It would be easy to call Postman and others like him a bit paranoid when they talk about the decline of text and a steady progression to an entirely visual/audio-oriented culture. In Postman's case, that was an assumption he made on the way to concluding what that kind of culture that produces and some have questioned that presupposition. Some have suggested, and I think rightly to an extent, that increased presence on social media sites has brought about an increase in student-produced composition. Young people are texting, emailing, chatting, and updating statuses so often that the bulk of their discourse happens via text and no longer orally. Postman may not be happy about the genre, length, or sophistication of such compositions, but it would be hard to argue that even the most avid users of social media aren't text dependent.
Are you ready for it? BUT. Present text-dependence hardly indicates where the minds behind digital media want us to end up. Engadgetrecently covered a technology conference and posted on some remarks made by the CEO of Dreamworks (of course, I'd be more excited about this idea if it were Pixar leading the charge). Their full post:
Is the internet on the cusp of a post-text era? Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg certainly thinks so. Speaking at the Techonomy conference in Tucson yesterday, Katzenberg confirmed that his company is already working on expanding 3D animation to the realm of social media, as part of a collaboration with Intel. As Technology Review reports, the two companies have been working on the project for the better part of four years, developing 12-core chips and software capable of delivering real-time photographic animation. Katzenberg didn't offer many details beyond that, but seemed confident that his company's new technology could radically alter the way users share and engage with online content by transcending the boundaries of traditional text. "Text is a learned process but what we do [at Dreamworks] is intuitive and instinctual and you do it from the moment you are born," he said, "We're trying to see if we can move many of these things we can do today in text but moving up to video and audio... with sight and sound." The exec went on to cite Apple's Siri personal assistant as proof that this transition is already underway: "Whether we do it or somebody else does it, we will move from a text world into a audio visual one." Intriguing claims, to be sure, but we'll know more next year, when Dreamworks' new campaign gets underway.
This "post-text" world has already found some footing in social media with an increased use of YouTube and sites like DailyBooth, where you are encouraged to join in on "one big conversation about your life, through pictures." Text-based status updates and messages now give way to personal snapshots and a steady stream of uploaded images. I first heard of DailyBooth in Devin Friedman's excellent The Viral Mewhich he wrote for GQ at the end of last year. It is still one of the most interesting reads on social media and where it is heading. Coincidently, it is also where I first encountered the idea of frictionless experiences which I will be writing about more extensively soon. The article is well worth a read.
For my requisite video, I'd like to share one of my favorites from Stephen Fry - not just because of the words, but the interplay between text and images.
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