Digital vs. Analog
When talking about or referring to digital, Eyman when talking about or referring to digital, Eyman pointed out the term digital is often used for the same meaning as electronic or computerized. I am a victim of doing that, after reading that sentence I thought to myself, I normally put those terms under the same category. According to William Pawlett digital systems and digital analog differ. To my understanding digital technologies refer to coding differences. Whereas analog technologies consist of principles of similarity and proportion.
pointed out the term digital is often used for the same meaning as electronic or computerized. I am a victim of doing that, after reading that sentence I thought to myself, I normally put those terms under the same category. According to William Pawlett digital systems and digital analog differ. To my understanding digital technologies refer to coding differences. Whereas analog technologies consist of principles of similarity and proportion.
Background of Digital
I think through comparing digital to analog, Eyman was trying to explain the concept of digital. Digital isn’t just about computers but it’s a way of thinking about communication in terms of using symbols and codes. Claude Shannon theorized “the fundamental information content of any message could be represented by a stream of I’s and O’s.” Early writing was a form of digital communication using symbols. We write by using our fingers and according to Angela Haas, “all writing is digital, digitalis in Latin means of or relating to the finger or toes or a coding of information.”
Technical communication seems to have been around for a while now. Yet there still seem to be disagreements against using digital as the feature for differentiating new media from old. I can see the pros and cons of digital. Some pros may be how effortless it is to transfer and copy information. Or how digital work can easily be shaped or reshaped as perfect copies. A few cons to that could be the likelihood of digital information being corrupted. Or the sole focus to be on only the digital aspect rather than the complexities of communication. However Eyman took digital as something to be mindful of when considering its impact on communication. It was interesting to read about the historical relationship between digital and writing and how they come from the same origin.
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