In the pre-literate acoustic world, messages were exchanged predominately through sound. While this tended to lend more control to the speaker - reducing bias and misunderstandings - the messages would die as people died. In the alphabetical visual world, messages remain broadcasted through a variety of channels in recognizable forms. While they do not die, they are more susceptible to ailments like misunderstandings and manipulations. Television combines the two, synthesizing audio and visual into one element.
2. Why does the alphabet have the segregating tendencies? How exactly does the printing press reverse the segregating tendencies?
The alphabet has segregating tendencies because, during media infancy, very few people were literate, and even those that were could not scramble around a book and all read it at once. This caused the rich elite to process the alphabet slowly, hardly close to the masses. The printing press sends the message out to the population. Although it is susceptible to classist machinations, it has developed over time to reach the vast majority of the population. Lagging behind, literacy moved faster to catch up with the spreading printing press.
3. How does the alphabetic communication in online communication make cyberspace acoustic? How is the online acoustic world different from the television, radio, or print acoustic world?
Online communication is truly acoustic not because digital messages appear as a visual, but, the message exchange is nearly identical to an acoustic exchange. Real-time live chatting allows people from any corner of the globe to have a conversation as if they were in front of each other, exchanging acoustics. The television, radio, and print acoustic world is entirely different because they are controlled mediums. The internet is free flowing and contingent only on choice. No one can have a conversation with a new anchor, radio host, or talk show host in real time when engaging them through their respective acoustic worlds.
4. Not only do we invent media and media technologies but also we select their uses in different contexts. What are the two selection criteria? According to the selection criteria, please discuss what will happen to our online communication in 20 years.
The two selection criteria lie on the belief that we can become greater than our human limitations. First, the media must be larger than our given senses. Second, we want the exchanged communication to be as close to an organic exchange as possible. People want to experience the human condition to the absolute maximum, which we believe is possible through media. Therefore it must feel like we genuinely are visiting the Grand Canyon or Paris. Online communication will steer towards virtual reality components, allowing people to (artificially) feel the senses of being in certain places or having certain experiences.
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