The document discusses Walter J. Ong's ideas about primary orality, literacy, and secondary orality/literacy and how these concepts have evolved with new media technologies. It suggests that secondary literacy exhibited through technologies like social media is dissonant for primarily literate cultures in the same way secondary orality was dissonant for oral cultures. This leads to discussions on how these shifts impact education, associations, and production models.

1. The Media are Dead!
Long Live the Media!
Why Ong’s Secondary Literacy is Dissonant
Owen Brierley - Interactive Screen 1.0 - August 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010 1

2. Me.
...and a bunch of other stuff.
Monday, August 23, 2010 2
Owen
Guru
IxD, animation, storytelling, pep talks

3. Hugh MacLeod
Monday, August 23, 2010 3
visual art version of tweeting - comic art on the back of business cards

4. How we got here
Primary Literacy
Primary Orality (parchment/stone,
(elders, personal, external,
interruptible, timely) uninterruptible,
timeless)
Secondary Orality
?
(mix of PO as PL)
Walter J. Ong’s idea of Orality & Literacy
Monday, August 23, 2010 4
Walter J. Ong’s original thesis on orality and literacy
a simple model that captures the essence of how orality differs from literacy
does not see one as better than the other
introduced secondary orality to reconcile the cultural shift to recorded and disembodied
projections of oral behaviours (radio/tv transmission, aural recording, video/film recordings)

5. How we got here
Primary Literacy
Primary Orality (parchment/stone,
(elders, personal, external,
interruptible, timely) uninterruptible,
timeless)
Secondary Orality Secondary Literacy
(mix of PO as PL) (mix of PL as PO)
Walter J. Ong’s idea of Orality & Literacy
Monday, August 23, 2010 5
unpublished notes on the topic of a secondary literacy where literacy exhibits oral behaviours
model describes twitter, texting, IMing, and others
secondary literacy is as dissonant for primarily literate cultures as secondary orality is
dissonant for oral cultures (indigenous elders’ distrust, and rejection, of video and audio
recordings of their histories).

6. Oral Cultures
Monday, August 23, 2010 6
stories are only verifiable with living
stories mutate with each generation
suspicious of any external non-living source
abstraction of literal events
culture of town crier/wiseman

7. Literate Cultures
Socrates Plato Aristotle
Oral Literate
Monday, August 23, 2010 7
stories are written down
stories can’t mutate - mutation is bad
stories are “owned” by writer
suspicious of hearsay
literalization of abstractions
culture of the newspaper reporter

8. Literate Oral Cultures
Monday, August 23, 2010 8
record living source
irrefutable source evidence
literal presentation of source events
culture of radio/television anchor

9. Oral Literate Cultures
Monday, August 23, 2010 9
living source publishes immediate experience
stories re-published, re-interpreted
distrust of single source for current events
culture of the prosumer

10. Dissonance
Monday, August 23, 2010 10
text is permanent not ephemeral
sources should be verifiable not hearsay
sources should not be democratized
humour of this image is that early literacy was exclusive and reserved for religious elite, now
secondary literacy is reserved for the digital native elite.

11. Social Media Disruptors
Monday, August 23, 2010 11
Skype is not really a social media disruptor, I just liked the series of ads

12. Social Media Disruptors
Monday, August 23, 2010 12
democratized TV
everyone can be a producer
consumers can vote, view and popularize anything
the higher the viewership, the greater the monetization (through ads appearing near the
video)

13. Social Media Disruptors
Monday, August 23, 2010 13
democratized families and friends (now you can stay in touch without really trying)

14. Social Media Disruptors
Monday, August 23, 2010 14
Twitter offers immediate information about real-time events as they happen
twitter is intended to be ephemeral
important information is repeated (retweeted)
conversations can happen
flexible, open, interruptible and it’s text! (which is supposed to be permanent, organized,
mediated)

15. Social Media Disruptors
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wikipedia offers a means for anyone to add perspectives about history

16. What does this mean
for...
• education?
• associations?
• production models?
Monday, August 23, 2010 16

17. Education
Monday, August 23, 2010 17
sums up my perspective on education
students are light years ahead of the standard classroom environment and they know it
education systems are letting them down by not evolving
whiteboards are just as archaic as chalkboards
educators face a crisis of capacity as the pressure to update their models increases
learners already look elsewhere for their actual education and just “put in the time” in the
schools to get the diploma/degree

18. Associations
Monday, August 23, 2010 18
Unconferences in Edmonton:
democamp
mediacamp
UXcamp
Edmonton Startup Weekend
Twestival
YegHelp.ca

19. Production Models
Monday, August 23, 2010 19
$269.4 million over two years.
This investment in the broadcasting and interactive digital media sector is contributing to the
strength of the Canadian economy and supporting job creation.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) combines the CTF and the CNMF. It will allow Canadian
viewers better access to Canadian programming on multiple media platforms.
signifcant change? no broadcast license required.

20. Personal Perspective
Monday, August 23, 2010 20
Library of Objects
installation that allowed visitors to take artifacts in exchange for something of their own
seeking to find an online analogy for this exhibit

21. Monday, August 23, 2010 21

22. Breaking News!
Monday, August 23, 2010 22
This story went national and appeared in the Globe and Mail
important because of the cultural impact that social media is having on traditional media

23. Conclusions?
Monday, August 23, 2010 23
I googled “multiplicity” and got this.
Popular culture reference to a hollywood movie about cloning (bio art?)
No matter what, there will always be ubiquitous things
fragmented pieces of ourselves may not be as interesting as our whole selves
authenticity requires a holistic view of us
we owe it to each other to be authentic in each of our fragments

24. @Norm - discovering relationships beyond the veil of anonymous
transactions
Monday, August 23, 2010 24

25. @Luba - symphonies occur when fragmented pieces find their voice
Monday, August 23, 2010 25

26. @Caroline - empathy feedback loops that sensitize not desensitize
Monday, August 23, 2010 26

27. @Fiona - creativity is always a subversive act
Monday, August 23, 2010 27

28. @Pascale - human puppets; who manipulates who?
Monday, August 23, 2010 28

29. @Diego - a butterfly tattoo on an arm that turns a key in a car in
California and islands sink into the ocean
Monday, August 23, 2010 29

30. @Zeesy - 4D hypercube printing + time = 5th Dimension
= 70s band = “Let the Sunshine in”
Monday, August 23, 2010 30

31. Thanks!
Monday, August 23, 2010 31