Draft

Hannah Szabo

Extended Essay #1

Draft Due: January 27, 2013

Note: I have developed a serious case of writers block in the process of writing this paper. I am unsure of how to further organize the structure. So feedback on the structure would be wonderful so I am able to finish this! Thanks and my apologies that this draft is not completely finished.

Readers of Efficiency

            The first written language known to man emerged over five thousand years ago in modern-day Iraq. The written symbols, known as cuneiform script, came from the Sumerians and consisted of pictograms engraved onto clay tablets with a sharpened reed. The clay tablets were then baked hard in an oven (About). Cuneiform script began as a method for recording information about taxes and crops, but it eventually became used for trade, astrological, and leisure related purposes (Writing). The ancient Sumerian process of cuneiform writing required a tedious attention to detail and a significant amount of time. Hard slabs of clay must be formed into tablets, reeds must be diligently sharpened, pictograms must be carved legibly, and finally the tablets must be baked in order for complete cuneiform communication. Due to the enormous variety of pictograms in the cuneiform script, a strict attention to detail necessitated effective writing. Eventually the evolution of the cuneiform script provided for a quicker writing practice. For example, the number of pictograms was reduced from fifteen hundred to six hundred, and the pictograms transitioned into a phonological alphabet (The). The Sumerian cuneiform language, although not prevalent today, initiated the start of many other written languages. Today the world is home to more than sixty-eight hundred languages, although not all are written (International). In any case, the evolution of written communication begins an interesting topic for describing the conditions of current-day reading and writing. I argue the emergence of technology creates a society dependent on efficiency, ultimately resulting in an illiterate population living in a self-help world. 

The vast improvements of technology seen between the Sumerians of 3000 B.C. and the world of 2013 A.D. highlight the value placed on the concept of efficiency. This process of modern technological improvement can be divided into three main events each showcasing a new, quicker, and more efficient way to engage in literacy. These technological improvements involve the printing press, typewriter, and computer.

The printing press’s invention in the mid fifteenth century allowed for pieces of literature to be produced in mass quantities. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany, the printing press was the first technology involving movable type. Movable type refers to individual characters on separate sheets of metal that can be rearranged in order to print a combination of words or phrases (Dictionary). With the ease of simply restructuring letters onto a mold books or other pieces of literature could quickly be produced. The printing press replaced the previous method of producing literature. The previous method required a penman to carefully write each character one at a time. Should the penman desire to make multiple copies of his or her work prior to the printing press, an unnecessary amount of time was needed to transfer every character by hand via a pen. The printing press both highlights and initiates the value of efficiency because it reduces the amount of time required to produce a book (Inventor).

Within four hundred years the advent of the typewriter further pushed society into a mindset of efficiency. In an effort to combat his striking employees at the Western Union Telegraph Company, Christopher Sholes set out on a mission to create a machine able to automatically print letters and numbers with the struck of a key. Approved and patented in 1871, Sholes’s typewriter sped up daily life and revolutionized business. Everything from legal rulings to graduation requirements began to rely on the typewriter. While the printing press mainly allowed for effective copying of books, the typewriter allowed for the effective printing of almost all literature mediums, and much of society viewed the typewriter as a means of generating literature quickly and most efficiently (The).

The next technology to emerge, the computer, most thoroughly encompasses the ideals of efficiency in the modern age. Although the advent of the computer cannot be attributed to a specific inventor or pinpointed to a specific time, the emergence of the first commercial computer, the UNIVAC, in 1951 initiated change among society. Businesses and government now trusted their UNIVAC device to gather and organize items such as defense intelligence and payroll applications. The UNIVAC computer gave institutions the tools needed to foster an increasing reliance on efficiency. As computers developed and the Internet materialized into what we have in 2013, society’s reliance on the many flashy attributes of the computer, or more importantly, the Internet, have taken a detrimental effect on the way our brains process information.

From the printing press to the typewriter and all the way to the computer of the Information Age, a dumbing down of society, i.e. illiteracy can be traced as we depend heavily on quick snippets of information.

            Before I begin to argue my point I find it useful to first define literacy.  Literacy can be thought of as a skill acquired through various means and for various reasons that allows for effective written communication between social groups or institutions. Additionally it can be thought of as the formal and fundamental process by which civilized society communicates. Two important factors in these definitions of literacy must be highlighted. First, literacy contains a social component. Literacy scholar and esteemed psychology professor at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York Sylvia Scribner says it best when she states, “Literacy abilities are acquired by individuals only in the course of participation in socially organized activities with written language” (Scribner 8). Scribner’s statement refers to the fact that without a social aspect an individual lacks the resources needed to become literate. There would be no need for communication in a world of isolation. Interaction between individuals provides the foundation for which literacy prospers. Second, literacy functions as a means of communication. Communication through literacy allows individuals to transfer information, instructions, ideas, beliefs, and feelings. This transfer of information occurs through language written by one person and read by another. The social aspect and communicative purpose of literacy intertwine with one another and thus provide a clear definition of this abstract topic, allowing for a precise application of the word which will help facilitate the remainder of this essay.