Kenneth Goldsmith brings out his controversial idea on writing in his ‘Revenge of the Text,’ and he analyses the concept of paratextual and the technological advancement in writing has taken the different forms like typography, design, cover page etc. that can grasp the attention and appreciation of the present readers. On the contrary, Flusser in his ‘Future of Writing’ questions about the future of writing if written text has been transformed by the digital expression, as he strongly feels there is no future for writing. The preponderance of the technologies over the matter of writing is the common notion of the two. Kenneth Goldsmith compares the idea of writing with the 20th Century concept of writing as it has transformed to the form of typing and editing and now the concept has changed that the writing is all about what we write and not how we write. Instead, Flusser looks back to the earliest form of writing that bears out the historical consciousness and he worries that the present digital media has threatened the supremacy of writing.
In “Revenge of the Text,” Kenneth Goldsmith does not forget to admire the wonders in technology as he had a chance to glaze a live map on his way back to New York from Europe. The changes in the screen, which was at the seatback in front of him, from the graphical map to show the time, distance, air temperature outside the aircraft, and the distance made him to wonder at the advancement. He feels there are thousands of words behind that thin screen that has miles and miles of languages. That made him to wonder how our digital world is powered by language, which is in the form of codes and numbers. According to him, the codes possess literary value.
In “The Future of Writing,” Flusser wants to imagine culture as a transcoder that can convert text to image as he find it is the easiest way to imagine the future of writing. He has gone to the height of imagination by imagine that there will be a black box if we input the text and the output will be the image. He feels it has the ability to change the history, which flows in to the black box, and it will come out in the form of myth and magic as the texts flow in to the box and come out as image and he declares this as a utopian situation.
Kenneth and Flusser discuss the same idea, yet they have their own views and perspectives towards the concept how the writing has to face its tremendous change in the hands of digital media. According to Goldsmith, typing and editing in word processor document is something like microclimate and the changes that tracked during the editorial process are purposeful and extralinguistic. According to Flusser, the modern language of using digital code is not merely different concept of writing, but it is an exponential accentuation of the alphabetical or numerical mode. Goldsmith tries to present his perspective about the technology and advancement in digital media. On the other hand, Flusser worries about the future of writing as it got its transformation in the hands of digital media, and he tries to explore the present condition of reading and writing as it has been transformed by the digital expressions. He feels it will be a big question mark when we think about the future of writing as it may be replaced by some other advanced form of communication in the guise of code or image.
Kenneth Goldsmith acquaints the term ‘Textual Ecosystem’ and Flusser provides his idea of about the textual ecosystem as he has different perspective. Goldsmith compares the different forms of water with the myriad forms of language. To prove language as an ecosystem, he takes James Joyce as his inspiration who writes about the different forms of water that has the ability to take. As the water got puddle and collected in its variety of forms, data rains from the network and pools in to his download folder. Then the downloaded movie or music file will appear like the icebergs or glacier as it forms in the surface of the water. Further, Goldsmith compares the violence of water to the electrical spikes.
Overall, Goldsmith put language in the place of water, which can take its own form democratically. He analyses data and information in the way what is worthy to keep and not to keep as he feels it is the crucial to the health of ecosystem. He explains his files in his laptop as local textual ecosystem and it takes it incarnation as networked ecosystem when it was connected to the network. By this way, he introduces the term, ‘Textual Ecosystem,’ and gives his way of perspective towards the concept. Meanwhile, Flusser presents his idea about the textual ecosystem that he feels will manipulate the historical consciousness to the magic and myth. According to him, the present form of writing in digital media that is coding is not merely different concept of writing, but it is an exponential accentuation of the alphabetical or numerical mode.
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