outside of their own boundaries. It will allow people to connect with others on the outside; friends, relatives, or those who have similar thinking. Knowledge is power and sharing knowledge empowers the people. I feel strongly that the countries who are trying to block the free access to internet.org are making excuses to maintain their level of control. If the problem truly is the organization of internet.org, then the country leaders should be challenged to come up with their own UNCENSORED solution. However, what are the chances of that happening? That would be risky and would potentially cause uprising. People may become empowered and the levels of control may shift. So allowing free social media and uncensored news service would be political suicide.
Obviously there are many countries who have already accepted the offer to open media to the masses. The next few years shall be interesting as the slow flow of media infiltrates and opens up the eyes of the world.
Most interesting conversation going on here Tina;
I see your points but I also wonder if these companies/countries are against the infiltration of Facebook, etc. because they are at an unfair disadvantage. How do you develop your own industry when the big American boys come in with free offers which undercut your prices? Whose labour force will be used to fill any employment positions? At what wages?
“If you have a billion people…, who can only worry about how they are going to feed their family or get clean drinking water, who have no choice but to defecate on the roadside, who can never even dream of going to school,… if you have a country where beheading and stoning are considered acceptable practice, where teenage girls are being routinely circumcised, and where children are married off at age 10, you also have a large population of people who are obviously negatively influenced but many others who are feeling trapped. Unfortunately, so many of them accept life as it is due to ignorance or due to the fact that they cannot access help.” I would have to say that the first thing these people require is not Facebook. I also think we must be very careful not to push Western values too quickly on other cultures. It could cause a strong backlash. They accept these conditions due to a long history of their culture. Those who have the power to make changes need to be ‘enlightened’ so that the ideas for change come about by looking like their own ideas. The internet is great for so many reasons but it is not the wonder drug, miracle worker or cure-all for society’s ills. Like literacy, a little in the right hands can go a long way.
Terry
Hi Tina,
I have problem to view your post. I can only view/read replies. Is there any technical problem
Rakhshanda
Hi Rakhshanda,
I have no idea why you cannot see it… sorry!! I am new to UBC Blogs.
Tina
Hi Tina;
“Thousands of years after being written, papyrus scrolls continue to exist. Although fragile, they can still be opened and interpreted. Technology is constantly in a state of change. The lifespan for digital storage is still unknown.”
Do you remember the 8track players? I’m finding that education has become more and more of a business. And various forms of both software and hardware technologies are not being ‘built’ to last longer than their 3-5 year warranties because the development companies want to sell you a new and improved product and the new low price. There is the obvious reason: they require a viable future to stay in business, pay their bills and salaries therefore putting food on the table. If I was a younger person, I would think seriously of investing in equipment that would transfer files, data, family videos and such into current and future formats. Today’s generations seem to be a throw-away generation. Where papyrus scrolls and books, even pens have been treated precious, the same cannot be said for our techie gadgets. Who has saved their first cell phone in a memory box?
“Historically, the ability to access the written word was limited to scholars and the elite. Th[is] gave a small number of people power. However, as the number of printed books increased, as schools developed to teach the skills of reading, information was shared. This resulted in an increased number of people having information and there was a shift of power away from the elite and into the hands of the people.” Scholars and the educated elite had powers and status. The printing press industry expanded that elite circle causing a tug of war over those powers which I would say is still going on today. Those who were/ are considered ‘have-nots’ are still the last to benefit from emerging technologies. The first piece of information the masses learn is what they don’t know, what has been kept from them.
If the printing of paper books is going to be limited, then gone will be the ability to freely pass on learning opportunities to those with little or no access to electronic technologies. I like to take Canadian novels (paperbacks) with me on vacation so I can leave them behind.
I saw a recent article whereby a Canadian(?) group was building foot pedal powered ‘technology’ (like in bicycles) to provide a much needed economical light source in developing countries. This valuable light was being used to cook, to do handiwork and read paper books not computers. Our attentions seem to be from the top down, not the bottom up.
Terry
Ong and Biakolo (citing Havelock) mentioned this quite a bit. Many societies reserved literacy for the wealthy or religious elite of the time. It was the Greek culture that pioneered democracy through literacy. The argument that they make is that through education and literacy, their society grew rapidly in the pursuit of knowledge through philosophy, math and science. And this pursuit enabled a great empire that would serve as the foundation for much of our western civilization. This helps to prove Willinsky’s observation as the link between democracy and education and how their relationship is important to the forward march of society. And most importantly for me, is how democracy both emerged and enabled all of this. From the readings of Ong, Biakolo and Willinsky, I see the symbiotic relationship of democracy, literacy and education.
On a bigger picture, I have a greater understanding of the problems associated with governments ruled by a monarchy and why that system of governing has fallen to the rise of democracy. These are very intense readings on several levels.
Hi Tina,
I am one of the print media fans i.e. I like to read book and use highlighters to underline. I like the line “once you purchase a book it is there to stay; a one time cost.” Learning new technologies have become requisite for our survival as parents, teachers, and essentially to support family. It is vital to overcome technology gap to communicate young generation. We have no choice.
Best
Rakhshanda
Rakhshanda…. I am with you on the paper front. Even with the MET courses I still find myself printing off all of the readings (hundreds of pages….) and putting them in a binder so I can curl up on the chair with my cat an a highlighter. Yet I worry that in only one or two more generations to come this will be an archaic thing of the past. I walk into the UVic library, my alma mater, and it looks so different! The rows of books are now tables and computers. Of course, they are not all missing, but it is a definite sign of change. At the same time, I can appreciate the time saving by looking up articles online instead of spending the countless hours pouring through card catalogues, bookshelves, and dusty tomes.
As you say, having children forces an interaction with technology. If my children were already grown, or if I had no children, or perhaps even if I were not a teacher, I am certain my interaction with technology would be far less. However, demand necessitates change. But at the same time, I’ve been able to change my thinking. I am accepting the fact that the younger age, the digital citizens, are able to teach me for a change. I am willing to accept their help and it excites them to do so.
We used to say “it takes a village to raise a child”…. I think we need to we need create a similar saying about how “It takes a cooperative village to educate that village”… the children can be our best teachers.
I’m starting to run into some problems with my 10 year old and using his Nexus 7 tablet. I mentioned somewhere before that I’m all for him playing video games, as we learned in ETEC510, games can have a very effective “stealth learning” feature. I don’t mind video games as long as there is a balance between his activities. That is, athletics, school, performing or visual arts. The problem is that the is using his device as a baby uses a pacifier. He wants to pick it up anytime he is bored. Or lets say, a boring “formal” dinner with no kids. Or waiting in a lineup. 10 minutes before we’re leaving the house. The argument is … what else are you going to do for 10 minutes?
Anyways, I can foresee this becoming a problem. Any advice would be appreciated.
I do not intend to side track the conversation. Tina, I too prefer printing out the papers for MET since I read them basically every where I go. Here is how I chew through much of the readings for the MET courses:
https://goo.gl/D7SMv6
I usually print and staple the pages by chaper. Usually takes me a day or two to get through a paper. Of course if its Heidegger, then it’ll take twice that long. 🙂