8. Preliminaries
for the Materials Section
8.1. Index
of abbreviations
{../..} Notation
for alternatives either of which can be applied in the context
[
]
Insertions
in citation text by A.G.
3d three-dimensional
4d four-dimensional:
moving
->: {Jump
/ reference} to a Hypertext anchor
->:HYPERTEXT_MARK,
p.
108@: Hypertext
anchor "
A.G. Andreas
Goppold
Amerind:
indigenous inhabitants of North and South America
BCE Before
Common Era CE
CA Cultural
Anthropology
char/s
character/s
CM
Cultural
Memory
CMA Cultural
Memory Art
->:CMA_DEF,
p.
145CMS Cultural
Memory System
->:CMS_DEF,
p.
139CMT Cultural
Memory Technology
->:CMT_DEF,
p.
141CS Character
System / Character Set
CT Cultural
Transmission
dt:
deutsch
(german)
EE Evolutionary
Epistemology
Encarta
Encarta
(1994): CD-ROM
engl: english
E.O. The
objective and impartial Extraterrestrial Observer
->:EXTRA_OBSERVER,
p.
113ERT
Entitiy,
Relation, and Transition category scheme
->:ERT_TRIAD,
p.
135E&V Elementar-
und Völkergedanken of Adolf Bastian
->:ADOLF_BASTIAN,
p.
246HTML Hypertext
Markup Language, standard format for WWW publications
Mm-encyc
Multimedia
Software Encyclopaedia, CD-ROM (1992)
NY New
York (abbreviation in bibliography)
SEMsphere
= Semiosphere
URL Universal
Resource Locator (WWW address)
Univ. University
(abbreviation in bibliography)
WWW World
Wide Web
8.2. Short
glossary of terms
This
section provides short definitions of the key terms of this study. Since there
exists
a wide variance of usages in the literature, this is the meaning as used in the
present context.
Abjad:
a type of phonographic writing system that denotes only consonants (
Daniels
1996: xxxix).
Alphabet:
phonographic writing, single phoneme mapping, with separate characters for
consonants and vowels (CV-Principle)
.
(
Haarmann
1992a), (
Daniels
1996: xxxix).
Aoide,
pl.
Aoidoi:
In ancient Greece, the name for the specialist CMBs. The best known Greek
Aoidoi
were
Homer
(Ilias, Odyssee), and
Hesiodos
(Theogony, Works and Days). In the present context,
Aoide
is used as generic for the CMBs of all traditions.
Character
{set / system}
,
CS: a definite, delimited set of markings that are mutually disambiguated and
which can be combined to form aggregates. The existence of an
orthography
(below) distinguishes a set from a system. A single
character
can only exist as an element of a CS. (Also called a
signary
in
Daniels
1996: xliv).
Culture:
because of the great disparity in definitions of culture (
Gamst
1976,
Jahoda
1992: 3-5,
Kluckhohn
1980), this term is avoided if possible, and when used, in the definition given
by
Jahoda
(1992: 5) characterized by the transmission aspect.
Cultural
Memory
CM: here equivalent with Cultural Transmission. In the generalized abstract
sense: those processes and structures by which personal subjective memory
material is exchanged between individuals and across generations and made
available on an intersubjective basis. The
diachronic
aspect of cultural patterns. In subjective terminology, that faculty by which
one individual can {reference to / learn from / participate in} the memory
content of (an)other individual(s), even without direct personal contact, e.g.
when they live in a distant place, or in the distant past.
Cultural
Memory Art
CMA:
systematic use of dynamic somatic (and possibly extrasomatic) processes for CM.
Dancing may be an example of CMA
Cultural
Memory Bearer
CMB: The carriers and transmitters of the
Cultural
Memory
.
Trivially,
every
human member of a society is a
Cultural
Memory Bearer
in at least some respect, in order to be a functioning part of that society. In
non-writing cultures, there have been, and still are, specially trained classes
and groups of
CMB's,
who serve(d) the most prominent and most vital function to preserve the essence
and higher spiritual values of their cultures across and against the
degradations of time. These were the
Aoidoi
of ancient Greece, the indian
Rishis,
the
Griots
of Africa, the norse
Skalden,
the welsh
Bards,
the
Troubadours
of the middle ages, and the
Guslar
of the Balkan. In the present context,
Aoide
is used as generic for the CMBs of all traditions.
Cultural
Memory System
CMS: Systematic theoretical account of those processes and structures by which
the CM arises and operates. In a different aspect this is also called the
culture
pattern replicator system
(after
Benedict
1934), as the ways and means by which
cultural
patterns
are exchanged and transmitted in populations and across generations
.
This is the central term and core concept of the present study
.
Cultural
Memory Technology
CMT:
systematic use of static extrasomatic devices for CM. Writing is the prime
cultural
memory technology
of civilizations.
Cultural
Transmission
CT: Transmission of
Cultural
Patterns
,
i.e. of ontogenic (learned) material in populations (
synchronic)
and across generations (
diachronic).
Energy
(Microsoft Encarta CD)
Energy,
capacity of matter to perform work as the result of its motion or its position
in relation to forces acting on it. Energy associated with motion is known as
kinetic energy, and energy related to position is called potential energy.
Thus, a swinging pendulum has maximum potential energy at the terminal points;
at all intermediate positions it has both kinetic and potential energy in
varying proportions. Energy exists in various forms, including mechanical (see
MECHANICS), thermal (see THERMODYNAMICS), chemical (see CHEMICAL REACTION),
electrical (see ELECTRICITY), radiant (see RADIATION), and atomic (see NUCLEAR
ENERGY). All forms of energy are interconvertible by appropriate processes. In
the process of transformation either kinetic or potential energy may be lost or
gained, but the sum total of the two remains always the same.
A
weight suspended from a cord has potential energy due to its position, inasmuch
as it can perform work in the process of falling. An electric battery has
potential energy in chemical form. A piece of magnesium has potential energy
stored in chemical form that is expended in the form of heat and light if the
magnesium is ignited. If a gun is fired, the potential energy of the gunpowder
is transformed into the kinetic energy of the moving projectile. The kinetic
mechanical energy of the moving rotor of a dynamo is changed into kinetic
electrical energy by electromagnetic induction. All forms of energy tend to be
transformed into heat, which is the most transient form of energy. In
mechanical devices energy not expended in useful work is dissipated in
frictional heat, and losses in electrical circuits are largely heat losses.
Empirical
observation in the 19th century led to the conclusion that although energy can
be transformed, it cannot be created or destroyed. This concept, known as the
conservation of energy, constitutes one of the basic principles of classical
mechanics. The principle, along with the parallel principle of conservation of
matter, holds true only for phenomena involving velocities that are small
compared with the velocity of light. At higher velocities close to that of
light, as in nuclear reactions, energy and matter are interconvertible (see
RELATIVITY). In modern physics the two concepts, the conservation of energy and
of mass, are thus unified.
Energy
(Encyclopaedia Britannica CD):
in
physics, the capacity for doing work. It may exist in potential, kinetic,
thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or other various forms. There are,
moreover, heat and work--i.e., energy in the process of transfer from one body
to another. After it has been transferred, energy is always designated
according to its nature. Hence, heat transferred may become thermal energy,
while work done may manifest itself in the form of mechanical energy.
All
forms of energy are associated with motion. For example, any given body has
kinetic energy if it is in motion. A tensioned device such as a bow or spring,
though at rest, has the potential for creating motion; it contains potential
energy because of its configuration. Similarly, nuclear energy is potential
energy because it results from the configuration of subatomic particles in the
nucleus of an atom.
Language:
in the, present study used in the restricted meaning of
spoken
verbal (natural) language
as used by people to communicate among each other by the use of words.
Non-spoken gesture-sign systems used as substitutes for spoken language are
included, like deaf / mute systems for the disabled. It excludes music, and
formal systems like mathematics.
Morphology
/ morphological
:
a systematic approach to the study of
pattern. From Greek:
morphae:
form, gesture, position, pattern. (
Rost
1862: 98). For contradistinction of
form
against {
content
/
matter}.
Based on Goethe's concept of morphology as used by
Riedl
(1987a) and Ruth
Benedict's
"patterns of culture" (1934: 49-56). Further elaborated under:
Marking:
1) pattern {painted / scratched / inscribed / applied otherwise} {into / onto}
a carrier material or 2) a 3-d form that a carrier material is shaped into,
like a knot, a bead.
Memory:
In the present context,
memory
is used as technical term for the basic constituent of a general pattern
maintenance / propagation facility, in its structural and morphological
aspects. In the sense of
memory
structure
as contradistinct from
content
of memory
(the memories). In the subjective view, a core constituent of consciousness.
"Memory, process of storing and retrieving information in the brain".
Literature: (
Encarta:
Memory), (Britannica: Memory)
Schmidt
(1991).
Non-phonographic
writing
:
any writing system that does not employ the phonographic principle, eg.
pictorial, iconic, ideographic ...
Orthography:
a set of principles and rules for the formation and reading of aggregates of
characters of a CS. (
Daniels
1996: xliii).
Para-writing:
any production of markings with an apparent cultural continuity, and
intersubjective constancy (diachronic / synchronic extension), that has not
been academically accepted as writing, but still appears to (have) serve(d) a
purpose other than purely ornamental.
Phonographic
writing
,
writing system encoding the sounds of a spoken language by using a mapping of
{single / groups of} language phonemes onto a character set. (
Haarmann
1992a)
Script:
writing system. (
Daniels
1996: xliv).
Sign:
because of possible confusion over issues of syntax and semantics, this will be
reserved for semiotic discussion only Its use in
Daniels
(1996: xliv) as synonymous with
character
is
not
followed here.
Structure
/ structural
:
in twofold meaning:
1)
general principle for organizing thoughts, ideas, and concepts, based on
Kant's
"Architektonik der reinen Vernunft" (Kant 1930, A832/B860):
The
Architectonic Method
.
Kant defined his
Architektonik
as the
Art
of System
"die Einheit der mannigfaltigen Erkenntnisse unter einer Idee". Meaning:
Architektonik
is the ordering principle for the manifold under one unifying idea
.
Also:
Goppold
(1996b).
2)
sytematic organizing method, based on
Laughlin
(1974: 5, 15)
Symbol:
anything (a thing or event, an act or an object) that conveys meaning. (
White
1987, 274).
->:SYMBOL,
p.
119
Writing
system
:
a notation system, (ie. a character set, and an orthography), and usage of
non-ephemeral carrier materials (writing medium), used to convey and preserve
language across time and space. (O'Connor
1996: 787), (
Daniels
1996: xlv).
8.3. Conventions,
Fonts, Spelling
Font
for normal text: Times New Roman
Font
for quotation text:
arial
Quotation
source (date: page): When citing a whole text paragraph, I am using this font
to visually contrast it from the normal text. In this case, no quotation marks
are used. Because WinWord® does not allow two different stylesheet fonts in
the same paragraph, I cannot use this font for inline citations, therefore
quotation marks and normal Times New Roman font are used in this case.
"This
is a sample inline citation".
Font
for Headlines:
, High
order headlines are in Arial bold
and
low order headlines in
Arial
bold cursive
8.3.2. Non-english
scripts, and foreign spelling
For
the simplicity of the character set, with respect to the WWW version of this
study, and ease of data communication in general (internet, email)
,
a simplified transcription of non-english words is used. While special fonts do
exist for non-english scripts, they are not normed and cannot be expected to be
installed on the computer of someone receiving an email or a www text
.
The Greek names and terms are written in latinized script with accents omitted.
The letter
aeta
is written as
ae;
ay,
ey
and
oy
are converted to
au,
eu,
ou,
and
o-mega
and
o-micron
are both written as
o,
kappa
is written as
k.
The names of Greek philosophers are written such as to reflect as closely as
possible their original spelling (instead of the standard english usage
pronounciation and spelling):
Platon,
Heraklit,
Aristoteles.
8.3.3. Calendar
conventions
Dechend
(1997: 9): Behind the nursery tales which make pontiffs and shamans responsible
for Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Mayan, etc. science, lurks the unconscious
conviction of an archaic 'pre-logical' frame of mind which worked just the
other way round from ours, according, somehow, to the counting of years B.C.
and A.D., everything standing on its head along the negative side of Zero.
As
Hertha v. Dechend indicates, a calendar convention is not just an innocuous
arbitrary framework for keeping track of time, but it can also act as a
cognitive filter that introduces a subtle bias into one's perception of
historical developments. This problem cannot be left completely in the open,
even if this is not the occasion to deal with this subject in depth. For the
purposes of this study, the potential of negative bias toward BCE dates will be
indicated by a slightly modified western European calendar convention in the
following text: Dates
after
1 CE (A.D.) will be indicated with their conventional numerical value, and dates
before
the CE zero point (BCE) as negative numbers, e.g. -600 denoting 600 BCE.
In
the whole text, references to persons, observers, etc. are ment in the gender
neutral terms of she/he, her/his, etc. For the sake of simplicity of writing,
the more conventional male and female terms like "he", "his", and "she", "her",
etc. are used as abbreviations, sometimes in male mode, sometimes in female mode
.
8.4. Hyper-
/ Text structure design and organization principles
8.4.1. Visual
and structural Enhancements of the Alphabet
The
example in the following paragraph illustrates well the problem of a pure
alphabetic transliteration of spoken language, and this is similar to what
ancient alphabetic texts looked like:
Thealphabeticalprinciplealoneconsistsofauniformlinearrepresentationofspokenlanguagesimilartoamagneticrecordingtapewhichwouldbeextremelycumbersometohandleandreadifitwereforexamplepresentedintheformofalongpapertapeearlywritingconsistedinjustthatrowsuponrowsorcolumnsuponcolumnsofletterslinearlyarrangedonascrolloratablet
The
same paragraph, with normal spaces and interpunction, reads like this:
The
alphabetical principle alone consists of a uniform linear representation of
spoken language similar to a magnetic recording-tape, which would be extremely
cumbersome to handle and read if it were for example presented in purely linear
form like on a spool of paper tape. Early writing consisted in not more than
that: rows upon rows (or columns upon columns) of letters linearly arranged on
a scroll, or a tablet.
In
the old times, such unbroken streams of alphabetic characters made phonetic
literacy a matter of great skill (
Landow
1992: 54). The deciphering of such texts necessitated that they were read
aloud. Basic information retrieval facilities in form of visual and structural
ordering devices were added to alphabetical text in the course of the
centuries: at first spaces between words, then interpunctuation, and then
outline methods like chapter headings, table of contents, and index, as they
now form the standard format of an academic text.
Illich
(1988: 46, and 29-51),
Landow
(1992: 49, 54, 57),
Bolter
(1991: 63-81).
Illich
(1988: 49): Thus, some 250 years before printing made it possible, to refer to
the text by page number, a network of grids was laid over the book - a method
that had nothing to do with the content itself.
The
visual graphic ordering principles of text are a very important enhancement to
the alphabetic writing principle because they serve to remedy a basic
shortcoming of this technology. The alphabetic principle needs to be aided and
supplemented by those methods. Moreover, the visual picture (the layout) of a
text is an important device for the conceptual organization of thought
processes of the author. (
Goppold
1994: 280-281). Structural organization principles of ideas like that outlined
by
Kant
in his "Architektonik der reinen Vernunft"
[393]
serve
to give a standardized canon of form for the presentation of scientific
material. With the presently emerging hypertext technology, these ordering
principles can still be augmented. The text structure design conventions of
this work are influenced by the technical possibilities and the limitations of
the Microsoft WinWord® outline editing and outline navigation facility.
8.4.2. WWW
hypertext design
principles
The
structural potential of hypertext can extend and complement that of a linear
printed text in book format. Further literature:
Kuhlen
(1991: 28-40),
Hammwöhner,
[394]
Landow
(1992)
[395].
Landow estimates that hypertext brings changes to text production that are as
profound as the printing press brought to the formerly manuscript book culture
(1992: 24-70).
Landow
(1992: 19): Electronic text processing marks the next major shift in
information technology after the development of the printed book.
To
fully utilize that potential, a concurrent design methodology is used to make
the WinWord® text marker facility easily convertible to HTML with an
extractor and converter program (a filter). It is safe to make the prediction
that in a few years, HTML (or a more suitable version/derivative thereof, like
XML) will be the standard mode of reporting academic work
.
(
Landow
1992: 35). In the present design methodology, the hypertext markers are usable
in a double role to serve as visual markers to facilitate reading in the
printed text, and as identifiers for the automatic filters which construct
hyper-links to other documents
.
In complement with the structural hierarchical outline method, the hypertext
serves to indicate threads of thought which run through the whole work.
The
hypertext principle used in this study provides a structural ordering scheme of
text that can be technically supported with the functionality of WinWord®
and WWW-HTML browsers. The present text is written such that it can be readily
converted with a filter tool from WinWord® into WWW format. For this a few
style conventions need to be introduced. There are two types of Hypertext
markers:
@: Hypertext
anchor and
->: Hypertext
reference
Example
of a hypertext anchor:
This
indicates that HYPERTEXT_MARK is a reference label that can be automatically
converted with a filter program into a HTML hypertext address. For reason of
easy visual identification in the printed text, the hypertext anchor is usually
located with a left offset-aligned position.
Example
of a hypertext reference to the above hypertext mark:
This
system of markers can be automatically converted with a filter program into a
HTML hypertext reference. In the present printed version, it indicates the page
number where the corresponding hypertext anchor is located. In this example, it
is page 108.
8.4.4. Quotations
of WWW publications
WWW
publications cannot be cited with page number, since the HTML layout doesn't
preserve a uniform page sequence. Therefore, they have to be cited by the URL
of a chapter or WWW page. For example, here George
Landow's
hypertext pages:
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/cv/landow_ov.html
(URL)
8.4.5. Robert
Darnton: the pyramidal book
I
am not advocating the sheer accumulation of data, or arguing for links to
databanks—so-called hyperlinks. These can amount to little more than an
elaborate form of footnoting. Instead of bloating the electronic book, I think
it possible to structure it in layers arranged like a pyramid. The top layer
could be a concise account of the subject, available perhaps in paperback. The
next layer could contain expanded versions of different aspects of the
argument, not arranged sequentially as in a narrative, but rather as
self-contained units that feed into the topmost story. The third layer could be
composed of documentation, possibly of different kinds, each set off by
interpretative essays. A fourth layer might be theoretical or
historiographical, with selections from previous scholarship and discussions of
them. A fifth layer could be pedagogic, consisting of suggestions for classroom
discussion and a model syllabus. And a sixth layer could contain readers'
reports, exchanges between the author and the editor, and letters from readers,
who could provide a growing corpus of commentary as the book made its way
through different groups of readers.
A
new book of this kind would elicit a new kind of reading. Some readers might be
satisfied with a study of the upper narrative. Others might also want to read
vertically, pursuing certain themes deeper and deeper into the supporting
essays and documentation. Still others might navigate in unanticipated
directions, seeking connections that suit their own interests or reworking the
material into constructions of their own. In each case, the appropriate texts
could be printed and bound according to the specifications of the reader. The
computer screen would be used for sampling and searching, whereas concentrated,
long-term reading would take place by means of the conventional printed book or
downloaded text.
Far
from being utopian, the electronic monograph could meet the needs of the
scholarly community at the points where its problems converge. It could provide
a tool for prying problems apart and opening up a new space for the extension
of learning. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided support for several
initiatives in this direction. One, a program for converting dissertations into
electronic monographs, has just been launched by the American Historical
Association. Another, for producing more ambitious e-books, is now being
developed by the American Council of Learned Societies. Others are in the
works. The world of learning is changing so rapidly that no one can predict
what it will look like ten years from now. But I believe it will remain within
the Gutenberg galaxy—though the galaxy will expand, thanks to a new
source of energy, the electronic book, which will act as a supplement to, not a
substitute for, Gutenberg's great machine.
http://rsls8.sprachlit.uni-regensburg.de/KHS-Docs/IW/Veren.html
(URL)http://rsls8.sprachlit.uni-regensburg.de/KHS-Docs/IW/Bewen.html
(URL)[395]
Landow: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/cv/landow_ov.html
(URL)
[396]
Darnton (1999) http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/WWWarchdisplay.cgi
(URL)?19990318005F
