Inventing Electracy

KIM SJURSETH

Language or rhetoric as a living and constantly evolving thing is nothing new, but with the relatively new addition of the Internet, the concept of literacy is being challenged. Gregory Ulmer addresses the change literacy has undergone with the addition of the Internet as electracy. According to Ulmer, in the introduction to his book The EmerAgency, he defines "Electracy is to digital media what literacy is to alphabetic writing: an apparatus, or social machine, partly technological, partly institutional." Electracy in its earliest form in the 19th century was with the "invention of photography, followed by...phonograph and telegraph" (xxiii). He continues to clarify that these electrate mediums primarily serve as entertainment. The intranet is a endless smorgasbord of entertainment, but it also serves as an institution to educate and invent. Ulmer states that the "Internet is an emerging institution that is to electracy what school was to literacy..." The fundamental difference is the focus on the collective rather than the individual as print-based literacy is based.

In addition, Ulmer silos orality, literacy (print) and electracy. To me however, this line is much more blurry. In an attempt to define what electracy means to me, I explored what electracy means as a visual medium and as a social machine by relating them to my personal experiences. I then connected that to what Ulmer says about it.

Electracy as visual: Literacy, in contrast, is not visual according to Ulmer. (Visual = images = Electracy). Granted, the internet allows for the visual image to blend with the written "symbols", I have to disagree that print-based materials cannot be visual. However, the ability to use images constructively is more conducive to electric mediums. My past job required me to create training materials for a diverse audience. Traditional printed user manuals still had their purpose, but it was the e-learning methods that had the greatest effect. E-learning methods fall into the realm of electracy--podcasts, video tutorials, and webcasts. These electric mediums allowed for text and images to be seen as one. As with our recent podcast assginments, it challenged us as rhetorical inventors to go beyond the written word (text) to include images and video to communicate our ideas.

Electracy as social the social machine: Ulmer's website, Heuristics: Inventing Electracy, he proposes the following analogy: "Literacy = School / Concept / Self :: Electracy = Internet / Emblem / Brand." Literacy and education is based on the individual according to Ulmer. Electracy, however, taps into the collective; it is social. As a teacher I cannot agree that literacy is not social nor that only literacy can only be associated with formal education. Again, Ulmer is too quick to draw a rigid line between the two. Ulmer's chart categorizes literacy as scholarly, science based, true/false and electracy as less formal--play, fantasy, emotional. To me, it seems Ulmer is making the statement that electracy is somewhat lesser than literacy or at least not as academic. I cannot understand how a literacy culture does not also contain entertainment. However, I admit I only have a surface level exposure to Ulmer's concepts and writings.

Because electracy is more fluid and more available to the masses (a.k.a the collective) change comes at a faster pace. A part of this change is having a broader range of information or worldview. Although Ulmer's writing style was a challenge for me, I do appreciate what he is attempting to do by defining electracy. I agree that the Intranet and electronic media is influencing how we learn and write and we (as scholars and society as a whole) are trying to wrap our brains around what it all means. Ask me again in 25 years what is electracy. I and Ulmer will likely have a better answer.