introductions
Imagine yourself writing. What do you see? Are you glued to your laptop, writing by hand, perhaps with crumbled sheets of paper by your side? Or are you sending a text message, posting an image to Facebook, or sitting behind your desk writing rapidly throughout the night in order to meet a deadline.
This course has two main components:
- To explore historical and theoretical accounts of how writing technologies have shaped and continue to shape what and how we compose.
- To “write” using a variety of new and sometimes old technologies in order to explore the affordances and limitations of each.
By integrating practical “how-to” guidelines with broader theoretical issues of what it means to write (and read) with different media, we will work on developing effective strategies for creating multimedia presentations, podcasts, and dynamic web pages. Our class sessions will be a combination of class discussion and technology workshops. You will learn (and sometimes re-learn) how to use a variety of technologies including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, PowerPoint, and Audacity. No prior experience is necessary.
Course readings are available on e-reserve or will be provided. You will need a USB flashdrive (4gb or larger). Additional information is available on the course website: http://patrickberry.com/writingtechnologies.