Communication has changed dramatically over the past half-century. The term "Global Village" was first used in the early 1960's to describe the ways in which the electronic age was reshaping the rapidity and pervasiveness with which information is disseminated across the world. Now, with the enormous growth of the Internet and other forms of digital communication, that idea is all the more applicable. New technology has changed the ways we receive information and the ways we collect and store it.

If you look to past centuries, people have had to rely on word-of-mouth as a way of finding out news beyond their own towns. History itself was passed along through specialized individuals who memorized names and events from the previous centuries. The most well known form of history is myth, which comes from the Greek word for "a spoken or written story." Many of these stories have been very influential and continue to be read and studied in our own times: two famous examples are the works of the Greek poet Homer, The Odyssey and The Iliad, and the story of Sundiata from Mali.

Many techniques are used to preserve a story, event, history, or myth from generation to generation. Symbols are used as devices to trigger a common connection in the listeners. Repetition of names and families throughout a single story are used as a way to keep important information fresh in the mind. The reliance on a common tradition or reference within a particular culture allows the storyteller to get more meaning across with the fewest words said. These are all memory aids that serve to allow both the teller and the listener to fully realize a story that may have its origins hundreds of years in the past. For instance, native peoples in North America's Northwest Territory have passed down detailed methods for hunting and storing of reindeer and whale that include geographic information that still hold relevance today.

The need for an oral tradition has diminished in practical value with the advent of the written text and the rapid growth of computers as a means of disseminating information. There are many harmful side effects to the loss of this practice. Younger generations can become alienated from their cultural identity and knowledge about customs, tradition, mores, the natural world and history will disappear. This is especially true in aboriginal cultures such as in Native American, Native Australian and South American peoples, where assimilation into the dominant culture can come at the cost of historical customs.

Since the prevalence of the written word, and later inventions that have made passing along the printed word easier, the demands on our memory as a means of cataloging facts and historical data has been considerably reduced. However, the techniques used for hundreds of years by those whose job it was to keep these histories alive have a deeply ingrained influence on us today. Keeping that knowledge and those traditions alive is very important. Spend a moment recalling a memory of an oral tradition in your family history that has impacted your education. How has this oral tradition affected you?