The modern world has seen an influx of audio visual forms of textual circulation. These forms are spread digitally, rather than past modes of circulation which involved physical circulation of texts. These digital forms of textual circulation are the most likely to stand the test of time as the digital world keeps progressing. These texts in the form of images, videos and audio are spreading faster than ever before and one can receive them from anywhere in the world just by the click of a button. As technology advances, other forms of textual circulation will most likely become irrelevant and that’s because the more time passes by the more technology progresses and the more people start becoming obsessed with using the newest technology.
The formats of text such as a, tablet, stone and scroll, impact the interaction with the reader through touch and vision. Each of these formats has a different texture which the reader interacts with to determine the appropriate format used. They are also of different sizes and made up of different materials, which helps the reader determine the period which the text was written and probably relate to a certain group of people. These formats are mostly involved with physical interaction.
Digital technology can be a good thing in the study and preservation of these texts. Technology can help in capturing these texts through audio and visual forms so that they are available for a longer time and to a larger audience even when the texts eventually get damaged. Digital technology also helps in creating awareness on the existence of these texts, as well as storing information regarding the texts over the internet. This information can be easily retrieved when needed. It is essential that we continue to study these ancient texts so that we have a detailed understanding of the history of mankind, and understand how our ancestors passed on information.
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Hi Lisbel,
I agree that digital technology is probably the only form of textual circulation that will stand the test of time in terms of recording, preserving, and sharing information (although I’m sure cuneiform tablets will have something to say about that!) However, I do hope that as technology continues to evolve, it will also help us create more of a appreciation for these archaic forms of textual circulation, similarly to how we treat cuneiform tablets and scrolls now where they are carefully stored and revered in a gallery/museum. I don’t want us humans to simply forget or even take for granted these forms, because even though they are old and probably useless in our current lives (compared to technology), they have been incredibly useful and dependable for our ancestors; they are in a way the stepping stones that showed how society has evolved and progressed.
Hey Lisbel,
I agree with your statement that digital technology has become more and more impactful and popular in the literary world in the past decade and so forth. However, I still think about the possibility of the Internet going out of style, somehow. I think it’s an appropriate mode of circulation for the time being, but I think we should also keep in mind the possibility of a major event where the Internet goes down globally. How long will we be cut off from access to books? What if that access is never brought up again? I’m not sure how possible this is, but I think it deserves some thought.
Lisbel, I think bringing up accessibility is really important, and you make a great point here that digital technologies can be more inclusive and allow for more types of interaction. It’s interesting to think that they seem more stable than paper, although we just have to think back to floppy disks to know that actually digital technologies can become obsolete quite easily! It will be interesting to consider what kinds of storage and retrieval systems become more stable as digital tech reaches 100+ years.