Post #2: The Greeks Begin Writing

During Plato's time, the Greeks effectively interiorized writing and, in doing so, a remediation of orality occurred. Instead of using mnemonic formulas, poets could utilize written text which in turn freed the mind for more original and abstract thought. Plato himself noticed that the formula poets had been following now had become counterproductive with the introduction of writing. Therefore, this moment in history describes a remediation as reform because it makes something that is already good better. It identifies a problem, in this case a dependency on memorization, that the society was unaware of and solves it by allowing poems and other narratives to have a permanent existence without relying on a person's memory. Plato's reservations about writing and its destructive threat to our memories ironically would not be here today without its development in ancient Greece. Still, he does make a valid point which is that today's society doesn't posses nearly as great of an ability to remember and recite information due to the fact that much of it is readily available in text somewhere.

Remediation of books

In an increasingly paperless world, digital forms of books on devices such as the Kindle or iPad have become popular not only for their ability to store hundreds of texts but also because of the widespread desire to "go green" and use less in order to help the planet. This process is a form of remediation on physical books, changing the medium through which readers utilize their favorite novels. As is described in the chapter on remediation as reform, digital books repaired a fault with the books that previous generations weren't even aware was an issue, that being the overuse of paper products and the effects its production has on the environment.

This chapter discusses several different meanings of reform, one being that the media reforms reality itself and another implying a change in a social or political sense. The idea of media changing our sense of reality can be seen most evidently with the evolution of virtual reality, which presents an alternate world which the media insists has meaning for us. The social and political sense in which reform has meaning stems from the digital world in which everyone has a voice and information is always close by, therefore giving each citizen the chance to inform themselves and communicate with their peers.

Perhaps the most applicable meaning of reform for the remediation of books is the idea that it serves to make a good thing better, improving on a previous model by fixing a fault or adding something that was lacking. It's not as if readers didn't know that books used paper and paper comes from trees, which leads to pollution in the process of cutting them down and processing them. However, the problem became more apparent when a solution was presented. Digital libraries are a remediation of books because they solve the issue of over-pollution and make carrying thousands of books everywhere you go an actual possibility.

About Me

Hey I'm Jordan Harrison and I'm a senior DTC major from Spokane, WA. I'm 22 and hope to work in graphic design once I graduate.