Today I want to talk about how “authors” and “writing” in general have been affected by new technology. Consider the following: Humanity has come from a complete oral tradition where all knowledge and experience was committed to memory and some paintings on cave walls. Any transmission of knowledge or experience or news was in one way or another from person to person. The narrator may not have seen the events first hand but with the exchange of stories or knowledge there was person to person contact, eye contact and body language could be observed.

Then a very radical step away from that occurred – languages were turned into writing. Suddenly you didn’t have the person to person contact with the delivery of the story. It was between you and the paper (or whichever medium the words were written on). The whole sensual experience was missing.

Writers are now trying to take narratives and story telling to mobile phones, SMS and the Internet.

Megan Heyward talked about how a lot of the traditional notions got disrupted:

Text on the internet can be:

• Hyperlinked
• Non-linear
• Decentred
• Have multiplicity

It is not only about “replacing ink with pixels”.

Text has been liberated from the page – there is:

• Fluidity
• It has become participatory
• It can stay open and unresolved
• Colour, movement and sound can be added to the text
• The text can be read to the reader
• There can be a responsive interface
• Text can be internet based, disc based, USB drive based, location based and more

A number of new projects involve place based narratives, they are happening in National Parks, on the shores of the North Sea in Germany, the Warehouse district in Los Angeles.

Some projects have tried to create collaborative stories where everybody can contribute.

There has been talk about the “Death of the Author” and there is resistance from traditional writers. My personal opinion is that a well written and researched book will always be of value.

Collaborative projects are great because people who normally might never consider writing can and will contribute. Original thoughts and ideas get recorded and others will benefit from them. Apart from all that, they can be sheer fun and pleasure and bring out creativity in people who always believed that they do not have a creative bone in their body.

I personally think that books will always have a place. Also, our natural instincts still make person to person contact very appealing to us. Just think about it, do you act on an mail or a phone call? Are you inclined to buy from somebody on the web who has at least an audio or even better a video on their site? What about if they have live phone support or a frequently asked questions interactive section on their site?

What lessons are there for you as a marketer and business person?

Till next time,

Connie and Charly

from

http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com