concept
Walter Ong's term for the orality of electronic media (radio, television, and now podcasts), as distinct from the primary orality of cultures before writing. In episode 01 it is the frame for why spoken-word archives matter. Episode 01, at about 13 minutes 45.
Across the episodes
01
Enters as the frame for podcasting: speech returning within a literate, electronic culture
Draws the line Ong's term depends on: primary orality belongs to the world before writing, with Homer as its figure.
"This isn't the original orality of pre-printing press and pre-writing, where they sat around the fire like Homer and told tales."Chad Nantais, Syntopic, Episode 1 (11 Oct 2026), 13:49
Connections
coined byWalter Ong
Ong's term.