Svenbro - Phrasikleia: An Anthropology of Reading in Ancient Greece

Some modern theorists on reading in the modern and ancient world want to view the act, process and social position of reading from a modern position. What Svenbro manages in this volume is to make clear just how different the social position of reading was in ancient Greece. The debate around silent reading seems to produce violent reactions because, I believe, modern theorists do not want their heroes viewed as somehow deficient, and maintaining that Plato or Plutarch had to, at least, subvocalise when reading or, at worst, always read aloud is liking calling them dunces (put on the cone-shaped hat & stand in the corner Plato!). Svenbro makes very clear that the social stigma attached to reading aloud simply did not exist in ancient Greece. In fact, writing was only seen as a (poor) replacement for the voice. The role of the written word was to produce a voice, and only when the ear caught the words could a meaning be reproduced. This was so important to the Greeks that myths were developed to separate Greek writing from its Phoenician roots. Unlike other commentators, however, Svenbro disagrees that the ancients could not read silently. It was possible (although the form of writing in scriptura continua made it far less efficient than modern spaced writing), but it was very unusual and was only practiced by scholars, playwrights or poets that had to read a lot of text. Svenbro deduces all of this from original documents, placing particular emphasis on inscriptions on statues that announce themselves to the reader as well as extracts of plays and poetry.

Yep. You guessed it - also available as a Goodreads review.

Your PhD - A Haiku

This website (http://dissertationhaiku.wordpress.com/) asks for people to submit their PhD research as succinctly as possible, or more exactly, in 17 syllables over 3 lines of 5,7 and 5 syllables. Why would you do that? Here's the explanation:
Dissertations are long and boring. By contrast, everybody likes haiku. So why not write your dissertation as a haiku? Please email yours (along with your name, institution, a 1-2 sentence text description of your work, and any URL you'd like your name linked to) to dissertationhaiku@gmail.com.
Maybe you'd like a go. Here are a few examples to get you thinking:

Cells in between cells, make the retina’s magic and keep its secrets.

Tiny neutrinos …. How do we catch the damn things? Computers can help.

Right of copyright Depends on nature of works Otherwise: chaos.

Most haiku's are accompanied by some very brief information.

Knowledge that is tacit Still needs capture and sharing How do we do that?

Dissertation title: e-Learning 2.0: Emergence, social networks and the creation of shared knowledge As learners in the workplace turn toward just-in-time answers, knowledge and support networks, it becomes more pressing to understand how knowledge can be harnessed in a new, anytime digital environment. This dissertation explored knowledge design via new emerging technologies that allow for better finding, creating and sharing of information. By: Colleen Carmean

Welfare for elders But nothing for our children. Who are we kidding?

Dissertation title: The Age of Welfare: Citizens, Clients and Generations in the Development of the Modern Welfare State (UC Berkeley, 2001) My dissertation examined why some countries allocate the lion’s share of their social welfare resources to the elderly, while others have a more balanced profile of spending on working-aged adults and children. Italy, Japan, and the United States are examples of the former; Canada, the Netherlands, and Sweden are examples of the latter. By: Julia Lynch

Here's my contribution:

Intonation shows New information. In text? It’s punctuation

Dissertation title: “Structuring Information in Written English” This dissertation in applied linguistics used discourse analysis to identify the role and realization of Information Structure in a corpus of written technical English. It revealed historical, psychological and neurological evidence for why punctuation has replaced intonation in written English in order to provide Information Structure, as defined in systemic functional linguistics. By: Nick Moore

It has not yet been accepted. I'll keep you posted!