It is amazing how we forget our earliest form of communication - the spoken language. Eric did a really nice job reminding us of that basic form of communication through his presentation about Walter Ong. Literacy can changewhen it is spoken; the only time it is permanent is when it is printed in text. Ong gives us the revelation that literacy and orality are cyclical. Yet, I don't think that is anything new.
When we write we have the opportunity to reflect and revise. Ong states that with the oral tradition, one can be spontaneous and spontenaity is a good thing. I don't think, however, the secondary orality and the interfaces of the word are changing the way we communicate. The spoken word allows for people to interact. The written and printed word both allow people to record, and the electronic word allows for people to instantly interact and record. I think Ong is correct when he states that the Western culture is moving and shifting. Our multiforms of communication are allowing us to rethink how we communicate with one another.
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Don't you think the written and printed word allow people to interact? I think they do, although at a very slow rate. People read what has been published, and they are inspired or needled into responding. If it is a letter to the editor, it might appear within a week in the newspaper or within an issue or two in a magazine. Since I have started looking at academic writing as one big conversation, I'm starting to see that a lot of books are responses to someone else's book (obviously with additional content). That's where "They Say, I Say" comes in. It's hard to know what I say when I don't know what they say.
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