When considering language, the basic concept seems to be that different symbols, e.g. words, represent different things, actions, concepts. This is a very vague notion of language, though, according to the ideas of the late Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Instead, according to Saussure's Arbitrary Social Values and the Linguistic Sign, "The linguistic sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. The latter is not the material sound, a purely physical thing, but the psychological imprint of the sound, the impression that it makes on our senses." I took this to mean that the sounds and movements our mouths make when producing a word tie in directly to the concept we are trying to convey by using that particular word. Or, to try and make the idea a little clearer, a word has certain characteristics because we associate them with similar characteristics found in the thing that the word represents. Because of this bond between word and idea, Saussure suggested that it would be more accurate to label them respectively as signifier and signified.

Suassure also pointed out that the relationship between that signifier and the signified is arbitrary, evidenced by the fact that there are many, many languages in the world - all with their own signifiers and signified. This almost seems to contrast with the previous line of thinking, that a bond exists between the signifier and the signified. However, we must realize that different cultures that produce different languages often have differing attitudes and behaviorisms from each other. These differences in psych will lead cultures to recognie and develop their own connections between signifiers and signified that are unique to them.

The "Art" of Reproduction

Walter Benjamin provides great insight into the idea of reproduction and how it has impacted art in his essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. To be able to reproduce something has not always been easy. Before such inventions as the printing press, it was not possible to have an exact copy of something. The earliest forms of reproduction were founding and stamping. These methods progressed into lithography. This was the first time that there was a new, direct process for reproducing something. The big breakthrough in reproduction, however, came with the invention of photography. This advancement totally shifted our perception of reproduction.

If a photograph is taken of a work of art, whoever views this photograph will gain a great sense of what the work of art looks like, even if they have never seen the original in person before. The one thing they will lose, however, is the presence in time and space. Benjamin uses the example of a Cathedral. If you were to make your way to a Cathedral, you would be able to sense the aura, or uniqueness of this Cathedral. You get a great sense of the size of the Cathedral, how far away it is from other landmarks, etc. If you were to take a picture of this Cathedral, you would be able to capture nearly the full essence of it. You could display this photograph anywhere you choose and it surely would give anyone who looks at this picture a good idea of what the Cathedral looks like. They would not, however, be able to sense its presence this Cathedral has in time and space. A photograph of a Cathedral changes the “tradition” of viewing it; hence, reproduction takes away from the authenticity of a work of art or experience. Benjamin sums it up by saying “instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice-politics.” A reproduction can free a work of art or a moment in time captured in a photograph from ritual, but it also introduces a whole new perception as to what the actual work of art or moment in time stands for.

What is "Digital" Culture?

“Digital” culture refers to the movement of information and the written word from a “print” era to a “post-print” era. This means that information is no longer fixed in one place at one time, only available to the person that has the book or newspaper in their hands, but it is available simultaneously across the globe to all people at all times whether it’s a newspaper, a novel or a magazine. To be a “digital” culture not only refers to the switch from a printed, physical page to a digital one (analogue to digital) but there is also a shift in the way that information becomes published, transferred, interacted with and stored across multiple languages, continents and servers. This is best described by Mark Poster, author of “Authors Analogue and Digital” who says that “the change from print to computer writing requires a material change in the trace, in the way writing enters the world, circuits through it, and is stored in it” (78).

Information was long printed in analogue form, meaning it was a physical thing, able to be touched and handled by people. It also meant that the information stored on those pages was only available at one time to the person holding the book or magazine. No matter how many copies were printed of that specific piece of literature, the only person who could access it at one time was the person holding it in their hands. “There is no escape from this characteristic, one that drastically limits the inscription of print in time and space” (81). Switching to become a “digital” culture means that information is no longer available in such a fixed and limited form. The information is suddenly transcribed into binary and sent around the world to be accessed by people in all parts of the world, all of whom, if they wished, could read and absorb the information simultaneously rather than waiting to check out a book or borrow it from the person in front of them.

But not only is information made completely accessible world-wide, it is also made available to people who wish to interact with the texts. Websites allow anyone to post news or blogs to their pages, people can jump in and edit such informational sites as Wikipedia.com, and text can be revised by its authors indefinitely, rather than existing in one, unchangeable analogue form. Poster describes this interaction as one that “…loses the assurance of their spatial continuity. Pages of digital text have the stability of liquid” (92). This means that texts found on the internet or in digital form can be repeatedly and endlessly edited, giving no assurance that a text will truly ever be finished.

However, this fluidity that Poster mentions, is another result of the switch from analogue to digital. Authors are suddenly springing up everywhere, posting stories to such sites as Fictionpress.com, Fanfiction.net, Blogger.com and others. Suddenly becoming a published author is no longer a painstaking process of mailing out manuscripts, waiting for rejection or acceptance and then if accepted, the costly print fees with no guarantee that the book will even make money. Instead, anyone can post their stories anywhere, with no cost to them and instantly knowing that their stories could reach a global audience, as it is available to one the moment one puts it on a website. This also highlights the problem of authorship. What is there to stop a person from “copying and pasting” another person’s words into their story and claiming it as their own? What happens when two similar stories are published at the same time under no copyright laws?

Though digital culture does allow infinite access to multiple levels of information, it also has to deal with a few issues, such as re-writing copyright laws, the problem of authorship and the fluidity and ever-changing nature of digital texts.

What is a Digital Culture?

Digital culture is the state of our reading, writing, publishing, distributing, production, and consumption of information today yet no one quite understands it. There are many working definitions of what it means to be in the new digital culture. However, Mark Poster best distinguishes what exactly is a digital culture in his 2001 article “Authors Analogue and Digital.” Poster explains the differences in how our culture was based upon print and now we are moving towards post-print or a digital culture.

Poster explains a paradigm shift in the way people think about information. In the print culture of the past, people perceived information as fixed in time and place. For example, Poster (2001) argues “There is no escape from this characteristic, one that drastically limits the inscription of print in time and space” (81). A book is fixed in one place at one time. Although there may be thousands of copies of the same book, they are still fixed in space. But now in our digital culture, it shifts to having information available to anyone and everywhere at one time depending on the technology. Digital culture means having information available to every person’s computers, iPods, smart phones, etc.

Another aspect of a digital culture is the more participative actions of the reader or consumer. People aren’t bound to making the same thing over and over. Information may be and probably will be changed from the original. Authors and song-writers alike are sampling from other books or music to create new material. In fact, the readers are becoming the authors by having the ability to change whatever they would like. Poster (2001) admits “The author of digital texts loses the assurance of their spatial continuity. Pages of digital text have the stability of liquid” (92). Now, the reader’s and author’s intent are equally valued. In the past during the print culture, people focused on similarity. Copy and print was about making analogous configurations which meant the print culture’s authors wanted objectivity and transparency. In today’s new digital culture, we could care less about what the author intended. Therefore, digital culture means shifting away from the reader taking in and trusting the author and moving towards readers being able to create what they want by changing the author’s material.

With these two main shifts from the print culture into the new post-print or digital culture, we can create a definition. The digital culture today is one where information is readily available to everyone no matter where or when. Furthermore, it is a culture in which the reader’s intent is valued equally as the author’s. Although there still may be printed texts, people are moving away from these and using digital technology to get their information. The emergence of Amazon’s Kindle as well as Apple’s newly introduced iPad makes it easy to see the shift to a digital culture. Physically speaking, books and newspapers are no longer needed. Anyone and everyone with internet capabilities have access to them. Just as easily as they can access them, the readers can alter them. Therefore, a digital culture is when information is not restricted to time and space and can be easily changed by the reader.