ARTS2090 Publics and Publishing

Z3465185

Sarah Register

Final ‘Essay’ In Lieu of Exam

Word Count: 1,900

3. ‘The term communication can be defined in a wide sense and in a strict sense.

The wide sense is: a process by which a system is changed by another system’

(Vilém Flusser, writings Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press: p.8).

Distribution has arguably always been about communication systems that bring

other systems into contact. Which systems are today being brought into contact?

Which systems are changing other systems? What has changed, in comparison

to the past?

z3465185.wordpress.com

(State Library of Victoria Collections 1919, Easter Postcard Back and Message) Hand written letters to express one’s feelings. Connections across a paper. Scrawled and smudged intimately through passion. Sent across seas and oceans to communicate and express carefully selected words and exchange vulnerabilities.  

(Stanford, C 2009, Ink Jar and Quills) Past expressions of emotions. Love. Passion. Thought. Care. Desires. Pick up the pen, put down your passion. Today’s textual communication has lost its meaning. Simplicity in communication allows for greater ability of expression.  

(West L 2006, Letters) Letters from me to you. Letters from one friend to two. Letters show love and care. Letters will ware and tear. Our thoughts sent though the mail. Carried by winds and trails. They speak of days gone by. And adventures lived through the skies.

(Lion, W 2008, Fidelity and The Social Network) Since when did love lose sight. Fidelity is questioned in the night. When love connects us all. Why is it that we cannot stand tall. We search for our lover’s mistakes. Only to end up making ourselves break. Crushed by what we find We lose ourselves every time.

(Sugden 2010, No Mobile Phones) “Attention spans used to be robust; now they are stunted. Technology — MTV, the Internet, the iPhone — shriveled them,” (Heffernan 2010, n.p.). Attention, focus, distraction. Online commutation versus in-person interactions. The return of face-to-face communication.

Before language was developed, communication was still evident through

the use of sounds and pictorial expressions. Evidence of rock paintings exist

which express people’s once primitive and most primal thoughts. Before the

creation of language and the alphabet, people were able to communicate through

other means. Communication defines society and society defines

communication. How we use communication is increasingly diverse and has

adapted over time along with the development of new technologies. Distribution

of communication through new technologies has enabled multiple systems to

come into contact which may not have been able to in past times. Techonology

provides the links from social group to social group, enabling connections even

when not presently together.

Publication enables communication and relationships between areas

which may not have been possible beforehand. Publication is essentially

communication which is distributed throughout various systems and groupings.

Throughout history, communication has replicated various shifts in society and

speaks volumes about interactions within certain time periods. Sonnets, haikus,

ballads, riddles are all various forms of communication which enable an intimate

connection between individuals and were popular in specific time periods.

Arguably, these types of publications mirrored society’s desire for self-expression

and reflected cultural patterns at certain periods in time.

The plethora of publishing methods show how humans have an innate

desire to express themselves and convey meaning from one party to the next.

We crave intimacy and connection and this is enabled through communication.

Without it, one loses sanity. An example of this loss of emotional stability brought

about by loss of communication is cabin fever. The term cabin fever refers to

confinement indoors in the winter season. When people are confined to their

home for multiple days without connection and communication with the outside

world, mental abilities begin to diminish. Lacking communication with the outside

causes symptoms of insanity and this exemplifies the extent to which humans

require communication to sustain life.

Personally, I have experienced a similar type of cabin fever and loss of

emotional stability as my family lives overseas. I am alone and isolated in my

family home which can often trigger emotional instability and a craving for

communication with the outside world. When time zones differ, connections

between my family become limited. I find myself turning on the television as I

crave connection to the outside world. The familiar sounds of cooking shows and

morning news soothes my fear of isolation and allows me to connect with the

international networking system. I am able to visualise what is going on both

within my own community and respectively in other countries around the world.

Communication enables various systems to come into contact as it widens the

reach of information distribution. Distribution is no longer limited to the

constraints of what can fit within a post card. Worldviews can be brought into the

most intimate of locations within the household through international news. The

Internet facilitates linkages and exchanges between people who would not have

had the ability to interact in the past. It expands the possibility of communication

within communities past the human reach.

Consider the term communication, it stems from the Latin root

communicacio which means sharing or imparting. Sharing or imparting

information is the very goal of communication as individuals express their

thoughts and publish them in various formats. Talking, writing, singing, blogging,

Instagramming, Snapchatting, Facebooking and emailing all represent various

forms of communication. They enable expression across various platforms and

have changed how interactions within society take place.

As society has developed, so have the technologies that supplement

everyday communication. Woodblock printing, stencils, printing houses, printing

press, intaglio, lithography, colour printing, computers, laptops, smartphones and

thus the list goes on (History of Printing 2014). This list depicts a few of the

various changes in publication over time. These technologies have come about

because of the demand for newer communication methods. Some have been

successful and are still in use today whilst others have become outdated, left

behind in the times of the past.

Initially, with the creation of the printing press, people were able to mass-

produce and distribute information. They were able to connect the public system

to the most private and intimate locations in people’s homes. Information

distribution was radicalised as this gave the people greater freedom of

expression. However along with information distribution and idea sharing came a

change in communication. People relied less on verbal face-to-face

communications and became involved primarily in the expansion of written

materials. Today’s technologies have revolutionised communication and altered

the way we exchange information from system to system.

One prime example of the way technologies have altered communication

is through the world of online dating. Tinder, match.com, RSVP and eHarmony

are all websites whereby people can search for potential partners. They can

specify their dating preferences and their respective types. No longer do men

court women through letter writing and verbal expressions of sentiments. No,

today’s men rely on texting and tindering to court. They rely on short bursts of

communication which are relatively non-expressive. As online dating services

open up people to a greater range of potential partners, this reduces their desire

to commit. Millennials now feel less obligated to commit to one partner as they

have more choice than ever to connect with more people. Technologies have

altered the way both sexes participate within courtship. Arguably, women’s roles

within society have also been drastically altered though the ability to

communicate with the world at large. 2014’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala

Yousafzai was able to voice her concerns regarding women’s education via the

forum of social media. Without such distribution platforms, women’s struggles

with education would not have had a voice to speak.

Texting, Instagramming, Facebooking and Snapchatting have all changed

the way social interactions take place. Within social relationships, these various

platforms have to be considered as if entering into a binding agreement. Towards

the beginning of generation X, these technologies did not exist. Relationships

were not made “Facebook official” and couples communicated via phone call or

solely in person when they were able to arrange a face-to-face meet up. Today’s

generation of daters reply on immediate gratification and social validation to

substantiate their existence in the online social world. These technologies have

altered communication to such a degree that psychological disorders have even

been brought about through social media. Fear of Missing Out is a term which

refers to people’s fear of missing out on social interactions (Fear of Missing out

2014). This is brought about through watching others post to social media

accounts and thusly feelings of neglect and rejection arise. “The fear is especially

associated with modern technologies such as mobile phones and social

networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, which provide constant

opportunity for comparison of one's status,” (Fear of Missing Out 2014, n.p.).

Since the invention of the mobile phone, communication styles have

changed drastically. Now people are free to communicate anytime of day,

roughly anywhere in the world. There is increased reliance on virtual interactions

and face-to-face social interactions have diminished greatly. Not only that, but

with heightened usage of mobile technologies, people have become lazier.

Words have been shortened, slang terms have been created and emojis are

more used than ever to express one’s emotions. Worryingly, grammatical errors

are increasingly common and there is little regard for correct punctuation. This

has the potential to completely alter languages as Millennials feel less of a need

to understand grammatical rules and regulations. As English is the official

language for business and it is increasingly more popular for people in foreign

countries to learn English, this is resulting in a decline in foreign languages. In

order to prevent certain languages from disappearing completely, governments

have gone so far as to create official jobs to convert English words into their

respective languages. In France, the government is proactively trying to combat

the loss of language through the development of a department that changes

English words into French. These linguistic impacts have only arisen throughout

the last fifteen years as they have appeared after the introduction of the Internet

and communication technologies.

Facebook itself has successfully created one of the largest forums of

online distribution as it opens up connections between peoples across the globe.

Old friends can now find one another, people can post about their inner most

thoughts and feelings, businesses can exchange information with their

consumers and news can be distributed by topics currently trending. These

social systems in the past would not have had the same opportunity to come into

contact as they do today. Nowadays, our world has been altered dramatically by

the shift from in-person to online communication.

Along with more possibilities for communication, the amount of

distractions have also been heightened as people are continuously bombarded

with information. Constant advertisements connect businesses to consumers and

this enables direct contact between two entirely separate systems. The

middleman has been removed from the connection and this has promoted

continuous engagement with audiences. Along with the removal of the

middleman, other impacts can be seen in the business environment. “There's no

disputing the impact of digitised text on the whole culture of the codex; fewer

paper books are being sold, newspapers fold, bookshops continue to close,

libraries as well,” (Self 2014, n.p). America exemplifies this shift from in-store

purchases to online vendors. The novel industry is a prime example which

showcases how certain types of publications have almost become outdated due

to the role of new technologies within society. As soon as the eBook appeared,

purchases of regular paperback novels diminished astoundingly quickly, putting

Borders and other smaller bookstores completely out of business.

As technologies have developed overtime, communication has been

drastically impacted. Social and intimate relations have been changed and this

has been brought about by the endless options for communication. Entirely

separate worlds have been connected over the forum of the Internet as

distribution has been widened in reach. One must still wonder, have humans

adapted to technologies or have technologies been adapted to suit the human

need for communication?

Reference List

Fear Of Missing Out, Wikipedia, September 2014, accessed 30 October 2014, <  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out>. Heffernan, V 2010, ‘The Attention Span Myth’, New York Times, accessed 29

October 2014, <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/magazine/21FOB-medium-t.html>.

History of Printing, Wikipedia, October 2014, accessed 29 October 2014,

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing>. Lion, W 2008, Fidelity and The Social Network, Flickr Creative Commons,

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