Alphabet

This week’s lecture about publishing blew my mind. Who would have thought? Considering how much information we have access to, it’s always amazing when someone gives you brand new information that you had never thought of (and never thought you would). Publishing isn’t just the idea of a giant printing press producing newspapers and books. It “is the process of production and dissemination of literature, music, or information — the activity of making information available to the general public” (Harper 2004). Wow! This definition doesn’t even do it justice. Publishing is everything; it’s how we look at each other, our facial expressions, our alphabet, our voice, our alarms, our image. To me, publishing is how we communicate to others who we are as individuals. 

Let us look at Andrew’s example of monkeys. Have you ever looked at a Monkey and wondered what it’s thinking? I hadn’t, until I thought back to my recent trip to the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali. These monkeys were cheeky, sneaky, angry, rowdy, sleepy, you name it. How could I know this? Facial expressions, and sounds. At 7pm everyday the sanctuary would close and people would be asked to leave as it was feeding time for the monkeys. At about 6:45 when the Banana trucks were approaching, you could hear the screeching of monkeys from a million miles away. When the bananas were distributed, you could see how excited the monkeys were, almost smiling. When the alpha male monkey came for his feed, the facial expressions of all the other monkeys changed to a look of fear. Coming off a tangent now, we can see how monkeys can publish their thoughts even though they don’t have an alphabet.

Visual expression has come to be one of the most important ways of publishing today. Looking back, it was really the most important (and only) way to begin with. Visual expressions such as smoke signals, cave paintings, hieroglyphics and Aboriginal art were all used as a way of communicating through time. However these expressions and structures could not be transported through space. That’s when we genius humans came up with an idea…AN ALPHABET!

Having an alphabet can be compared to a time machine, right? Assuming we never change the alphabet, we will always be able to communicate through time, and learn from our mistakes. And now with digital publishing, we can keep these ideas forever. The alphabet equals infinity. Will we ever run out of things to write down?

Going back to visual expression, I think history is repeating itself. Instagram, tumblr, flickr are so incredibly prominent in today’s society. It’s not enough to go to a nice restaurant and have a nice meal with a companion. You have to take a picture of your meal, instagram it, tag you and your friend and anyone else you think would be interested. Once people see the photo, they know you are social, you went to a nice place and what you ate for dinner. What’s strange about this situation? No words needed!

A PICTURE TELLS A THOUSAND WORDS.

To support my point, observe this madness in the below picture. 

This can work for any situation; you’re in a natural disaster? Take a picture to warn people or show you’re scared. There’s traffic on the bridge? Take a picture to display your frustration. You just saw a beautiful sunrise? Take a picture to display your happiness.

I question why this has occurred, do we want reassurance that our emotions are rational? Or are we becoming so antisocial that we no longer have to use words to communicate with each other. Maybe we’re just lazy, OR is using images just the simplest and easiest way of communicating? Our monkey friends seem to think so.