Oral Culture: a useful concept relevant to information seeking in context?

Literacy dominates Western society to the extent that we are largely unaware of its presence and influence. Yet it is increasingly important for information behaviours to address the needs of non-literate people as the technologies of literate cultures seek to consolidate their grip on the developing world. Literacy is now undergoing its greatest changes since the last 500 years with technology as the driving force. As mobile technology offers a means for reaching wider audiences, research is being carried out on how to tap into developing countries as a new market sector. Non-literates are perceived as problematic, and though cultural approaches to technology and interfaces are being recognised, orality as a factor in cognition and thus relevant to information requirements is not recognised. By examining literature in anthropology, cognitive psychology and linguistics, this paper seeks to examine the validity of ‘oral culture’ as a viewpoint for thinking about information behaviours in traditionally non-literate societies. Three main issues are identified and explored; (i) how is oral culture defined, (ii) what are the perceived implications of literacy, and (iii) what role does technology play in orality, literacy and cognition? This paper strives to show that literacy and orality, whilst obviously not the only cultural differences, are significant parameters in how we think about the world and deal with information, however the terminology is inappropriate for today’s society.