How does IT impact literature
Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT
Information technology has made distance neutral, reduced drudgery, made brain power supreme, empowered people and society, networking easier and swifter. In its wake, it has also made life more complex in some ways. Cyber crime is as sinister as the physical one. It has made the tasks of enforcers of law and order more arduous and painstaking.
But no one is really introspecting on contributions of IT in the field of literature. To me it appears to be numerous not merely in enhancing the accessibility of the people to literature through internet but creating an expanding lexicon of words and phrases. Let us look at the more commonly used words and phrases. Cloud computing in the strict literary sense would mean something like star gazing. But in the context of IT, the words convey a litany of technological breakthroughs, applications and human zest for achieving excellence. Let us take another IT idiom-blue tooth. It denotes a technological breakthrough in the communication technology. For that matter, the term data harvesting could have created frowns on pure language lovers except for its relevance and utility in the IT application. Every passing year will add newer IT terms into the lexicon. I am sure, not very long in the future every dictionary will have to re-modify to accommodate the litany of newer words that are coined, particularly in the expanding IT domain.
To me it is a happy augury. But it is juxtaposed with sad news that publishers of Encyclopedia Britannica has decided not to print the voluminous books hereafter and instead will be coming out with virtual volumes. This is a specific case where virtual media is edging out the real one. As an IT entrepreneur, it is good news for me. But I feel sad that the Encyclopedia Britannica, which elegantly adorned a prime place in libraries of various hues, in the years to come will be branded as vintage books and will become irrelevant to an incessant knowledge seeker since they will not be updated.
IT has made life easy and at the same time complex. Its impact on literature is also a mix of good and bad. Let us look in detail the good aspects. A writer in the yester years had to marshal his or her thoughts, write down with pen, create a manuscript, then gives to a typist, corrects the script and then again he gives to the typist for taking the final drafts. Computer has revolutionized the stand alone processes of writing, typing, fairing, editing. All these processes now can be undertaken by the author itself and with ease.
But there are flip sides to literature brought out by IT revolution. One important area, I feel is about is internet and SMS languages. I was arguing with a youngster about the atrocious languages (according to me) in such communications. I told the youngster that short, crypt and sometimes abusive language is a bloat on our civility. Yes, of course the youngster had his stock of answers. Who has the time to key in long sentences and that too with correct spellings and grammar? The use of language is to communicate and that too effectively and short since nobody has the time and patience to read lengthy communications. Even a techie like me, who takes pride in possessing the latest gizmos that are in the public domain, has to admit that there is a generation gap.
But I am convinced that there is a digital divide as far as English and vernacular writers are concerned. How many Hindi writers are known beyond the Hindi heartland or for that matter Bangla or Tamil writers? Occasionally, there are some translation works that come out mostly thanks to the government patronage. Have we ever thought of addressing the visible divide? I do not think we have done enough to promote the vernacular writers. In this digital world there are umpteen opportunities to make them and their works popular.
The advent of IT has also brought in a proliferating tribe of people who cut and paste. This, in its wake, heralded a new culture and intellectual deprivation. Earlier, researchers insisted on assimilating the contents and attempting to write in their own language. That sometimes would give a newer perspective or a fresh direction. The culture of cutting and pasting block creativity and discounts the urge of the writer to excel.
It is now very common to link information technology with all disciplines be it education, governance, technology, legal and what have you. Literature has a strong enabler in information technology. But their relationship should be complementary and supplementary and to supplant each other.
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