"In imagining a huge, virtually infinite wordstream accessed by search engines and populated by teeming, promiscuous word snippets stripped of credited authorship, are we not depriving the written word of its old-fashioned function of, through such inventions as the written alphabet and the printing press, communication from one person to another — of, in short, accountability and intimacy? Yes, there is a ton of information on the Web, but much of it is egregiously inaccurate, unedited, unattributed and juvenile."I have to say that I wasn't, with all respect, that impressed. It rather reminded me of the complaints that were made when movable type print was invented making books cheaper and more available. The complaint about literacy and more freely available books was that it would stop people remembering -which meant learning 'properly'. And yet there is a further strange reversal in this comment of Updike's: for the things he decries, if I'm not mistaken, were things that were routine until cheap printing; we even see the sign in the Bible and early Church writings. There we see quotes not referenced and incorporated freely into text so that you have to be an astute and well-read person to know that they are quotes at times. Where's the accounability there? That kind of accountability is a modern invention. Now that's not to say it's a bad thing but it is to mitigate the potential moral panic. I'm really not sure, either, that the shoddiness of information on the net is something to be more worried about than the shoddiness of information in books -need I mention Erich Von Daniken or "Holy blood, holy grail" to take two examples from recent history? The issue is about how we assess information and actually, I think that the internet may be doing us a favour by making so much info available so easily it forces us to ask critical questions sooner in the research process.
Recently, I did an observational placement at a primary school for a week. One of the things that impressed me was that these kids were being taught something I was never taught but had to pick up for myself [don't get me started on the shortcomings of the education system I went through!] which is to distrust [in my case] books and articles and to look for the sources and the back story of things written. Now it is part of the elementary education our primary scholars get to help them find quality information from the internet. My education, using priviledged text books and the like, fostered a rather naive trust in the written word and a false comfort in the apparent intimacy of having an author in your head.
There are things to take from Updike's little tantrum about new technology,and that is to do with making sure that we do raise critical issues and foster good practice in referencing -something I try to do as far as possible in blogging- but the principles are not suspect just because the medium makes solid claims to authorship harder to distinguish at times.
Just another thought: in an age where we are, perhaps, more skeptical of the idea of the individual genius -as if they don't don't have a context and huge debts to their culture and compatriots- then perhaps we should be celebrating the return of knowledge and words back into the nexus from which they are borrowed and developed? There's no point being a genius, some would argue, if there is no-one to appreciate it but that may be the culture of celebrity speaking where being famous is an end in itself, but how far is the desire for authorial attribution about modernist and hyper-modernist 'fame'? What is a Christian desire for attribution? Is there a legitimate place for it? Personally, I would feel that it was stealing if someone deprived me of some livelihood by passing off my words or ideas as their own. On the other hand, I would like those words and ideas to be out there in such a way that, if they have merit or can help people, then I can be traced and asked to say more or explain better. Or, if they are wrong, I can be helped to understand how and learn ... to me, that's the real point of citation and accountability.
circle of pneuma: Updike on Books & Digitalisation:
Filed in: updike, books, web, internet, publishing, authorship, information, assessment
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