technology and communication

Ever since I came across the work of Walter Ong while working on my thesis, I have been entranced by the relationship between technology and communication. It's not that I think that Ong has all of the answers, but I do think that his work in orality and literacy provide a different perspective that may enable us to find a better way to describe past and current communication practices. This in turn may enable us to better understand the world around us and to better predict and prepare us for the future ahead.

That said, I do believe that technology had and has an effect on our definition of authorship. Where authorship is by necessity of the technology a solitary or at least limited affair, our conception of authorship will revolve around that idea. Where authorship is easily shared between numerous individuals, perhaps even without consent, then our concept of authorship is by necessity ambiguous.

For example, let us look back in time at the old oral poets predating the invention of writing (itself a very important technology). Who is the author of Beowulf? The men who wrote down the story recited by the bard? Not really because they simply recorded a story. However, if I remember correctly some contend that the monks who recorded the story likely introduced christian elements into the story. If true, then are they not part authors? What about the bard? He told the story, but to tell the story he must have heard it first from someone else. Before writing even, there were still stories and storytellers. But they authors? How much of their material would be considered original by today's standards of authorship?

Ong asserts that one of the effects of the invention of writing and later print is the emphasis on originality. In pre-writing cultures, more emphasis is placed on repetition. You know what you can remember. Thus, oral cultures spend a great deal of time repeating their knowledge. Can you have a concept of author (beyond inspired by a muse), when your culture's knowledge is dependent on key individuals remembering the important information and upholding traditions?

It is interesting, but I would assert that we are having the opposite problem with authorship today. When it is theoretically possible to remember and record everything, is it possible to be an original author by the standards of print culture? No, hence the hiccups over copyright law, youtube, and napster. Who are the authors? Who gets the compensation? Who owns the material, "creator" or consumer?