The+Evolution+of+Oral+to+Print+to+Internet+ommunications

=__A few Important People __=


 * Marshall McLuhan Elizabeth Eisenstein Neil Postman

Marshall McLuhan studied the arrival of mass communication and suggested that the phonetic alphabet caused a major division among action and thought. McLuhan established that the impact of the spoken word diminishing due to the development of print. Although another to take a stance with her approach was Elizabeth Eisenstein, who believed that earlier before the printing press arrived silent reading was apart of the medieval culture. Eisenstein stated that even though the Gutenberg era evolved it only increased silent reading but did not event it. She also suggested that printing increased rapidly, although the spoken word did not diminish. Neil Postman was a writer in the seventies and eighties who took a different approach. He believed that the invention of the printing press would separate the adults from the children into well-informed or non-informed groups. Print has affected culture through many mediums such as television and Postman believes that because everyone has access to television, then everyone is able to view it no matter what age does not distinguish between the children and the adults. This is important because printing keeps knowledge to all (Evans 1-5).

____Introduction____
For many centuries, communication has had a major impact on the Western culture. In today’s society communication has improved the way information is processed and acknowledged. A definition of knowledge can be described as familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study. Many ideas have come together to reinforce the impact of oral and written communication in society. Oral communication to printed mediations has ensured the Western culture a higher level of knowledge through traditional mediums (oral) to configurations (print).

____Oral Communication ____
Oral communication was the only medium available back in the twentieth century that maintained any structure or tradition in society. Most people relied on oral communications which help society become more informed about what is going on around them. “Medieval People relied on day to day information solely on what they themselves, or someone they know, had observed or experienced in the world immediately around them” (CIH 74). Since facts were only transferred through oral means, people were only able to obtain information/facts through the word of mouth. As time passed, oral communication was not only a way of communication but a way to maintain knowledge.

“An individual that grows-up in an oral culture tends to be highly contextualized. Their cognitive structure is like a seamless web” (Clariana 1). Many people can collect information by many means and can expand their mind which intern acts as a backbone of structure that ensures a higher level of knowledge. This can be seen in our everyday tasks that we do such as, going out with friends to a movie and talking among each other which we create discussion that is very interpersonal. “Competent oral communication skills training should assist individuals to inform, to provide data, to give directions, to explain, to argue, to persuade and negotiate competently (Blair & Jenson 1). This causes familiarity and understanding among people and increases their knowledge through oral communication.

____Refrences____
BLAIR, Deb and Sharon Jeanson (1999) ‘Workplace Education Manitoba Steering Committee’, Understanding Oral Communication in the Workplace. Online at: http://www.wem.mb.ca/ES13.htm

BURKE, James (2003) “Communication in the Middle Ages”, in Communication in History. Technology, Culture, Society. Edited by David Crowley and Paul Heyer. Fourth Edition. Boston:Allyn and Bacon/Pearson Education, p. 74-82

EVANS, Daniela Lesley (1998). “A Critical Examination of Claims Concerning the ‘Impact’ of Print”, The Media and Communications Site, Edited by Daniel Chandler, March 1998. Online at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/students/dle9701.html

BOY, B. Clariana. “Teaching Science within an Oral Culture” Online at: http://personal.psu.edu/faculty/r/b/rbc4/sci/doc