Unit 1: Folk Knowledge
- The types of folk knowledge we discussed all brought people closer together. We discovered this especially through the teaching/learning assignment. As someone shared a little bit of themselves-their knowledge-the participants grew closer.
- There was a set way to do many things, probably based off of the emphasis on the sophic instead of the mantic viewpoint.
- Many folk traditions helped explain the unknown.
- Because of the lack of writing things down, folk knowledge changed drastically with new technologies as older knowledge was valued less, and some was lost entirely.
- Folk knowledge was a very present day oriented knowledge. Why worry about the future when you are struggling to survive?
- Now that we don't need many things that were used for survival when folk knowledge was the only form of knowledge, we are bringing them back for recreational purposes-as hobbies.
Unit 2: Oral Knowledge
- The group I researched, the Kalahari Bushmen, have always used folk and oral knowledge.
- More personal connection through oral knowledge-forced to communicate well in person.
- Still a big emphasis on religion with folk knowledge as seen in Bushmen culture.
- Examples of eloquence in the Bushmen culture used a lot of repetition and simple language.
- Is eloquence or simplicity more important in getting across the message of a story?
- In our group, possibility discussed of oral knowledge giving rulers too much power. Eloquence helped many get into power and get their way. More believable when only oral knowledge.
- Emotion/feeling lost when the transition is made from oral to written knowledge. Ex. sarcasm.
- Interview: when I only listened, I was able to remember the basic, important topics. Might not have remembered these if I was focused on notes. When I listened to recording and took notes, I picked up details more.
- King Benjamin's Speech: Repetition helped me remember better my part. Saying the speech out loud instead of reading it helped me connect with it more. Stronger feeling-could imagine how it would be to be there.
- Reading special collections book on written knowledge
- Shift to written knowledge slower than the development of a written language.
- I learned that language goes from spoken to simple pictures to ideographs and finally to the representation of sound through symbols. So, then, art and pictures can be seen as a form of writing.
- Written knowledge allows for a better preservation of knowledge.
- Hardships of learning to write: complexity of the language, social status (wealth and gender)
- Can penmanship connect with class standing?
- Is writing notes better than listening, both in church and in other instances?
- Shifts in forms of knowledge were opposed (change is scary). Drawbacks to the shift from oral to written knowledge? Ex. talks in church.
- Phonetic writing?
- Calligraphy project: learned that learning a new language is difficult and hugely frustrating.
- Rosetta stone: finding loopholes in a language, having different words for the same concept: ex. = a god.
- Aesthetics and writing.
Unit 4: Print Knowledge
- Field Trip: fight over the control of print, print was a very powerful tool for convincing others. Those who rebelled might not be able to print: ex. Wycliffe's New Testament. Print allowed to reform religion.
- Bibliography: transition to only internet-accessible knowledge. Library had wide expanse of printed works.
- Paper: plagiarism not always bad. Print knowledge very effective-I can type faster than write and was able to print the paper in five seconds.
- I researched music print: staff was printed first, then notes were either added later by hand or by a second print.
- Separate typeface for music and other languages.
- Different methods for printing in different countries: in Asia, ceramic materials were used and there were multiple types for each character.
- Everyone seems to have used woodblock technology first.
- Printing was only quicker than writing if multiple copies were made.
