Tapscott Part 1

Grown Up Digital

Don Tapscott’s Grown up digital, is extremely insightful into the generation of people who have grown into a digitized world. He calls generation Y or the millennials (born in 1977-1997), by a different name. He refers to us as the “The Net Generation.” In the first part of the book he addresses multiple different aspects of what it must be like for this generation to grow up and how it affects businesses and markets now that that generation is in the workforce. One aspect that I read about in this book is how our brains have been affected due to this digital generation and that is what I would like to focus on in this post.

Tapscott brings up what some of the Nay-sayers of a previous generation have said about the effect of a digital revolution on the Net generation. Some of these things being: “They’re dumber than we were at their age.” “They’re net addicted, and have no shame or proper work ethic and this will cause them to be bad employers.” “They don’t give a damn.”

Tapscott actually went to address some of these issues in a generation wide research project and what he found was, thankfully, quite the opposite of what was being said. Having access to so much worldwide information has actually brought forth an entire generation that is actually smarter than its predecessor. “This generation has been flooded with information, and learning to access, sort, categorize, and remember it all has enhanced their intelligence.” (p.30) as a person of this generation this is something that I am very glad to hear but that is what I have long suspected. Everyone knows now the wonders a digital revolution has had on businesses bringing more product to a larger market it makes sense that the ability to adapt to that world would make for a more intelligent generation.

This digital world had forced us to develop thinking and investigative skills just to be able to sort through limitless venues. Take for example, my usual morning routine: I get up and have some cereal and while I’m eating my breakfast I will check my google news app and see the local, national, and world headlines. After I have seen enough of that I would check my email and Facebook. In a matter of 10-15 minutes I have brushed up on all the news that is important, received correspondence from possible internships or school related information, and checked up on the recent updates from my friends and family. In order for an individual to be able to intake and properly sort through all that information, it simply makes sense that what Tapscott is saying is true. “Net Geners’ brains have indeed developed differently than those of their parents.” 

Baron Ch 7-12

The second half of Baron’s A Better Pencil addresses how current technology has the ability to fool an audience and make us question whether what we are seeing is in fact authentic. He also address the problems that social media may present in current social capacities for both personal and business relationships.

“All new writing technologies bring with them the potential for fraud.” Even when writing on paper was first introduced, Baron explains that people would question authenticity of the author until signatures began to prove who wrote what. Then computers were invented and Baron explains, “As soon as computers allowed us to generate digital versions of conventional texts, skeptics began to question the authority of those texts.” There will be skepticism any time there is a new technology introduced and new means of communication are formed. The example used in A Better Pencil is a Photo-shopped picture of Marilyn Monroe and President Lincoln together in a black and white photo. The photo appears authentic for the most part. The audience would have to be aware of the fact that these people were not alive in the same era to determine it a fake.  This could breed a certain level of distrust in the internet but that has not slowed progress. For example online shopping was once considered foolish to participate in for the belief that it was not safe to put your credit card information out on the internet. However today e-commerce is a huge business with actual stores that do not have a physical presence. They conduct all of their business transactions online.

Another question that Baron brings forward is “Should everybody write?” It’s an interesting thought. With new technologies every single person with access to the internet has the ability to be a writer. You can create your own blog and do your own investigative journalism. This is something that we has stated in class previously, but it connects to the idea that life used to be about writing for something, reviewing over that work and then publishing it. Now with the technologies that are available the process is publish something and then review it. This leads to a great amount of content available whether that be a good or a bad thing, Baron explains it’s a little bit of both.  “Certainly people use their web spaces to advance knowledge, but they also use them to promote misinformation, disinformation, and hate.”

A Better Pencil does a good job of giving an understanding of what it’s like during this digital revolution and how it effects people in general as a society and businesses, and also on a personal level.

Book Panel 9/22

In class there were two groups to review, analyze that discuss a specific book. Since I was a part of the Smart Swarm book panel I will reflect on Here Comes Everybody. The first thing that I noticed right away was there are actually references in Smart Swarm that come from the Here Comes Everybody book author. The understanding of how a groups works effectively together in an organization or business are key points to both book.

During one point in their presentation they mentioned meetings and groups that take place in an entirely virtual presence. One example was World of War Craft and also a Facebook group. I always think that it’s interesting when complete virtual worlds are relevant in the real world. For example, any group project that I have had to do in college, we have all (almost unspoken) make a Facebook group for that project for communication means. I haven’t actually gotten any of those people’s phone numbers and we all communicate effectively and get a project completed efficiently. This touches on the other aspect the book Here Comes Everybody talks about which is the three main factors of an organization in the modern day. These factors are the promise, tools, and bargain. The promise is what the organization can do for you. The tools are the means of group coordination and the bargain is what the organization can expect from you.

When I think of the three main factors of an organization I think of a group that I have joined here as WSU that is the National Society of Leadership and Success. I joined that group because I was promised tools for success after college as well as scholarships. The tools that we use are the society website as well as an exclusive Facebook group. The bargain for my example would be that the society expects me to conduct myself a certain way in my community as well as be in constant good scholar standing.

I think that it’s interesting how technology has changed so much especially when it comes to businesses, organizations, and personal groups. Instant communication and how we conduct ourselves on the internet has become vital to everyday life and I think that the book Here Comes Everybody does a good job of illustrating that. 

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Baron CH 1, 3, &5

The first chapter of A Better Pencil talks about writing as a technology and it’s integration into society. One interesting idea that Baron was describing was the fact that text and writing in general must have been highly questioned when it was first brought about. Just like the wheel must have been, much like computers were until quite recently, all new invention have some hesitancy in the general public. However now we need writing as an essential part of our everyday lives. As seen in Baron’s example soda cans and dollar bill have writing of letters and numbers on them. They even bring us comfort and if they were to go missing we would probably question the contents within.

“The digital word can be as important or as trivial, as effective or as meaningless, as the analog variety.” What Baron means by this is that no matter how much you try and “dress up” some words with a new tech, after all the dust settles these words will either be great on their own, or they won’t.

Baron continues to make interesting notes on the hesitancy of advancing technologies. He write about how pencils were criticize when they first came to be because pens were the common usage. However pens were soon outdated by good pencils because of the writer not needed to stop to dip the pens into an ink well. They could simply continue their train of thought and pencils also allowed for the writer to erase mistakes.

This shows similarities to when calculators were feared to be allowed in classrooms for fear of making student lazy and not fully learning to add and subtract, now they are required for most classrooms and needed for standardized test such as the SAT and ACT.

One of the other criticisms that Baron discusses is “writers may pay less attention to what they are doing, and writing quality deteriorates.” This is in concern with the introduction of computers but it could be said that the same concerns were brought up when pencils were brought about. “Nostalgists frequently claim that the old ways were better because they were more natural.” But not all old ways are good ways and this book does a very good job of showing that though the different technologies that have been introduced and how they were received when integrated through society.

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Achebe Things Fall Apart part 2&3

The second part of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a sad conclusion to the novel but it is also a very good example of the destructive influence a literary society can have on a strictly oral society. There are multiple examples through part two and three where the missionary’s ways of life and means of communication directly clash with the ways of Okonkwo’s people. The troubles began when the word spread (orally) that the Abame clan was wiped out by “the white men.” This was the first instance that the reader sees of a more modern culture trying to “civilize” the people of Nigeria and it does not have a peaceful end.

We also see a bit of disruption in the tribes when Okonkwo’s son decides to leave and get an education with the church. “He went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write.” Okonkwo disowned his son after this and it’s the last the reader hears of Nwoye.

When Okonkwo holds a feast for his mother’s tribe to thank them for welcoming him for his seven years of exile, there are a few important speeches that the tribesman make. The first is when they break the kola nut and prayed. “We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. We do not pray to have more money but to have more kinsmen. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. An animal rubs its itching flank against a tree, a man asks his kinsmen to scratch him.” I believe that this was said at this feast because at this time the missionaries were moving in and making quite a presences amongst the tribes and the people were trying to keep together and hold a stance. It was breaking tribes apart when some would leave their old gods to worship this new ‘true’ god.  

A second thing to note at Okonkwo’s feast was where the Achebe wrote, “Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came first.” I read this as a reiteration of how important ritual and routine is to orality society.

The last thing I would like to look at from Okonkwo’s feast is that I think it’s important to note when one of the elders makes a speech and mentions the foreboding times, “I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter’s god that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you; I fear for the clan.” This speech shows how fearful the people are of new ways and of this new means of believing and worship and what it will do to their people. I find it interesting that some elder people in our world today say the same about advancing technology. I’ve heard some say that no one knows how to socialize in person anymore. That young kids just sit on their phones all day and can’t talk to an actual person. These have some similarities to what the elder was saying.

Finally I would like to note an interesting conversation that Obierika had with Okonkwo when the white men came to Umuofia and Okonkwo asks does the white man understand our custom about land? Obierika replied “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad.” Obierika brings up a good point about the inability to fulling understand ones customs when you are not fully immersed in that culture. This is the vital gap that ends up ruining the community. This inability for the literate society to ever really comprehend the ideas of an orality society.

I would like to conclude on one final note from the book. The thing that I found most interesting was in the last chapter of the book where it is narrated from the missionary’s point of view as the Umuofia people bring him to Okonkwo’s body and he thinks, “One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words,” What he found infuriating and superfluous to him, was essential to the survival of orality. This simply proves the previously stated gap between orality and literacy. It is hard to fully comprehend one when you are brought up in the other. 

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Part 1 of Things Fall Apart by C. Achebe

This book Things Fall Apart has given me a lot to think about Nigerian culture. My first impressions of the main character Okonkwo were not great to begin with, but as I got through more of the book, I disliked him even less. He is a man that is constantly filled with anger and on more than one occasion he has beaten his wives completely unnecessarily. The first occasion being when his second wife didn’t come home in time after doing her hair to make him dinner. This resulted in him beating her during a week that is supposed to be sacred and peaceful. The second time was when another one of his wives picked off all the leaves of a banana tree to wrap some of the yams in, and he accused her of killing the tree. He then beat her relentlessly and took out a gun and tried to shoot her. The way that the author describes Okonkwo makes his sound like a successful and almost powerful man in the tribe but his domestic life is completely ruthless and it makes me very much dislike the character. I do understand that there was a reason that Okonkwo came out this way. Achebe describes a childhood that is not so great due to Okonkwo’s father who was a lazy drunk who was in a significant amount of debt. Because of his father’s shortcomings, Okonkwo had to grow up at a young age just so his family could make it by. Okonkwo resented his father’s weakness and swore to never tolerate weekness of his own or even the weakness of others.  This however, is not an excuse for the way that he speaks to other people and how he treats his family.

Another thing that I have noted from the book so far was that the agriculture is very important to the tribe. So much so that here are yam festivals and the topic of the yam crop is continuously covered through the reading.

The final thing that I wanted to touch on was the way that the tribe handled the murder of one of the tribe member’s wives. When the wife was murdered in a different tribe they all had a meeting and agree that the Umuofia tribe would give the other tribe an ultimatum. Give up a young man and a virgin or go to war. The other tribe gave them a man and a virgin. This speaks to the level of power the Umofia tribe has in the world, especially over its neighboring tribes. It struck me as an interesting way of going about justice and the thing I found most fascinating was that the murder was never mentioned again. It was a thing of the past that was completely forgotten. 

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Second half of “Orality and Literacy” by W. Ong.

I have observed that the first half of “Orality and Literacy” was mostly directed towards aiming the reader at a better understanding of what a primary orality society may contain and how it would function. The second half of the book, is more dedicated to the readers understanding of the differences between orality, second orality, and literacy while also giving the reader a strong understanding of how the invention and incorporation of writing into the world has changed society significantly for the better. “More than any other single invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness.” (p.77) seeing as that is a pretty strong statement to make he backs it up with some theories about how it is impossible to directly refute a text. “This is one reason why ‘the book says’ is tantamount to ‘it is true’. It is also one reason why books have been burnt.” (p.78). What is being said is that reading a book is not at all like having a conversation.  When you read something that you do not agree with you cannot interject with your own differing opinions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some subjects and theories need to be printed and read in their entirety, without interruption in order to be fully comprehended and valued. Although I do understand that this is coming from a literate person who is in a modern world because Ong does goes on to state, “People had to be persuaded that writing improved the old oral methods sufficiently to warrant all the expense and troublesome techniques it involved.” (p.95). This sense of distrust comes from the lack of extratextual context such as the ability to properly convey tone of voice, environment, and volume level. “Spoken words are always modifications of a total situation which is more than verbal. They never occur alone, in a context simply of words.”(p.100). This lack of extra content that is seen in literacy is something that I can definite note in the modern world technologies such as with text messaging. When someone sends me a text to my phone sometimes, based on the situation, if there is a lack of punctuation like an explanation point or letters in all caps, I can’t gather the emotion of the text and whether or not the send was mad, interested or just indifferent.

Even with this minor drawback of the written word, this form of communication has made possible great change in the exploration of the globe, family life, politics, modern science, and altered social and intellectual life for the better. As Ong states in his chapter on print, space, and closure. We also see the birth of what Ong calls “second orality” with the incorporation of television, radio, and telephone. Combining modern technology with oral communication as well as literacy has all combined for a more intelligent and aware society. 

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First half of “Orality and Literacy” by W. Ong

The assigned reading for this week was very dense and at some parts of this book I had to actually go back and read over a second time to fully comprehend what was being said. The general ideas in the book were very interesting to me because I hadn’t thought about a completely oral society before. Previously I had assumed that the cavemen wrote on walls and written text has been evolving from that ever since. Ong brings very different ideas forward about what a primary oral culture must be like.

One of the points that Ong makes in the book is that it is almost impossible for a person from a literate society to completely understand what life would be like in a primary oral culture. One of the concepts that he tried to convey was that when you think of a word you almost can picture that word in your mind. The literal letters that it takes to make that written word, even if it is just being spoken, however someone from a primary orality that same word is just a sound. There are no letters to it, it is simply some sound that you can make yourself. “Literate people cannot have an image of a word by only sound like a primary orality person can.”

After reading through this I started to wonder how a culture could thrive with this kind of mentality. How are histories told and complex messages passed along? Ong answers this by simply stating you must think memorable thoughts.  Meaning that a person must think in mnemonics and formulas. An example of this means of communication would be when a story is being told and a primary orality use descriptors such as the brave soldier, the beautiful princess, the sturdy oak. Ong states, “An oral culture may well ask in a riddle why oaks are sturdy, but it does so to assure that they are, to keep the aggregate intact, not really to question or cast doubt on the attribution.” For any of these techniques to really take hold a primary orality speaker must repeat himself several times. During a speech it was stated to fill in pauses with a repeated sentence in order to solidify ideas. “Oral societies must invest great energy in saying over and over again what has been learned arduously over the ages.”

Ong’s book has brought to my attention the ideas of how powerful an effect the evolving media forms have on a society.