Tag Archives: secondary orality

The significance of Twitter

Kimberley Spreeuwenberg | 08 October 2009, 10:38 am | tags: , , , , , ,

Since its start in 2006 people have speculated about the significance of Twitter. Twitter has often been criticized for it’s lack of content, but is also praised for the empowering possibilities it offers us. I question both these perspectives and propose to understand Twitter, not just as another tool that can be critiqued on the basis of it’s usefulness, but as a communication-tool that can be understood as a reflection of our current society.

From Tweet to Hypertextual Consciousness?

Susana Zaragoza | 04 October 2009, 5:16 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , , , , , ,

One might claim that Twitter is just another boring conversational platform not very different from any other kind of social network site, where you can share your cuts-ups of personal information instantly with your friends. But in a social-humanistic perspective could means much more than this.

In fact, Twitter is literally, a conversational platform that lead us to…

Oral Culture 2.0

Stephan Barmentloo | 21 October 2008, 10:47 pm | 9 comments | tags: , , , ,

Because both television and micro-blogging can be explained according to the concept of secondary orality, does this also mean that the effects of micro-blogging, such as reading and writing short messages on Twitter for instance, are similar to the effects of watching television? Can we argue that micro-blogging is detrimental to our reading skills and therefore our ability of critical thinking and engaging in debates?

Secondary Orality in Microblogging

Liliana Bounegru | 13 October 2008, 1:10 pm | 2 comments | tags: , , , , , ,

Orality versus literacy in the history of human consciousness

In the book “Orality and Literacy: the Technologizing of the World”, Walter Ong compares orality and literacy, as defining features of oral cultures (cultures which do not have a system of writing), and…