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Avatars of the Word |
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| Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace by James J. O'Donnell Harvard University Press 210 pages, 1998 ISBN 0674055454 Reviewed by Lisa Eagleson-Roever Avatars of the Word is a scholarly-toned work that examines the influence of the written word on western civilization (from preaching to teaching). The written word was not once all it is now. As some today still discount Internet articles not produced by a print-rooted institution, so too did some scholars in the 4th through 6th centuries consider written words untrustworthy. It was only as the written word became standardized and institutionalized that its authority began to shape sectors of the world. Today we struggle with the same issues in electronic media. Consider also the format of written words. Each advance (from stone to papyrus to scrolls to codicies to electronic) allowed the reader to find data in an increasingly nonlinear fashion. And, O'Donnell notes, those works which were converted to the newer formats are those which still exist today. Current western civilization, therefore, has been shaped by the written words that made the transition to codex. O'Donnell also makes some interesting points about the changing roles of libraries and universities in this emerging electronic culture. Libraries of today can help you find books from all over the world, even those not contained within its walls. Libaries of tomorrow, O'Donnel posits, will cease "to be a warehouse and become instead a software system[;] the value of the institution will be in the sophistication, versatility, and power of its indexing and searching capabilities." Universities also have begun to take advantage of cyberspace, offering distance learning courses and the like. It's a tough read for someone without a "classical" education and a masters-level vocabulary. It's probably intended for scholars and librarians interested in the history of the written word, but the lesser-educated and persistent (that's where I am) will find it interesting nonetheless. |
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