EL336 Portfolio 2: From Manuscript to Print Culture
Hello, and welcome to my first portfolio for EL336, an English course offered at Seton Hill University.
This course is broken up into three modules: oral to manuscript culture, manuscript to print culture, and print to digital culture. The formal title for this course is Topics in Media and Culture--professors who teach this course switch up the material covered from semester to semester as they see fit. The topic that Dr. Jerz chose for this semester is the history and future of the book.
So far in this course I've learned that these transitional phases in technology (yes, the book is a form of technology, though some of us fail to realize it) were frightening for those living during these phases and experiencing them first hand. Writing wasn't always considered a skill that every human needed to learn, and technology hasn't always been embraced the way it is in today's world.
I've also learned that print made modern day education possible. The book is first and foremost looked at as an educational tool by the masses, but reading books is also one of the world's favorite past-times. Books made critical thinking possible--before the world of print existed, there was very little material to be critically thought about in the first place, and the material that did exist was very hard and expensive to get a hold of because it had to be hand-copied. The telephone is to our voices as the book is to the written word, it's an extension of reachability.
Below are links to my blog entries discussing my thoughts on the assigned readings for this course:
Douglass- Slaves viewed learning to read and write as the way to a successful life.
Calvino- One we learn to read, can we read without actually reading? Just read this entry, you'll see what I mean.
McCluhan (91-180)- The acts of reading and writing unify humanity.
McLuhan (180-263)- The spread of writing spread individualism.
Orwell (1 & 2)- What if writing were punishable by death?
Orwell (finish)- Are the best books ones that tell us what we already know?
Forum 2- Scarcity and Knowledge in the Medieval Era- My presentation blog entry, which focused on progressive learning versus cognitive learning, and how books play part in both.
Forum 2- Scarcity and Knowledge in the Medieval Era- Chris left a lengthy comment in response to my presentation topic.
I left a comment on Kayla's entry on "The Gutenberg Galaxy" about standardizing writing methods.
This comment I left on Jeremy's entry also about "The Gutenberg Galaxy" gives thanks to he who began to modernize the tools used in writing.
*I had some issues this time around in the timeliness area (which leads to lack of interaction), as I was unable to obtain copies of the texts. I blogged on every required reading though, and I'll make up for it in portfolio 3*
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