Article Critique: Eternal Ephemera or the Durability of Disposable Literature by Herbert Pimlott - Essay Example

Article Critique Introduction Herbert Pimlott, in his article ‘Eternal ephemera’ orthe durability of ‘disposable literature’: The power and persistence of print in an electronic world, tries to demonstrate how disposable literature stood the test of time, especially in the face of remarkable technological developments. The author argues that the electronic media or, more specifically, the digital revolution, did not replace or eliminate traditional forms of written communication; in fact, digital media has helped improve the durability and ubiquitousness of disposable literature, comprised of flyers, leaflets, fly-post, brochures, and pamphlets. The central attributes of this disposable literature, such as portability, inexpensiveness, simplicity, anonymity, especially its powerful role in the political and commercial spheres, make it indispensable in the contemporary period. In order to clearly explain his thesis, the author structured the discussion in a chronological manner, beginning from the history of disposable literature, particularly as regards the role it played in earlier political and commercial organizations, to the current uses of disposable literature, particularly its attributes that contribute to its eternal existence. Summary It is a common assumption that technological advances will replace traditional practices. Human history has witnessed how technology evolved from simple to complex. One of the most revolutionary technology advances is the digital media. It tremendously expanded the reaches of business, political organizations, nonprofit groups, advocacy campaigns, and so on (Gomez 13). It made possible worldwide communications. The author discusses how the digital revolution, which is significantly affecting traditional print media, has paradoxically strengthened the value of disposable literature to the contemporary period. There are no clear indications that new communication technologies are negatively affecting disposable literature (Pimlott 528). The author hence believes that these ‘ephemeral’ media—the flyers, leaflets, or pamphlets—are actually the most durable or eternal types of print communication. The author provides a brief discussion of the definitions of the most widely used disposable literature—the flyer, leaflet, and the pamphlet. The author analyzes both the dictionary definitions and the subjective meanings assigned to this form of print communication. What the author discovers is that the definitions are somewhat similar to one another, especially in terms of their uses: to disseminate information in a cheap, but effective manner. Flyers, leaflets, and pamphlets were used by different political organizations to inform the people about their programs, ideologies, and upcoming activities. Because of the inexpensiveness of this form of print communication, different types of organizations were able to reach as many audiences as possible, even without the help of electronic media. The author afterwards talks about the major characteristics of disposable literature that facilitated its durability. He sums up the power of print communication in this way: “Print offers a one-way medium and an individual, solitary experience for the reader, even if a message is intended to exert an effect on a group or a grand scale, as it communicates the message(s) of the individual, group or organization that has produced it” (Pimlott 520). In short, this disposable literature creates an individualized experience, as though it is talking purposefully with the individual sentiments of its readers. He also includes an analysis of the other key attributes of disposable literature, such as “portability, anonymity (and extra-legality), cost, simplicity and accessibility of and speed in production and distribution” (Pimlott 527). Due to the durability of ephemeral print media forms, the author suggests greater focus on disposable literature, particularly with regard to their strength as important instruments in social justice promotion, political organizations, election campaigns, and profit-related activities. Assessment The article has successfully demonstrated how ironically durable is disposable literature. Still, the author’s presentation of evidence, depth of the discussion, and quality of the argument has both strengths and weaknesses. The author has strongly supported his thesis that electronic media have further raised the value of ephemeral print media forms by presenting relevant examples and cases. For instance, the author substantiates his discussion of the durable uses of flyers and leaflets by citing relevant examples. He provides examples of how flyers were used to promote goods and services, advertise upcoming events, encourage people to look at specific websites, promote religious principles, indoctrinate, express dissent, facilitate political mobilization, and promote electoral campaigns. A relevant example cited was the McLibel case in London. The two activists involved in the case distributed leaflets that enumerate serious charges against McDonalds. The leaflets reached millions of people across the globe. This example strongly shows how powerful leaflets can be in terms of production and distribution. However, the author fails to consider the other side of the argument—the negative impact of electronic media on disposable literature, or the obsolete characteristics of disposable literature. Nowadays, print media confront fierce competition from the Internet which is much more proficient in new media interactivity, does not require distribution expenses or printing. Due to this, the electronic media is capable of serving a greater number of people (Gomez 58). Print media also confront the entry of the radio and television businesses into the text-based technology currently provided by the Internet. Basically, the text-based mechanism that print media has previously dominated becomes accessible to almost everybody with access to the Internet (Ahlers 31). This alone is a tremendous threat to the survival of the print media, let alone the disposable literature. The author does not discuss or analyze these perspectives. In an argumentative essay, such as this one, there should be a consideration of the other side of the discourse. With regard to the depth of the discussion, the author has successfully provided an in-depth explanation of how new media technologies are promoting the use of disposable literature in the current political and commercial climate. The discussion is argumentative, descriptive, analytical, and expository all at the same time. It uses both historical and contemporary examples. The author fully explained how disposable literature is both a documentation of the unacknowledged people in history and their ideologies, and a medium for recreating the stories and beliefs of nameless or forgotten communities to guarantee a complete history. However, the author failed to take into consideration the value of traditional print media, particularly disposable literature, at the individual level. The discussion largely focuses on the uses of disposable literature at the group-based, organizational, and societal level. The author should have investigated the power of new media interactivity and electronic media’s personalized character. The author also failed to mention one important explanation for the durability of disposable literature: generally the methods and types of media delivery alter, whereas content presented still focuses on fundamental human needs, such as identity creation, education, entertainment, communication, information, and sociability (Ahlers 36). With regard to the quality of the argument, the author proposed a very interesting thesis. More often than not, the negative impact of the electronic media on traditional print media is discussed. But the author deviated from the mainstream and tried to prove a somewhat difficult argument—that print media will benefit, rather than lose, from the development of new communication technologies. He even chose to prove the idea that ephemeral print media forms are in fact durable and ubiquitous. In essence, the discourse is unconventional in terms of argument. Conclusions Despite its weaknesses, the article is well-written and the author was able to strongly support his main argument. It is largely unconventional because the author chose a difficult subject matter to defend—the durability of disposable, ephemeral literature. He successfully proved that new media technologies, through hand and post, are helping enhance the value of ephemeral print media forms. It is a great contribution to the field of mass media and communication because it examines not only the usual, widespread argument that electronic media have a negative impact on traditional print media but it explains how eternal print media is and predicts its continuous survival until the distant future. Works Cited Ahlers, Douglas. “News Consumption and the New Electronic Media.” The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 11.1 (2006): 29-52. Print. Gomez, Jeff. Print is Dead: Books in our Digital Age. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. Pimlott, Herbert. “Eternal Ephemera’ or the durability of ‘disposable literature’: The power and persistence of print in an electronic world.” Media, Culture & Society 33.4 (2011): 515-530. Print. Read More