Current archeological theory puts the origins of writing in Mesopotamia over six thousand years age. It is hypothesized that the first symbols where clay tokens used to account for products used in agricultural trade. Somewhere along the line an entrepreneur started using a reed stylus to mark inventory down on a piece of clay. From these mundane origins as a primitive spreadsheet, cuneiform writing evolved.
A surprising number of cuneiform writings have transition themselves to the digital age. The Internet is a hungry information beast, devouring Cuneiform, Sanskrit, Aramaic, Hebrew, Mayan, Latin, Greek, Demonic … any text from any era, be it on clay tablets, stone, papyrus, bamboo, frescos, or paper. An insatiable cavernous void in mind of humanity demands to be filled with knowledge. Reading transforms writing into knowledge that fills the void.
What is writing?
Writing is a noun that is a verb. Writing is an act of transmitting thought through an intermediate media.
What parts do communication technologies play in writing?
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for a practical purpose. The technology of bricks makes possible clay tablets. The technology of a knife makes possible the shaping of a reed for use as a stylus. The technology of bronze casting makes it possible to chisel hieroglyphs into stone. Reeds can be pressed into papyrus; the stylus can be dipped in ink and be used as a pen. Paper can be crafted from cellulose.
Cut symbols in stone or wood and cover it with ink, then capture the image by pressing against a piece of paper onto which to transfer the ink. Printing allows writing to be read by many.
Printing begets lithography. Putting traces on silicon to make integrated circuits is basically a lithographic process. So the whole computer revolution shares its origin with printing. How powerful your chip is determined by how many transistors you can “draw” on it. It all comes down to a fine line.
Then came the Internet. The clay tablets can be digitized and made available to any schoolboy or schoolgirl in any nation any place on earth. That is for any schoolboy or schoolgirl who may be interested in reading Cuneiform.
How are you likely to think differently about writing after this class?
The Internet fundamentally changes how we form relationships, how we express ourselves, how we reveal ourselves. We are laid bare before the planet. Let loose those forbidden thoughts and you are forever castigated as a . I think writing in the digital age is both liberating and extremely dangerous.
What more do you want to learn about writing in a digital age?
I would like to know if corporate or government control of new media takes all the freedom away?
What other technologies or media do you wish we had been able to address in class?
The Internet and new media is a candy shop for information exchange. I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to interactive media. Technologies like Flash and Java make information fluid and multidimensional. You could expand the class into a series of in depth sub-courses. I think given the time what was done was sufficient.
A whole science exists that is devoted to displaying information in graphic form. Some of the most interesting examples I know of are Internet related, coming from the work of CAIDA and NLANR in visualizing Internet network topologies.
If you are planning on being a teacher, how might you use in your teaching what we have discussed in this class?
There are so many applications for new media. The tradition paper with citations is such a single dimensioned means of presenting information. I see endless possibilities in all directions. The problem is taking small bites and achieving the goals in a proper time frame.
What responsibilities do you hold toward your future students, vis-a-vis writing and digital technologies?
We have the whole problem of copyright and sharing appropriate data. Our freedom is constrained in many ways, by many people. I don't ever want to snoop into my children's e-mails or Internet access logs. I find the whole way society is reacting to digital information sharing to be intellectually and emotionally upsetting. I see my responsibility to those I teach (to my own children at least) is to be open and honest about how little privacy they have. To warn them about the thought police, the book burners, the Master of the Revels.
What projects gave you the most satisfaction and useful challenge in this class?
The game, even though I only grazed the surface.
Which were most frustrating to you?
Again, the same project. I can be such such a bloody slow writer. I am not good at writting on demand. The only cure, I know, is to write more.
In both cases, why?
I always seem to need more time. I can see that a whole new world of analysis is available through computer modeling, gaming, and mathematical analysis. The possibilities make it hard to get my arms around.
If I were to teach this class again, what would you keep?
I think you did an excellent job with some very challenging material.
What would you change?
I don't know.
Why?
Because I find it hard to critique what was done in the class.
What are you most likely to carry from this class into your future work?
I would like to find a way to pull historical research projects into the digital era. We can model so many things with computers. I am particularly fascinated with digital modeling of cities. Take, for example, Rome Reborn.
Why?
This can be a whole new way to look at the humanities. It is a thrilling concept, to take a dead piece of paper or a pile of historical research and turn it into a fully interactive and multidimensional virtual object. The possibilities are endless.
Humanity makes the best decisions when fully informed and having within our collective conciseness a clear model of what was, what is, and what can be.
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"
-- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke.
A surprising number of cuneiform writings have transition themselves to the digital age. The Internet is a hungry information beast, devouring Cuneiform, Sanskrit, Aramaic, Hebrew, Mayan, Latin, Greek, Demonic … any text from any era, be it on clay tablets, stone, papyrus, bamboo, frescos, or paper. An insatiable cavernous void in mind of humanity demands to be filled with knowledge. Reading transforms writing into knowledge that fills the void.
What is writing?
Writing is a noun that is a verb. Writing is an act of transmitting thought through an intermediate media.
What parts do communication technologies play in writing?
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for a practical purpose. The technology of bricks makes possible clay tablets. The technology of a knife makes possible the shaping of a reed for use as a stylus. The technology of bronze casting makes it possible to chisel hieroglyphs into stone. Reeds can be pressed into papyrus; the stylus can be dipped in ink and be used as a pen. Paper can be crafted from cellulose.
Cut symbols in stone or wood and cover it with ink, then capture the image by pressing against a piece of paper onto which to transfer the ink. Printing allows writing to be read by many.
Printing begets lithography. Putting traces on silicon to make integrated circuits is basically a lithographic process. So the whole computer revolution shares its origin with printing. How powerful your chip is determined by how many transistors you can “draw” on it. It all comes down to a fine line.
Then came the Internet. The clay tablets can be digitized and made available to any schoolboy or schoolgirl in any nation any place on earth. That is for any schoolboy or schoolgirl who may be interested in reading Cuneiform.
How are you likely to think differently about writing after this class?
The Internet fundamentally changes how we form relationships, how we express ourselves, how we reveal ourselves. We are laid bare before the planet. Let loose those forbidden thoughts and you are forever castigated as a . I think writing in the digital age is both liberating and extremely dangerous.
What more do you want to learn about writing in a digital age?
I would like to know if corporate or government control of new media takes all the freedom away?
What other technologies or media do you wish we had been able to address in class?
The Internet and new media is a candy shop for information exchange. I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to interactive media. Technologies like Flash and Java make information fluid and multidimensional. You could expand the class into a series of in depth sub-courses. I think given the time what was done was sufficient.
A whole science exists that is devoted to displaying information in graphic form. Some of the most interesting examples I know of are Internet related, coming from the work of CAIDA and NLANR in visualizing Internet network topologies.
If you are planning on being a teacher, how might you use in your teaching what we have discussed in this class?
There are so many applications for new media. The tradition paper with citations is such a single dimensioned means of presenting information. I see endless possibilities in all directions. The problem is taking small bites and achieving the goals in a proper time frame.
What responsibilities do you hold toward your future students, vis-a-vis writing and digital technologies?
We have the whole problem of copyright and sharing appropriate data. Our freedom is constrained in many ways, by many people. I don't ever want to snoop into my children's e-mails or Internet access logs. I find the whole way society is reacting to digital information sharing to be intellectually and emotionally upsetting. I see my responsibility to those I teach (to my own children at least) is to be open and honest about how little privacy they have. To warn them about the thought police, the book burners, the Master of the Revels.
What projects gave you the most satisfaction and useful challenge in this class?
The game, even though I only grazed the surface.
Which were most frustrating to you?
Again, the same project. I can be such such a bloody slow writer. I am not good at writting on demand. The only cure, I know, is to write more.
In both cases, why?
I always seem to need more time. I can see that a whole new world of analysis is available through computer modeling, gaming, and mathematical analysis. The possibilities make it hard to get my arms around.
If I were to teach this class again, what would you keep?
I think you did an excellent job with some very challenging material.
What would you change?
I don't know.
Why?
Because I find it hard to critique what was done in the class.
What are you most likely to carry from this class into your future work?
I would like to find a way to pull historical research projects into the digital era. We can model so many things with computers. I am particularly fascinated with digital modeling of cities. Take, for example, Rome Reborn.
Why?
This can be a whole new way to look at the humanities. It is a thrilling concept, to take a dead piece of paper or a pile of historical research and turn it into a fully interactive and multidimensional virtual object. The possibilities are endless.
Humanity makes the best decisions when fully informed and having within our collective conciseness a clear model of what was, what is, and what can be.
"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust?"
-- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke.
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