Question: At the beginning of this lesson I pointed to the idea that technological advances in communication tools have been part of the impetus to rethink the divisive and hierarchical categorizing of literature and orality, and suggested that this is happening for a number of reasons. I’d like you to consider two aspects of digital literature: 1) social media tools that enable widespread publication, without publishers, and 2) Hypertext, which is the name for the text that lies beyond the text you are reading, until you click. How do you think these capabilities might be impacting literature and story?
When I consider how technological advances in communication tools have changed the hegemonic structuring of orality within literary traditions. I think primarily of the internet, but also of mass communication devices such as television, radio, and film, which since the advent of sound and talking in film, have challenged the predominance of literary communication which had previously held dominance in western culture and academia. In a film studies course that I am taking concurrently to this one, we looked at this clip of the Jazz Singer, the first film which featured individuals speaking. It may seem insignificant to us now, but at the time it was seen as revolutionary. In retrospect, developments such as these have paved the way for the return to oral literary forms as they have enabled oral forms of storytelling to spread. The second key development is the internet which has enabled those with access to it to publish their own content without having to rely on publishing bodies, which tend to proliferate the voices of those who are in positions of socio-political power. There are plenty of online sites in which individuals can self publish their works without the need to publish work that fits outside of the current boundaries established by publishers. Not only that but there are also oral possibilities for communication which have been introduced by the internet. Sites such as Youtube and Vimeo have enabled people to orally share ideas while using visual evidence, through the use of what is called a “Video Essay”. This, as well as Vlogging, and other new media methods of communication, have enabled ideas and stories which relied on an oral component to be spread among anyone with access to the internet, and produced by anyone with basic editing software. In one of our assigned readings, Courtney MacNeil’s piece “Orality” she discusses how “cyberspace” has “created a world where the distinction between” oral media and literary media has “blurred”. The blurring of the two types of media challenges the way they had previously been viewed by academics as being distinct and separate, with literal media being placed in priority over oral. To me, this structuring replicates patterns of Western Colonial dominance, and is further problematized when the concept of access is considered. Structures of ideological power, such as academia have been found to “under-represent” “radicalized and Indigenous professors” (Frances Henry, et al,). This has resulted in white colonial voices, establishing patterns of narrative and value. While the internet is certainly not going to subvert colonial patterns of idealogical control all on its own, it has democratized the spread of stories and ideas along cultural and beyond national lines.
To address the ways in which Hypertext has contributed to the way in which ideas and stories are exchanged; I find that the Hypertext has contributed to our understanding of the ways in which ideas are interconnected. Our ways of storytelling inevitably connect to preceding ideas and stories. Starting as children, we learn how to tell stories by having them told to us. Hypertexts allows the writer to connect their ideas to the ideas of others. They also enable oral storytelling modes to be linked to written ones. This further decentralizes the written text and enables it to connect to the hypertext.
Works Cited
Crosland, Alan, director. The Jazz Singer. The Spoken Words That Caused A Sensation In “The Jazz Singer” (1927), YouTube, 19 Apr. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SzltpkGz0M.
Frances Henry, Enakshi Dua, Audrey Kobayashi, Carl James, Peter Li, Howard Ramos & Malinda S. Smith (2016): Race, racialization and Indigeneity in Canadian universities, Race Ethnicity and Education, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2016.1260226
MacNeil Courtney. “Orality.” The Chicago School of Media Theory. (Links to an external site.)Uchicagoedublogs. 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2013
Hi Sophie! I thought your discussion of the opportunities for information sharing was very interesting, however, I was wondering if you could speak to the misinformation that has spread due to the fact that works do not need to be published in order to be shared. I find that these increased opportunities have given a voice to many people, which is fantastic, especially in cases of injustice or crisis. Although, there are negative aspects to this interconnectedness as well. Do you think movements, such as anti-vaxx, would have gained as much traction without the internet?
Hi Claire, you make a excellent point which I had neglected to address in my original post. The interconnectedness of the internet, along with additional factors enable unverified information to spread at a wider rate. This has certainly led to the rise of negative movements such as the anti- vax sentiment. However, I think that misinformation on the internet is a general hurdle present during the advent of new technology.
Hello Sophie!
Hello!
I enjoyed reading your blog. I like your presentation of how hypertext maps the way we tell a story. Storytelling is not linear, and I think you are right about how hypertext allow you to branch off telling the interconnected stories. Because I addressed similar question, I have come across some research that suggest that hypertext distracts reading. I do know about you but sometimes I find myself in rabbit hole of clicking links to a point where I do not remember what I was reading. While hypertext mimics how we tell story, in real life the story teller is controlled of how deep they want to get in one branch of story, and they come back to the original story. However, when we read on the internet, we can keep clicking links after links and I find that very overwhelming to read. What are your thoughts and experience reading online?
Hi! I found your comment interesting because I too find myself getting into rabbit holes while reading on the internet. While I do enjoy the ways in which hypertext remind readers that what they read isn’t found in a bubble, hypertexts can complicate reading a story online. I tend to find they do more good then bad. Especially when they provide links to references or concepts I had no previous knowledge of.