Avatars of the Word

From Papyrus to Cyberspace

James J. O'Donnell (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

228 Seiten

1998
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-05545-2 (ISBN)

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The written word has been a central bearer of culture since antiquity. However, its position is now being challenged by the powerful media of electronic communication. In this book James O'Donnell takes a reading on the promise and the threat of electronic technology for our literate future. O'Donnell reinterprets today's communication revolution through a series of refracted comparisons with earlier revolutionary periods: the transition from oral to written culture, from the papyrus scroll to the codex, from copied manuscript to print. His portrayals of these analogous epochal moments suggest that our steps into cyberspace are not as radical as we may think. Observing how technologies of the world have affected the shaping of culture in the past, and how technological transformation has been managed, we regain models that can help us navigate the electronic transformation now underway. Concluding with a focus on the need to rethink the modern university, O'Donnell specifically addresses learning and teaching in the humanities, proposing ways to seek the greatest benefit from electronic technologies while steering clear of their potential pitfalls.

Introduction: the scholar in his study. Phaedrus - hearing Socrates, reading Plato; from the Alexandrian library to the virtual library and beyond - hyperlink, the instability of the text; from the Codex page to the homepage - hyperlink, the shrine of nonlinear reading; the persistence of the old and the pragmatics of the new - hyperlink, who owns that idea?; the ancients and the moderns - the classics and western civilizations; Augustine today - linear narratives and multiple pathways; the new liberal arts - teaching in the postmodern world, hyperlink, how does teaching work; what becomes of universities (for professors only); Cassiodorus - or, the life of the mind in cyberspace.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	30.6.1998
Zusatzinfo	1 halftone
Verlagsort	Cambridge, Mass
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 210 mm
Gewicht	372 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
	Geschichte ► Hilfswissenschaften ► Paläografie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Sprachwissenschaft
	Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
	Naturwissenschaften
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Kommunikationswissenschaft
ISBN-10	0-674-05545-4 / 0674055454
ISBN-13	978-0-674-05545-2 / 9780674055452
Zustand	Neuware