1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi. My name is Robert Lamb, and 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: this is the artifact a short form series from Stuff 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas, 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: and moments in time. For many of you, the flow 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: of written text goes left to right, top to bottom. 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: When your eyes reached the end of a line of 8 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: text by the far right margins, your eyes jump back 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: to the beginning of the line below it over by 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 1: the left hand margin. While this is true of various 11 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: modern European languages, other scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, 12 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: and Urdu, run right to left, top to bottom. Still 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: other writing systems, however, are bi directional. Traditionally, Chinese script 14 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: was read right to left and top to them, but 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: European influences subsequently introduced a left to right, top to 16 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: bottom styling. Chinese signs may be encountered written in either direction. Likewise, 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 1: Egyptian hieroglyphics can be read in almost any direction. This 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: enabled the production of Egyptian steelers that could encode multiple readings, 19 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: as discussed in our core episodes on document duplication. But 20 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: this leads me to the main topic of discussion today. 21 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: Booster feed on style. This was an ancient Greek style 22 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: of writing that moved in a kind of snaking pattern, 23 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: alternating direction by line. When a line of text moving 24 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: left to right reached the end of the line, it 25 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: continued on the next line sure enough, But it didn't 26 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: jump to the far left again. No, it began at 27 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: the far right, directly underneath where the last line ended, 28 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: and then it moved right to left in reversed script. 29 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: You might think of it as a textual snake, unable 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: to teleport or type brighter its body to the beginning 31 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: of the next line. You can look up examples of 32 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: the booster feed on style using modern English language, and 33 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: you might be surprised that you can certainly read it 34 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: even with the reversed letters of the right to left 35 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: traveling lines. The name booster feed on literally means as 36 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: the ox plows, which makes perfect sense. The directional details 37 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: of reading and writing concern more than just the written word, however, 38 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: is E. W. J. Swan noted in ninety left and 39 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: right in visual perception as a function of the direction 40 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: of writing. The direction one writes in is tied to 41 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: one's visual perception of the passage of time. For individuals 42 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: whose language travels left to right, the left side of 43 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: the page is associated with proximity past and self, and 44 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: the right side of the page is associated with distance, 45 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: others and the future. In short, such left to right 46 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: writing styles result and a visual concept of time is 47 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: a straight line traveling from the left to the right. 48 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: The reverse is true of right to left scripted cultures. Thus, 49 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: the readers and writers of the Booster feed On would 50 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: have likely viewed time differently, at least when visualizing its flow, 51 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: has pointed out by Marilyn Mitchell in two thousand four's 52 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: The Visual Representation of Time in Timelines, Graphs, and Charts. 53 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: None of this means that we're restricted, of course, to 54 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: a given visual depiction of times flow. We can draw 55 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: on multiple different visual depictions of time, but it's interesting 56 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: how different models give us different ideas. Booster feed On, 57 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: for instance, is still used in timeline designs due to 58 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: its emphasis on snaking continuity from one event or item 59 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: to the next. The author writes quote in a booster 60 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: feed on design, neither the hand nor the eye has 61 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,839 Speaker 1: to be raised back to one side of the pay 62 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: to continue writing or reading, Unlike a horizontal timeline. Booster 63 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: feed on timelines always show an arrow or arrows showing 64 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: how to read the line. Now, I can't help be 65 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: reminded in all of this of the classic board game 66 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 1: Snakes and Ladders, which entails alternating directions of travel, but 67 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: with the added element of special roots connecting different portions 68 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: of the procession of tiles. Game boards, after all, are 69 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: also a visual depiction of time and space. A different 70 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: board game, just like a different writing system, can provide 71 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,679 Speaker 1: us with an alternative means of visualizing the flow of time. 72 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: Tune in for additional editions of the Artifact or the 73 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us 74 00:04:51,160 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 75 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I 76 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 77 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 78 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.