Parallels

My intention was to read Chapters 9 and 10 in Bazerman's Handbook of Research on Writing in order to gain a historical perspective on writing, which I did, but I kept finding parallels that were even more fascinating. Early on, Chapter 9 cites some of the things that writing was able to accomplish, like facilitating organization of information; constructing abstractions; holding stable certain procedures, rituals, recipes, and formulae (p. 143). However, the line that struck me most was the following, "Writing facilitates inspecting exact wording to hold authors accountable for what was said, as well as comparing accounts for inconsistencies, differences, and contradictions" (p. 144).

I'm wondering if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Like everything, I believe it is dependent upon the lens we use to view the situation. I immediately thought of how careful we all have to be with our words online these days. Teachers are often discouraged from participating in social networks because districts are afraid of words and images getting into the wrong hands. Administrators even warn us about how we word emails to parents and what we send to our colleagues using our district's system. Students are carefully advised to censor what they post for fear of possible employers viewing their private world.

Another parallel situation within Chapter 9 was the reference to writing being the tool of the elite classes in certain cultures. How interesting to see a similar situation with our new writing technologies, the computer and text messaging on cell phones. These forms are still not accessible to everyone and creates a divide in some areas.

I also found it interesting that in contrast, the scribes of ancient India were of low status and that writing was viewed as a "teaching aid for those too dull to remember" (p. 148). At this time in history, teaching was through recitation and learning was through memorization. The chapter continues to list all the significant discoveries that were made by these people in this time, but the lack of transcribed written text allowed others to take credit for some of these discoveries much later. This must be the reason Copernicus gets the credit for the heliocentric theory of gravitation in the 16th century, even though Indian astronomers formulated this idea in the 6th century!

The major parallel I can draw in Chapter 10 is that of how the invention of the printing press resembles that of the internet. Both provided a means to disseminate knowledge across vast distances and to allow people to connect to one another. "Gaining knowledge of each other through books, scholars across Europe engaged in lively correspondence networks" (p.159). Interesting.

Click below to read an interesting comparison of scribes illuminating the Bible to the internet.