The shift from orality to literacy that began with the invention of the phonetic alphabet and which went into highgear with Gutenbergs printing press more than 500 years ago helped make the modern world. Some commentators have argued that this shift from orality to literacy marked a much broader cultural shift of cataclysmic proportions. Today with everything from email to blogs iPods and podcasts through Google Yahoo eBay and with cuttingedge smart phones we find ourselves developing relatio