#mcst1030jenningswinter2017

[rachelhowieewrites]

Newspaper vs. Radio

At the beginning of printed text, many countries limited their newspapers and publications by placing strict laws and restrictions on what could be printed and what could not. These restrictions included pre-publication approval and limits on what could be said of political affairs. With the beginning of radio in America, no such regulations were placed. Of course there were still limits to the things one could say on air, but they were not nearly as strict as the laws that came before them. Radio first began at the hands of Hugo Gernsback, who would later become the founder of the Elctro Importing Company, two magazines for radio enthusiasts, and helped find the Wireless Association of America. The lack of regulation at the beginning of radio led many people, especially young boys, to take interest in such a newfound technology. Amateurs could take pleasure in receiving and transmitting radio waves, though at the start, you would need to translate radio transmissions from Morse Code. Morse Code would eventually die off which lead to an easier way to listen to the radio. However, before the decline of Morse Code, restrictions on radio would be implemented. This was due to amateurs interfering with official and police radio transmissions. Many interference's led to the wild hunts or information to not be passed correctly. The final straw was when the Titanic sunk, according to the reports, there were too many people using their transmitters, and when a nearby ship tried to warn the Titanic of ice closing in, the Titanic was unable to get the message and the passing ship would turn off its own radio, never receiving the distress calls from the sinking ship. The sinking of the Titanic lead to the Radio Act of 1912, which would impose strict regulation of radio transmissions. The act stated that there had to be a standardization of frequencies, the radio must be manned at all times on a ship, imposed strict limits for amateurs, and the President was now able to shut down stations at times of need. The introduction of entertainment broadcasting lead to a new wave of excitement, though this anxiety would soon fade when amateurs were temporarily banned from entertainment broadcasting in 1921. Though this ban would never be lifted and commercial radio would take off. Originally, commercial radio did not know how to make money, until they would eventually adopt the idea of advertising. Radio stations such as the National Broadcasting Company were able to cover approximately 65% of all US citizens, providing they owned a radio. Though the US adopted the idea of a free radio, other countries wanted a government owned radio such as Britain and Germany. The Nazi rise to power can be greatly attributed to this idea of government owned radio, not only was the government in charge and could produce political propaganda, but Germany also shut off and foreign exchange of radio frequency. Eventually listening to other foreign stations would become a crime in Germany. Though radio and newspapers were brought up differently, the newspapers were able to support the newfound radio by demanding the return of amateurs to radio stations and getting the public excited about new radio stations. In America, this meant that the collective share of information was now not only coming from the printed press, but also from the radios and eventually televisions.

[psychadelicdelusions-blog]

Social Media : Then VS NOW - How are they similar ?

     The similarity between social media within the 16th century and 21st century are of course different, but as well are very similar. Although, social media now of days runs on digital technology, the spread of political beliefs, gossip, and news still occur. In Tom Standage’s “Writing on the Wall, he goes into depth on exactly what 16th century social media networking was like, and how is it similar to modern times. Nonetheless, ancient forms of social media were typically through word of mouth, stone tablets, papyrus, newspapers, and bulletin boards. Anyones opinion is able to be expressed through both forms of social media, sort of like Twitter.  “A rather more mundane but widely expressed concern about social media is that the ease with which anyone can now publish his or her views online, whether on Twitter, on blogs, or in comment threads, has led to a coarsening of public discourse.” (Standage 421) Furthermore, the spread of ones beliefs hasn’t changed much, since the older era of social media.      In the 16th century, the ancient form of twitter was formulated through a series of pamphlets that were passed out to everyone within the area of England. These pamphlets allowed for individuals like the Worshipful Company of Stationers to complain on how “ “every ignorant person that takes advantage of a loose press may publish the fancies of every idle brain as so manyfestly appeareth by the swarmes of scandalous and irksome pamphletts that are cryed about the streets.” (Standage 444) The Company was hoping to be granted a renewed monopoly on printing, which had previously allowed it to control what was printed, and therefore what people read.       Social media hasn’t changed much, since the 16th century. Although, modern times uses digital versions of these social networks. These concepts are derive from the ancient forms of social media, such as word of mouth, stone tables, and etc. These forms allowed anyone to express their opinion whether its all the way in 16th century England or 21st century United States.

Printing companies in the 16th century after the Worshipful Company of Stationers passed out pamphlets trashing them :

[screamydreams]

History Retweets Itself

Social media nowadays is a lot more convenient than it was in ancient times. Everyone can read now too. One of the main differences between social media practices now than in Ancient Rome is the speed we have these days. People see something and have the power to immediately tweet, facebook, tumblr, or text about it. Word of mouth and word spread by papyrus was the way to go about it in ancient times. It’s amazing the technology we have to use nowadays, because it doesn’t take any kind of discipline to obtain it. You don’t have to pay or work for a Facebook or Twitter account; you just have to log on and run your mouth about the dumb shit thats happening in your day to day life. In ancient Rome, it was even dangerous to spread word about certain things. Much like later on when the newspaper was established in England. Even to this day, the government doesn’t like when people have publicly shared opinions. But people aren’t getting limbs cut off in the streets or thrown in jail anymore like they used to be. It’s also pretty difficult to find trustworthy sources nowadays as opposed to ancient times. An instant Google search brings up hundreds of opinionated articles and journals that could easily be biased and handing out misinformation. Hell, the president makes an ass out of himself on Twitter on a day to day basis handing out misinformation. It’s just harder to distinguish whats bullshit and whats not nowadays.

[saltyblazestudent]

Youtube and the Reddit the coffa houses of the modern day.

The similarity between coffa houses and online video sites and information forums like Youtube and Reddit is actually quite striking, despite being hundreds of years apart some of the general concepts of a meeting place to discuss certain topics, and trades has carried over centuries of language, and technology. Coffa houses in the 16 hundred’s were places where individuals who knew a trade, a skill, or any other kind of useful knowledge could go to one of these places and discuss that trade, or skill with other people that were either in the similar field or looking to begin in the field and soak up as much knowledge as possible, all discussed over a war cup of coffee. the same concept holds true for sites like reddit and youtube, just like there were certain coffa houses to discuss politics, language, or astoronomy so are there youtube channels or reddit pages that strictly discuss certain topics including movies, once again politics and language, music and almost any other topic. Say for example you love cars and want to build your own engine but know nothing about tools or auto mechanics, you can get onto a reddit forum for car buffs or people who build project cars and ask “Hey guys i wanna build my first engine but i need help on where i should start” in a post. You will get many helpful responses from people that probably for the most part know what they are talking about and you can even fact check the information they give on other sites. You can probably find yourself a good youtuber who has very informative and detailed videos explaining almost step by step how to use your tools and how to disassemble and reassmable your engine. Youtube instructions also go together with the portability of a smartphone like peanut butter and jelly, allowing you to work on whatever project while you watch or listen to instructions from a video. All these positive things that come from reddit and youtube started with concepts like coffa houses a commonplace where people with common interest and mindsets can come and share their knowledge with each other to make this world better and to help others, we still have coffa houses the information just moves much faster now.

[jacobsmithjwu-blog]

Blog Post 10: Newspaper and Radio

The evolution of the newspaper and radio technology both had a major impact on the transfer of information and communication. The invention of the printing press allowed for multiple printing publications to be printed simultaneously to be shared to hundreds, in which it was used informally, political gain, as well as for intellectuals to connect.  

With the same goal to communicate news to individuals, the radio telegraph started off using Morse code to a transition to broadcasting, which was an invention that continually changed the way of communicating and sharing information through a much more commercialized. Guglielmo Marconi was a young Italian inventor who sought out to extend radio signals and soon traveled abroad to share his invention. Eventually, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company was established and was the dominant provider of this equipment and service. What I find interesting about the evolution of the radio, is that it is so comparable to what we view social media today. We can broadcast anything in an accessible way to the public. “Initially, American amateur stations also tried their hand, but in December 1921 frequencies for broadcast entertainment were established to keep them clear of naval distress frequencies, and the next month amateurs were “temporarily” banned from entertainment broadcasting” (Standage 197).

Tom Standage notes at the beginning of the chapter how this evolution was inspiring to young individuals such as boys who wanted to experiment and would get them involved in this industry. Unfortunately, these amateur transmitters soon began to interfere with commercial and naval transmitters in which this eventually called for regulations. This was because of their accusations of hindering marine rescue operations. This caused regulation of 1912- Radio Act. This act required al transmitters to be licensed, sort of like the regulations of the newspaper. This gave agency to governmental official to shut down any stations that they wanted. Both the newspaper and radio are similar in which they were innovate for communicating, and were illustrating the power of new information age and the accessibility of information.

[brakerbreaker]

History of Media- The French

Assignment: Write 250 or so words where you explore a new fact or story you learned about the French Revolution. Why is this moment so striking to you?

As a student who has learned many times about the French Revolution, it was very interesting to read about the Revolution from a media perspective in Tom Standage’s chapter “The Sentinel of the People” in Writing on the Wall. I knew about the Estates-General, the Bastille, and the chaos which started after Louis XVI was beheaded. I didn’t know that the French had such control over their media outlets. I didn’t know that the French lifted sanctions for the Estates-General, “…in the summer of 1788 it lifted censorship restrictions to facilitate political discussion in the run-up to the meeting the following year” (Standage, 160). This was meet with an outpour of opinionated printed material which overwhelmed everyone. When the Estates-General finally meet, there was problems because citizens outside the Estates-General could not get sufficient information about the proceedings of the debates. The French newspapers were banned by the government from reporting on the Estates-General without being “directly authorized by the deputies” (Standage, 161). The Gazette de Leyde reported on them but the censorship of press did not last long anyways. The Estates-General did not do what it was intended to do, talk about taxes. After the people stormed the Bastille (giant French prison), municipal governments were set up all over France as the monarchy lost its power. Any ability for it to censor the press was lost as they started to fear much more important things than printing against them. It is enlightening to already know about a subject well, like the French Revolution, and then have it expounded upon in terms of media and communications. This was probably the most interesting chapter in the entire book for me. 

Works Cited

Standage, Tom. Writing on the Wall: Social Media- the First 2,000 Years. Bloomsbury, 2014.

[duchesscat01]

Coffeehouse

Modern coffeehouses are more focus on being trendy with their own coffee's and food. They accommodate it with WiFi to please with today's society. But that doesn't mean that the feel of a coffeehouse are overlooked, no, in fact Starbuck is a great example of how today coffeehouse are. They have a clam, soothing type of atmosphere, special brewed coffee's and the best for any society member of today, WiFi.

But coffeehouses in the middle of the 17th century were an invention of the Arabians. The Arab's had become obsessed with the coffee bean, not long after had it reach Europe. Coffeehouses were the best alternative to taverns since alcohol would dulled the mind, coffee on the other hand would heightened it. Since than drinking coffee was considered a sign of "sophistication and openness to new ideas." Coffeehouses quickly became the centers of gathering information and exchanging it. In lager cities there would be a specific subject that they would discuss.

London coffeehouses would discuss about politicians although near Saint Paul's Cathedral they would discuss about the clergyman and the theologians. At Will's coffeehouse in Covent Garden, for three decades John Dryden and his groups would review and discuss about the latest poems and plays. Around the Royal Exchange were businessmen whom became regular at their coffeehouses to the point that many were associated to it. It created them a way to hold offices, meeting rooms, and venues for trade. As it is seen, depending on the location and its dominate activity in their neighborhood would than determine their discussion of the subject. These places would allow these groups to share, combine, and discuss their opinion, whether spoken, written, or/and printed. Coffeehouses would subscribed to periodicals and would gather a wide range of material to distribute. They would than be sometimes be read out loud among others. They would pause for explanation and discussions; it was highly encourage for strangers to converse with others, because once they would step through the coffeehouses doors their class and status wouldn't matter. The idea they had was to create a place where "pure information exchange, where ideas were to be scrutinized, combined, or discarded... and people could speak their minds."

The effect of these coffee-hubs were to increase the speed to and efficiency in which information scattered throughout society. Modern version are similar to where people or groups gather around and discuss a topic or subject that they all equally enjoy. As well when it came to educational purposes, such as when Hooke's and hos colleagues used the coffeehouses for academic debates, negotiations with instrument makers, and even at times to conduct science experiments.         

[talofasp7]

Blog Post 6: Coffeehouse in Today’s Society (Technology)

In Chapter 6: And So The CoffeeHouse: How Social Media Promotes Innovation Tom Standage goes into another direction dealing with communication of others with different interest to fit into a certain group to share opinions, ideas, and thoughts of any topic. The interesting part of this chapter that the first start of collaborations with other and increasing the growth of communication all started in a coffeehouse. As quoted, Coffeehouse’s were designed as, “ With their promise of a constant and unpredictable stream of news, messages, and gossip, coffeehouses were an alluring social platform for sharing information” (Standage pg.109). 

When reading this chapter and how coffeehouses were such a huge social platform that allowed any person (Scientist, man, woman, business worker etc.) to express their thoughts and link with different people with the similar interest in topics. Which made me think of in today’s society and how social media is the platform for anyone. Standage states, “The main business of coffeehouses was the sharing and discussion of news and opinion in spoken, written, and printed form” (Standage pg. 107) in other words, business would come together in coffeehouses to discuss important topic dealing with verbal or written form. In today’s society we use the same form however, digitally. On Facebook business and organizations are able to make public/private groups that allow everyone to be on the same page. Same with Messenger making a group chat allowing everyone to voice their opinion on a specific topic. 

Coffeehouses were a form of communication to meet with coworkers and business contributors to stay informed with everything that was going on during that period. They as a whole wanted to improve coffeehouses after the doubt on it being beneficial to people. As it is stated, “Coffeehouses were imposed order on the chaotic media environment of the time, sorting material by topic and making it much easier to find specific types of information, and people to discuss it with” (Standage pg. 108). Basically saying to improve the way people were able to find certain groups that they were interested in and has opinion or thought to discuss upon they separated in larger coffeehouses all around the area. It also says, “Crucially, from the point of view of participants in the discussion that took place within its pages, the journal would also, act as a neutral public form in which scientist could claim priority for their work” (Standage pg. 119). An example of this that is current is how business and people can communicate with others through Face timing. AT first communication started with messaging and calling to connect to others even in a business meeting they have someone over the phone to discuss about the company and important issues as well. Now, many apps now a days have Face-Time. There is a new app where you can face time with friends and watch videos or listen to music all together as a whole called Air Time. This allows people to be more engaged in technology and communicate digitally and more efficiently.Business they also use face time to have colleagues to be in meetings and get updated on businesses out of state or out of the country as well. They use the digital form to connect with other sponsors through Skype and other apps to have face-to-face interaction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHeI7A1umew

[jonjon5619-blog]

Chapter four of writing on the wall is in my opinion a “blast from the past” both figuratively and literally, this is because of how he talks about how poetry was used and its not for what you would think. If you as a kid ever passed a note to any one with the intent of spreading gossip you would have done great in the medieval times as a poet. Let me explain poetry in that time was granted used for love and to “woo” a person that you found attractive. It was also used as a form of spreading gossip. Crazy to think that TMZ sprouted from our ancestors trying to see who was sleeping with king henry and who was going to be beheaded a bit more gruesome than the tabloids of today, still as life damning in most situations but not as deadly now. Poetry became a bit more accessible around this time with the cost of printing dropping. Which again lead to more and more poetry/ satire. We can also find examples of this poetic style in comedians and satirical websites such as Bill Burr and The Onion, and in most cases if we are looking at music as poetry there are now comedians that use music to convey their message. Though the initial messages may have been to make one laugh, just like the “saucy poetry” of the early days some comedians speak a harsh truth that is covered in laughter to not make you think as much about it and to realize that society is still as messed up today as it was yesterday. My favorite example is the Saturday Night Live skit ‘Weekend update’ where they take current events in the news and attempt to make fun of them while making it a bit easier to understand. So, to answer the question if I believe that there is a modern corollary between saucy poetry? I would say yes and it may not seem like it is there but its hidden somewhere.

[rachelhowieewrites]

The French Revolution

After reading the chapter regarding the French Revolution in Tom Standage’s “Writing on the Wall,” I found that the most interesting story was the “Affair of Fourteen.” The Affair of Fourteen was quite interesting because it showed how hard it was to track down the original author of a work. The affair describes what it was like when someone was caught with a poem that the authorities disagreed with. It all began with the head of police, comte de Maurepas, who read underground poems and songs to the king and his mistresses. One of the poems regarded a dinner Maurepas was at with the king and his mistresses, the poem was offensive to the mistress Madame de Pompadour, and she insisted to her lover that Maurepas be removed as head of police and replaced with her friend comte d’Argenson. This was done and Maurepas was thrown in jail, because Madame de Pompadour believed him to be the author of this offensive title, due to the fact that he was one of the four people present at the dinner mentioned. After the arrest, more poems circulated regarding Madame de Pompadour, and comte d’Argenson made it a mission to find the author of these works. Eventually, he found a medical student names Francois Bonis who held a poem regarding the mistress. When he was arrested, he named the person he had gotten it from, a priest. The priest was then arrested and told the authorities that he had gotten it elsewhere, the next person was arrested and the case continued as such. Once the authorities thought that they had gotten the author, the holder of the poem had told where he had gotten it. The circulation of poems was hard to control, because the original poem would be hand copied, leaving room for human error or editing as one pleased, making the poem more to their liking. The Affair of Fourteen is significant because the police continued to arrest people until they had fourteen different people related to the poem in cells. Another interesting point is how they all spilled who they had received the poem from, but this makes sense because the time in prison was less for having the poem than being the one who wrote the poem. I found this story to be the most interesting in the chapter because it shows how different regulations on printing and writing were today. Not only was there tight control over the printing industry, but there was authorities constantly searching for authors of handwritten works as well. Anything offensive, whether printed or handwritten, could be punished by prison or death.

[amazinkey-blog]

Oh The Government 🙄

In Writing on the Wall, Chapter 5 "Let Truth and Falsehood Grapple" pages 82 through 103, it talks about the problems the government faced with the technology of he printing press. Back in 1579 John Stubbs ruined Queen Elizabeth marriage because he worried that she might be planning to restore Catholicism as England’s religion and that she was negotiating with France. He secretly told everyone around by spreading the information in a pamphlet. This tale that was told about John Stubbs showed European rulers had realized what writing a pamphlet attacking authority could do (pg. 83). They imposed to set strict rules on printing. Trying to prevent dangerous writing of religion and politics from being printed. In the 16th century strict rules were set on printing across Europe. A rule was that a publisher of the text had to submit the text to a religious or secular authority (pg. 84). This could be a relatable problem that has happened in today’s society. Language is so important, and dangerous, towards the government. The government in today’s society puts all our post and writing under surveillance just to make sure we don’t post anything suspicious or threatening towards them. Over centuries the government has put a sensor on our speech, on what we say, or what we post because of the reaction we can have towards someone secretly telling us what they do or plan to do. Our reaction could be dangerous or threatening depending on the secrets we are told.

[saltyblazestudent]

EXTREY EXTREY READ ALL ABOUT IT!

with the rise of the newspaper medium this allowed for the it to reach all corners of society, rich, or poor, city, or rural, or black or white everyone had access to the news via newspapers. Not only did these people now have access to current news, but they also had a platform on which if they wanted they could pay for an ad to get information out about whatever they please. you now how ways for things like hobby clubs to take out adds to increase membership or inform people about a show or event. Theatres could increase their ticket sales by running adds in papers about upcoming perfermormers and ticket prices. the news paper media was also used by certain groups that would publish their own papers. Civil rights groups and The Black Panthers all published newspapers to be distributed among African American neighborhoods to inform the African American community of boycotts, protest, voting information, and many other pieces of usuful information that without these niche newspapers might not make it to the public.

[jacobsmithjwu-blog]

Blog Post 5: “Let Truth and Falsehood Grapple”

In “Writing on the Wall”, Tom Standage explores the problems of the emerging printing press, and the implications of a public open space for debate and discussion. Newsbooks that started in the late 1640s where designed to publish weekly domestic public news, which was the first specific political news in print. “Supporters of both king and Parliament took advantage of the freedom of an uncensored media environment to justify their actions, attack their enemies, and appeal to public opinion” (Standage 94).

A perfect example today is our current President Donald J. Trump and his popular twitter account. President Trump utilizes this social media platform to share his personal viewpoints about current political topics, as well as express his thoughts with others whether personal or business. Understanding his language through social media is important as he is a representative of the Government. His actions have become viral and we now as a country feed off less than 140 words whether positive or negative.

Our access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even Tumblr seems as though we have the personal freedom to post and publish anything that we would like. Our internet culture has been developed to allow us to feel as though our published work can go “viral” or become known just as much as anything else, but that is not the case. Social media is governed through a framework that focuses on the “elite” in which, our social power structures are further illustrated.

As far as our current news and media system, we receive information via news sources that continually have a specific “agenda” they are trying to convey. Whether left or right sided on the political scale, our information is only censored to a certain extent; again, through the powers of those who control the same frameworks through social media.

[brakerbreaker]

History of Media- The Romans

Write 250 or so words about a mode of communication practiced by ancient Romans. What does that ancient media methodology reveal about the way we, as humans, interact and share information?

The ancient Romans had a very elaborate social network. In the third chapter of Tom Standage’s book Writing on the Wall, he goes through their system of accessing and spreading news. The Roman elite, those with enough money to have a scribe or have been educated enough that they were literate, prolifically wrote and sent letters to each other. This was how they kept up with current social events that were going on and also how those who did not live in Rome could be updated in what was going on in Rome. It was important to keep up with what was going on in Rome at the time since Rome was the center of revolutions, mutinies, and much political upheaval. Elite families had to know what was going on so that they were not on the wrong side of whatever political events were happening at the time. Letters going a short distance could be written on wax tablets that were like Etch A Sketches. The other person would write back on the back and the whole thing could be erased. Longer distance letters were written on papyrus. The wealthiest families could afford a tabellarii which was a messenger. Everyone else used their friends who were going in the right direction. Letters also did not have the same kind of privacy that they have today. They were less like an email and more like a long Facebook post. The letters would be shared amongst family and friends. Some letters were even written into other letters (like sharing on Facebook). The problem was that Rome did not have a media center that told everyone what the news was and what was going on (like CNN today). They had a kind of newspaper called the acta. Its problem was that there was only one copy a day that was kept in the Forum. Storey writes, “The earliest ancestor of the newspaper relied on informal distribution via social networks to reach a wide audience” (Storey, 28). It was left to the people who lived in Rome to spread the news in the acta to their friends and family who then in turn spread the news to their friends and family. The main similarities between today and ancient Rome was that people are very curious and naturally want to know what is going on in their government and in the world. The Romans could not get the message out to each other as fast as we can but that didn’t keep them from being in constant contact with each other just like we are.

Works Cited

 Standage, Tom. Writing on the Wall: Social Media- the First 2,000 Years. Bloomsbury, 2014.

[karamellkills-blog]

Blog Post 5: Pssst

“Word of mouth” is often used as a marketing term. Considered to be the most effective way to reach customers, it can make, or break your businesses. During the middle ages, more people were writing, and that meant more printing presses were being used. Just like any cool, new thing, there was no regulation and people could do what they wanted. But one thing you did not want to write about was Queen Elizabeth I in a negative light… or any royalty for that matter.

Eventually, the Queen put in regulations I order to try to stop the “rumors”, but people will be people. And when there’s rules to be put in place, someone is always there to break them. As these rules got more and more strict, the craftier people became. People would have meetups to trade publications. Eventually, this became the precursor to newsletters, news, and paparazzi. And the nobles did not want the commoners to have knowledge of what is going on in because they wanted to avoid revolution. Kind of like James XVI was extremely paranoid of people trying to kill him, he made majority of the French people do a bunch of tasks to prevent the people from rising against him. But we all know how that turned out. Writing on the Wall also sheds light of the people’s involvement of the Parliament- by the king having to listen to what the people wanted to try to avoid any type of confrontations. Ultimately, if there was a negative review about the government, the reviewer would suffer more than just a few docked points.

[duchesscat01]

Blog Post #2- Ancient Social Society- Greece

Standage discusses varies of ancient social media in chapter one in "Writing on the Wall." He writes about the Hutterites, Dunbar, Egyption, Mesopotamia, and lastly about the Greeks. In which the ancient Greeks social media caught my attention.

Thanks to the Ancient Greece, literacy became more widespread. Their alphabet was inspired by both cuneifor writing and hieroglyphic used in Egypt, so together they devised an alphabet that consisted solely of consonants. This was spread by the Phoenicians, a seafaring people. The Greeks made crucial addition to the alphabet by adding five signs for vowels to makes the alphabet much easier to use when learning to read or write. Greek mercenaries left graffiti at Abu Sembel in Egypt in 593 B.C. Around this time, Greek writing was appearing on coins and vases indicating its commercial and domestic use by ordinary people. This also indicates that with this self-promotion that a reasonable proportion of the population were literate. The introduction of the practice of ostracism in Athens in 510 B.C., also indicates that literacy was widespread among, at least, the male citizens. The word ostracism is from the orstraca on which six thousand voters, 20% of male citizens, were allowed to write the name of whom they wanted to kick out from their city.

Now with their discursive political and intellectual culture and an unusually high rate of literacy, the Greeks did had an opportunity to create the first social-media culture. But what interested me the most, was the fact that, beyond two men copying and sharing mathematics to other part of Greece, there was no other evidence of a wider culture of copying and sharing f documents. In fact, the Greeks saw writing as a threat to the supremacy of spoken word.

Rhetoric, meaning oratory, or the art of speaking, was an important skill and a long traditions of the Greeks. Plato, his teacher Socrates, and an interlocutor called Phaedrus write two written works that pretty much had them complaining  that "writing undermines the need to remember things and weakens the mind, creating a forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves." Socrates also points that written texts cannot respond to queries and are a subject to misunderstanding. Plato also has similar argument that written text is no substitute for spoken dialogue. In which, in a way, is true, our society today is very much depended on written texts but that does not mean we do not treasure the spoken aspect of oral dialogue. Because don't we need to know how to speak in order to write?