The discourse in these computer-mediated forums exhibits many qualities of an oral culture. The existence of this text-based orality may imply that discourse need not be based upon sound in order to have oral characteristics. Rather … oral characteristics grow out of computer-mediated communication which gives participants greater independence over time and space than paper-based text communication … Just as the earlier technologies (the Greek alphabet, the printing press) changed the way people communicated and thought, so, too, does CMC.
Predictor: December, John
Prediction, in context:John December makes the following statement in a 1993 paper presented at the 12th annual Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition: ”The shift form a primary oral culture to a literate one in ancient Greece led to a change in language and thought … According to McLuhan, the tedium of print culture was unrelieved until the onset of widespread use of radio and television in the 20th century. [Walter] Ong characterizes the changes in language and thought growing from the radio and television broadcasts as a secondary orality. This discussion posits the existence of a tertiary form of orality, exhibited in computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems. This … occurs in real-time computer conferencing systems and in asynchronous computer bulletin board systems. Although based on text, the discourse in these computer-mediated forums exhibits many qualities of an oral culture. The existence of this text-based orality may imply that discourse need not be based upon sound in order to have oral characteristics. Rather … oral characteristics grow out of computer-mediated communication which gives participants greater independence over time and space than paper-based text communication … Just as the earlier technologies (the Greek alphabet, the printing press) changed the way people communicated and thought, so, too, does CMC.”
Biography:John December’s publications include articles and books about the World Wide Web, Internet and Java. From 1985 to 1989, he developed software and graphical user interfaces to analyze aircraft requirements for military missions at Boeing. He later became president of December Communications, an online Web-publishing, presentations, and consulting company based in Milwaukee, Wis. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: July 8, 1993
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Characteristics of Oral Culture in Discourse on the Net
Title, headline, chapter name: CMC Characteristics
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://december.com/john/papers/pscrc93.txt
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney