How Can Digital Technology Be Relevant to the Arts and Social Sciences?
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PROCEEDINGs “The Contribution of Language, Literature, Art and Culture in Digital Era” 27-29 September 2019, Dompak, Province of Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia How Can Digital Technology be Relevant to the Arts and Social Sciences? Vivienne Wee Singapore University of Social Sciences Article Info Abstract This paper identifies digital technology as a tool that is useful for the arts and social sciences, especially the study of language, literature, culture and art. It locates digital technology within a larger historical context from 5000 years ago when writing to the present. Two key characteristics continuous with previous tools used for writing are identified – durability and mass distribution. The last section of this paper proposes a comprehensive historical GIS website of Sumatra as a long-term project documenting multiple cultural dimensions and requiring collaboration among many partners. A. Are the arts and social sciences relevant in the era of digital technology? People who ask this question assume that digital technology has little to do with the arts and social sciences, especially studies of language, literature, culture and art. But this question ignores human history. They forget that human beings use tools: digital technology is a tool. The use of tools has significantly impacted on the study of language, literature, culture and art for some 10,000 years. Therefore, the title of this paper asks instead: how can digital technology be relevant to the arts and social sciences? To address this question, let us consider some technological milestones that have been important in human history for the last 10,000 years or so. B. Invention of writing First of all, there is the invention of writing. The earliest form of writing has been dated from 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia, located in what is now Iraq. One of the earliest forms of writing is associated with Uruk, which has been described as the first city in human history. Currently, the earliest authenticated writing is at least 5500 years ago or before, in Elamite, (what is now southern Iran) (Englund 2004). 13 “The Contribution of Language, Literature, Art and Culture in Digital Era” Proto-Cuneiform Inscription dated to 5000 years ago Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art 2000-2019 What was written? How was it written? What can we learn from the invention of writing? The earliest forms of writing were accounts to keep track of property, such as animals, grain supplies or land. The circular impressions on the top right of the tablet represent numbers. There are also pictorial depictions of animals (for example, on the bottom left corner) and grain (for example, on the right edge). What was written was to aid memory. The tablet was a mnemonic device to assist memory, which can be unreliable especially if different people remember different things, which can be a troublesome matter when property is concerned. What was written was not expected to be read aloud. But we are able to study the written tablets of 5000 years ago because of the durability of the materials used. The writing was done with a reed pen or stylus on clay tablets, which were fired to produce permanent records. That brings us to the first lesson we can learn from considering the invention of writing – that is, durability beyond a person’s life span. At this point, you may be wondering what the relevance of this to digital technology. What is relevant is durability is one point of relevance. Worldwide, there are now online services specialising in dealing with email and websites of people who have passed away. Like the clay tablets of 5000 years ago, digital technology is durable; it lasts beyond a person’s life span. It has even been said that the Internet is filling up with the digital content left by people who have died. Like the clay tablets of 5000 years ago, this kind of digital content may last for a long time to be studied at some future date. ISBN - 978-623-92900-0-9 14 PROCEEDINGs SEMIRATA 2019: International Seminar & Annual Meeting, Field of Language, Literature, Arts, and Culture BKS PTN Wilayah Barat C. Earliest evidence of writing in Sumatra Sites in Sumatra where earliest inscriptions are found Source: Geoffrey Benjamin (2018) The earliest evidence of writing in Sumatra date from the late7th century CE. Some of the inscriptions contain actual dates. 15 “The Contribution of Language, Literature, Art and Culture in Digital Era” 7th-century Telaga Batu inscription from South Palembang area, now at National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta: social contract between ruler and Orang Laut, cursing all who plot against king and kingdom, blessing those who submit to the rule of Srivijaya Source: Situs Budya no date ISBN - 978-623-92900-0-9 16 PROCEEDINGs SEMIRATA 2019: International Seminar & Annual Meeting, Field of Language, Literature, Arts, and Culture BKS PTN Wilayah Barat 7th-century Kedukan Bukit, containing the date equivalent to 1 May 683, from Palembang, east coast of Sumatra, now at National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta: commemoration of king’s military victory freeing Srivijaya from external forces, a victory attributed to magical power Source: Gunawan Kartapranata 2014 There are at least 87 separate inscriptions prasasti( ) found in Sumatra, dating from the 7th century CE to the 13th century CE – that is, from one and a half thousand years ago to eight hundred years ago. Although more than 3000 years separate prasasti of Sumatra from the earliest writing on clay tablets found in Mesopotamia, they nevertheless have one similarity. What is that similarity? With the exception of the inscriptions found in Karang Berahi and Kota Kapur, which are duplicates of each other, each of the other inscriptions is one of a kind. There is thus only one Telaga Batu and one Kedukan Bukit. Most of the prasasti or inscriptions do not have multiple copies. D. Less Durable Materials Used for Writing Although clay and stone were used for inscriptions, less durable materials were also used for writing. These include: 1. Papyrus, made from the pith of the papyrus plant (Cyperus papyrus) that was plentiful in the Nile River of Egypt, was used some 5000 years ago in Egypt. 17 “The Contribution of Language, Literature, Art and Culture in Digital Era” Cyperus papyrus Source: Plants and Flowers 2010-2019 2. Leather, parchment and vellum, made from the skin of animals, were used for writing about four and a half thousand years ago in Egypt, Mesopotamia and elsewhere in the Middle East. 3. Wood and bamboo were used for writing in China more than two thousand years ago. 4. Linen, silk and other cloth were used for writing in Italy, Egypt and China also more than two thousand years ago. 5. Paper was invented in China more than 2000 years and came to be used widely. However, in Southeast Asia, writing on paper was more recent. In Indonesia, a variety of materials was used for writing on, including bamboo, horn, palm leaf, bark ‘paper’, and paper, probably only since European colonisation. There are more than 500,000 clay tablets from Mesopotamia that have survived from more than 5000 years ago until today (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative 2012: archived). Most of us do not read clay tablets or stone tablets. Instead, we read writing that has been printed on paper, a material that is much less durable than clay. Why was paper adopted for writing even though it is not durable? Because it was light and portable. It was easier to ISBN - 978-623-92900-0-9 18 PROCEEDINGs SEMIRATA 2019: International Seminar & Annual Meeting, Field of Language, Literature, Arts, and Culture BKS PTN Wilayah Barat write on paper than to carve out inscriptions on stone. But the disadvantage is that paper does not last, perhaps at most four or five hundred years and that only in conditions that are conducive to preservation. This is unlike clay tablets that have lasted thousands of years. E. Manuscripts on Less Durable Materials Written in Sumatra In the Province of Kepulauan Riau (KePri), there are 13 collections of about 450 items on 4 different islands: 1. Penyengat (off Tanjung Pinang), once the capital of the Yang Dipertuan Muda 2. Daik in the Lingga Archipelago (once the seat of the sultan), once the capital of the Yang Dipertuan Besar 3. Natuna 4. Karimun These writings consist of handwritten manuscripts, printed archival materials (forms, receipts, grants) and a few printed books (The British Library [a] no date). In Sumatra, there are also 405 manuscripts in Aceh, written between the 17th and 20th centuries, mostly on paper (The British Library [b] no date). There are also 260 manuscripts in Kerinci, Jambi Province. Two hundred and forty of them are written mostly on six types of materials: 1. Bamboo: 34 manuscripts 2. Horn: 82 manuscripts 3. Paper: 97 manuscripts 4. Bark: 11 manuscripts 5. Palm leaf: 13 manuscripts 6. Bone: 1 manuscript 7. Other: 2 manuscripts Most of these are from the 1700s, with some in such a bad condition that they cannot deciphered (Kozok 2015: 1-16). (Also The British Library [c] no date.) The British Library has digitised these collections of manuscripts, leaving the originals with their private owners. ‘Digital copies have been given to the owners and have also been deposited with the British Library and local archival partners: the National Library of Singapore, Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia, and Yayasan Manuskrip Nusantara’ (The British Library [a] no date). The British Library has digitised these manuscripts to save these endangered works, giving free access to anyone interested in them, rather than to have these documents lost without professional archival care. The British Library has websites on these collections of manuscripts: 1.