• Writing develops in context of business and trade, spreads to government and only much later to religion. (Garden world of Sumeria)
• The other communication 'technologies' continue to develop- people still speak!
• Speech had prestige over new fangled technology. The 'word' of God/s. The 'oral tradition.'

• Cultural Side-
• New groups formed. More complex technology, expansion of trade networks, technological and other social specialization growing.
• Size of 'cultural' areas growing. Residue of earlier culture passed down to more and more cultures. Learning and techniques of one culture pass to other cultures. Beginning of libraries.
  
• Social Side-
• Rise of central governments- they organize strategies of conquering, need to keep records
• Social Stratification and hierarchies grow- who has the knowledge of the 'books/tablets/scrolls' and reports, and who does not?
• Not everyone needs to adopt new communication technology. Some in oral world, some in written world. learn how to 'read' or 'write'
• Primary Orality- never been exposed to writing! Do these people think differently?
• eg. 'aggregate, not analytic'; 'close to human life world'; 'situational rather than abstract'.
• Does technology change the way we think?
• Secondary Orality- The world of an illiterate who sometimes depends on someone who writes/reads
• 'Writing' or 'reading' - can refer to different skill levels-
• 'craft literacy' uses a special notation system available only to the create

• Skills-
• Scribes/mandarins- form a special group that knows how to write. They are 'knowledge workers.' While knowledge establishes new power, it doesn't give make the scribes rulers!
• Need to know how to prepare/acquire clay tablets, papyrus, or vellum skins (technical workers)
• Need to know how to store and retrieve (library)
• Need to know the necessary languages (linguists)
• Need to know the history and earlier writing styles (historians/rhetoricians)
• Need to transmit these skills to new generation (teachers)
• Need to use to power of knowledge well (politician)
• Bards- memorize large stories. Told over several days
• Need mnemonics to remember. Oral recitals organized as performance with mnemonics. (Rhyme, rhythm, phrases
• Examples. Ancient Greek Homer (850 BCE)- teacher of 'morals' or examples to young; Indic Vedas and Upanishads; Iranian Avestan and Epic literature; epic literature becomes global: Turkic, Yugoslavian
• Milman Parry (1902-1935) and Albert Lord- prove that bards existed. Living Yugoslavian bards discovered

• Material-
• Clay (Sumerian/Babylonian)- lasts long, but hard to move. Cuneiform. Hard to 'paint.'
• Papyrus (Egyptian)- not as long lasting. Easier to move. Gives rise to more cursive and graphic elements
• Vellum (Central Asian/European)- prepared skins. Lasts long but hard to prepare and is expensive.
• Paper (Chinese)- part cloth and wood- to last needs to be prepared right; cheaper, moves easily, spreads from Chinese to Muslims to Europeans. Replaces Vellum and sets stage for 'revolution
• Symbols- glyphs, to syllabaries and iconic writing, to alphabet.
  
• Other Media-
• Primary/Secondary Orality (see above)
• Arts used to illustrate written stories
• Painting, Speech making, and other technologies change
  
• What is left out-
• Pre-alphabet-
• Hard to learn; hard to duplicate and transmit short term
• Speech is easier to duplicate! One person tells what he or she had learned!
• Post-Alphabet- (Greeks)
• 'Democratic' since easier to learn. Can just learn alphabet and no need to scribe to point out missing characters!
• Still need cheaper writing materials

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