Writing is a powerful medium that
has power to convey messages in a unique way.
As with almost all methods of communication, it also has drawbacks. In class we touched on the idea that writing
in some sense takes the writer out of the message because the author cannot
adapt to a changing audience. I believe
that is true, but there is more to it than that.
This semester I am taking an online
class for the first time. It is a
completely different experience from a normal class because there are no lectures
and we are often essentially required to teach ourselves out of the
textbook. Going into the class, I didn't
have a problem with this. Independent
study is one of my strengths, so I didn't worry too much about having difficulty
learning the material.
However, after a few weeks I have
had greater difficultly than I expected in internalizing what I am
learning. It isn't the textbook's fault;
it's actually one of the more interesting textbooks I have read. The problem is that writing has a limited
"sink in" factor. Imagine the
difference between a commander who gives a rallying speech in a big booming
voice that echoes down the mountainside and one who just writes it down on
paper and distributes the message to his soldiers. Which army is going to be more energized for
the battle?
There is a reason that political
candidates give speeches rather than distributing treatises on government to
the voting bloc they want to target. A
man giving you a message is more powerful than words written by someone you
have never seen.
That being said, I don't think the
weaknesses of writing should inhibit our use of it. Rather, I believe that the most effective
message is the one taught by a variety of mediums so that each compliments and
supports the others. By using writing
together with other communication forms, we can more fully bridge the gap
between intellects and introduce a greater depth of internalization to the
human mind.
"Pen, a," no changes made, by Alan Klim. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
I like the point that you make. Do you think that groups preferring speeches to written texts is a positive or negative thing or no opinion? I wonder is the preference for oratory signifies a lack of effort for gaining knowledge or literacy. Obviously, the pathos-heavy delivery of a speech can be so much more powerful than the ethos created by a written document, but should we be more persuaded by the writing?
ReplyDeleteI think striking a balance between the two is definitely the key. My experience with online classes has produced similar sentiments. I think a large part of it is the one wayness: although movies very similar to video lectures, at least they're interacting with themselves, and the disconnected feeling is not as large.
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