Literacy, Possible or Not 

To think that what we know today as a computer is just a part in the evolution from the pencil is nearly an outlandish statement. Dennis Baron’s From Pencils to Pixels: the Stages of Literacy Technology chronicles the evolution of literary technology from the most ancient clay tablets to the most modern computers today. Barron is able to seamlessly integrate sources into his article. One his sources, William Harris, describes how educating the masses was nearly impossible in ancient Greece and Rome. Even though Harris does not focus on the evolution of technology, his work is able to facilitate Baron in his claims about literacy. Tracing Baron’s sources to their sources reveals that they have very little to do with Baron’s topics.

Baron shows the timeline of how civilization has changed the way of promoting literacy. He tells us that the very first technology of writing was writing itself. Some of the earliest forms of writing were inscriptions on clay tablets. With all the problems of writing on clay, easier ways of keeping records were invented. Unfortunately “writing remained exclusive until cheap paper became available” (Baron). Pencil and paper have evolved a surprising amount since their invention. Pencil and paper is still continuing to evolve. “The 16th-century pencil consists of a piece of graphite snapped or shaved from a larger block, then fastened to a handle for ease of use. The first pencils were made by woodworkers specializing in making furniture” (Baron). Baron explains how in the 16th-century, the only people who really used pencils, were woodworkers. They used them to make markings on the pieces of furniture they were working on. Even though pencil and paper is still prevalent in today’s society, computers are becoming the norm. In recent history, the last twenty years or so, many changes have occurred in the new technology. Computers have made, and continue to make exponential improvements. They have changed from rooms filled with cumbersome machines with punch cards to net books that are almost pieces of art, weighing less than a single pound. With so much technology already at our disposal is raises the question, ‘What is next in our never ending evolution of literacy?’

In his book, Harris describes many flaws in the attempt of creating literacy in the ancient worlds. One of the first problems he explains is longevity in the work. He explains how anything “written on papyrus, leather (used by the Delphic oracle), or wood (used by Athens for laws) were certain to perish” (Harris 46). Another problem is how important documents only had a very limited number of copies, and even finding the copies was a difficult task. Papyrus, which was the paper used in ancient times, was also not very reliable for writing. “Papyrus must have been, for almost everyone, expensive and hard to obtain” (Harris 47). Everything written on or written with had to be hand made by craftsmen who knew how to make it. This only adds to the impracticality of writing anything down for others to read, if they could even read. He goes on to say how the things that would last a significant amount of time were clay tablets. The tablets would have to be carved and then baked in a very hot oven. This process was much too trouble to ever be widely used.

Baron uses Harris as a source to show how far writing and literacy tools have come, and the many problems they have had to overcome. Harris says that because of all the problems, less than ten percent of the population in the ancient would have been literate. Thanks to the evolution of ways of promoting literacy, keeping records and teaching, much more than ten percent is literate. In ancient times, the best way of keeping records was on clay tablets. This has evolved time and time again. It has gone from clay tablets to papyrus to more modern technologies like computers and the Internet. Even technologies that seem so simple now, like the pencil, took many years to make perfect. The formula for making good graphite pencils has had many changes. The mixture between graphite, clay and other materials had to be refined to make the perfect mix of stability, usefulness and practicality. If it is too soft, the graphite will not stay sharp, but if it is too hard, it will not write on paper very well. 

Baron used many sources in his explanation of the evolution of technology. When tracing his sources, I came to realize how little they have to do with his entire thesis. The parts that he uses in his essay pertain to what he is talking about, but the sources as a whole serve nearly no purpose to his topic. Baron cites Harris when saying, “writing never spread very greatly in the ancient world. William Harris (1989) argues convincingly that no more than ten percent of the classical Greek or Roman populations could have been literate” (Baron). This citation of Harris justifies his claim about the ancient world, and helps show how technology has evolved. When I looked back at Harris’s work, it was purely about the literacy rates in ancient civilizations. Harris’s title really states the major topic of his entire book, ‘Ancient Literacy’. Even his sources did little to prove his thesis. Within Ancient Literacy, Harris uses dozens of sources ranging from voting in Rome to education processes to sources about pottery. Each one of his sources helps a little piece of his work, and all together they aid in his display of literacy in ancient civilizations.

Dennis Baron is able to describe the process of evolution of literary devices in his essay From Pencils to Pixels: the Stages of Literacy Technology. He writes about the many different stages our technology has come, from clay tablets to pencil and paper to computers. One of the largest problems was keeping records for future generations. Baron is able to express his themes and ideas with the use of his sources. Harris, one of his sources, writes about the problems of spreading literacy in ancient times.

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