Rhetoric 104
Before and After the Digital: Culture and Technology
Codes: Binary and Others
In Friedrich Kittler’s essay, “The History of Communication
Media” we get a taste of the origin of how and why we have a need to continue
and expand our media communication. The
exchange of information between the self and others, or for oneself, has
manifested itself in many forms throughout history. The exchange of ideas from one mind to
another relies on communication, whether symbols, pictographs, zeros and
ones. This reading helps me understand better
what communication technology does for the organic mind born from the human mind. Kittler divides Writing and Technical
Media: the first as a medium and the
second to expand on that medium. Perhaps
these were invented out of necessity, to conquer or to keep from being conquered,
and ultimately became a medium for enjoyment of literature, poetry, music and the preservation of all of these ideas.
Glad you got something out of Kittler's essay, Blanca, and happy to see a standalone post from you! You can still narrow your focus even more, because it's very hard to tackle broad concepts like communication and media without introducing specifics. For instance, Kittler breaks down writing itself into orthography (handwriting) and typography (movable type, printing), and technical media may encompass a wide variety of things! What does he say happens with that shift?
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