{"id":508,"date":"2025-11-30T11:23:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T18:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-01-26T15:02:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:02:41","slug":"etec-540-final-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/etec-540-final-project\/","title":{"rendered":"ETEC 540 – Final Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Describing Communication Technologies<\/h1>\n

Below is my final project for ETEC 540 and describing communication technologies. I chose to follow the evolution of the letter “A” through time and how the evolution of a single letter has impacted our culture, education, and literacy.<\/p>\n

Click the image below to begin the presentation (opens in new window):<\/p>\n

\"Click <\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
TRANSCRIPT:\r\nSLIDE 1: TITLE SLIDE<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: The Letter A through time: Evolution of a single letter and its impact on literacy]<\/em>\r\n\r\nDid you know that the simplest, most fundamental letter in our alphabet - the letter \u201cA\u201d - was once not a letter at all?<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe letter \"A\" hasn\u2019t always looked the way it does today.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn fact, it started as an ox head and its evolution tells a much bigger story than you\u2019d expect.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe evolution of the \u201cA\u201d perfectly illustrates the reciprocal relationship between communication needs, invention, and literacy practices.<\/em>\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take a quick journey through 4,000 years of the evolution of the letter \u201cA\u201d.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 2: A BRIEF HISTORY<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: A Brief History: Why study one letter? The letter \u201cA\u201d as a lens into writing technologies<\/em>\r\nIMAGE: Capital letter A in Times New Roman]<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhy study one letter?<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe letter \u201cA\u201d is a lens into writing technologies.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s simple and familiar, and often the first letter children learn.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe history of \u201cA\u201d shows how communication needs, invention, and literacy practices shape one another.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn this course, we\u2019ve learned that writing is a technology, one that reshapes human cognition, culture, and education (Postman; Ong).<\/em>\r\n\r\nTypography itself is a literacy technology.<\/em>\r\n\r\nEvery change in how we wrote the letter \u201cA\u201d emerged because people needed to communicate differently and each shift reshaped how people read, learned, and thought.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 3: WRITING BEGINS<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: Where Writing Began: Writing began as a way to keep records;<\/em>\r\n\u201cA\u201d wasn\u2019t just a letter - it was a technological solution to a communication problem, reshaping literacy.<\/em>\r\nProto-Sinaitic A: ~1,750 BCE from the Semitic word \u2018alp, meaning \u201cox\u201d<\/em>\r\nIMAGE: OX HEAD]<\/em>\r\n\r\nOur story begins around 1800 BCE with Proto-Sinaitic, the earliest known alphabetic script.<\/em>\r\n\r\nEarly societies depended on oral culture using memory, rhythm, and formulaic thinking (Ong).<\/em>\r\n\r\nReading was limited and symbolic.<\/em>\r\n\r\nAs trade expanded, people needed record-keeping tools that didn\u2019t rely on memory, prompting new communication systems.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis pressure produced early symbols, including the Proto-Sinaitic ancestor of A: an ox-head pictograph (from the Semitic (suh\u00b7mi\u00b7tuhk) word \u201calp\u201d, meaning \u201cox\u201d).<\/em>\r\n\r\nMaterial needs pushed societies toward symbolic writing (Gnanadesikan, 2019).<\/em>\r\n\r\nHere, \u201cA\u201d wasn\u2019t just a letter - it was a technological solution to a communication problem, reshaping our literacy.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 4: THE ALPHABETIC REVOLUTION<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: The Alphabetic Revolution: The birth of phonetic literacy.<\/em>\r\nAs the letter \u201cA\u201d changed, reading became more accessible and human cognition shifted with it.<\/em>\r\nIMAGE: Phoenicians ~1000 BCE, Simplified the ox head into an Aleph; GREEKS ~750 BCE<\/em>\r\nTurned Aleph into Alpha, a vowel; LATIN ~500 BCE Archaic Latin]<\/em>\r\n\r\nAs writing systems evolved, people needed symbols that were quicker to write, more adaptable, and easier to teach.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe Phoenicians simplified the ox-head into Aleph (aa-lef), an abstract form suited to their writing tools - reeds and ink.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis shift was driven by material constraints and views writing as a material practice (Haas, 2013).<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe Greeks then turned Aleph into Alpha, a vowel, allowing writing to represent spoken sounds.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis transformation reshaped literacy and cognition, demonstrating that language shapes thought (Boroditsky, 2019).<\/em>\r\n\r\nCulturally, manuscripts belonged to elite literate communities.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBut the alphabet made reading accessible to everyone.<\/em>\r\n\r\nAs the letter \u201cA\u201d changed, reading became more accessible and human cognition shifted with it.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 5: TOOLS SHAPE TEXT<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: Tools Shape Text: Stones and chisels = straight shapes; Parchment & quills = curved shapes; The shape of the \u201cA\u201d and our writing system has always been shaped by the tools we had to create it.<\/em>\r\nIMAGES: Roman, ~1 CE; Modern Latin, today]<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe change in the shape of the \"A\" didn\u2019t happen just because people felt like it.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIts shape reflects every writing tool humans have used.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe Romans carved letters into stone with chisels. This made it much easier to create an \u201cA\u201d shape with straight lines and serifs, and it looked more similar to how we shape the letter \"A\" today.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn medieval Europe, parchment and quills allowed more curved, flowing forms.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThese shifts echo Haas\u2019 (2013) claim that writing is deeply tied to physical materials and technologies.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 6: MECHANIZATION AND STANDARDIZATION<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: Mechanization & Standardization: Print - Print wasn\u2019t just a faster way to copy text - it fundamentally reorganized knowledge.; Mass Literacy - Print standardized \u201cA\u201d and text globally, which supported the rise of mass literacy.]<\/em>\r\n\r\nWith the printing press, literacy entered a new phase.<\/em>\r\n\r\nPrint didn\u2019t just speed up copying - it reorganized knowledge itself (Bolter; Innis).<\/em>\r\n\r\nGutenberg\u2019s \u201cA\u201d mimicked handwriting, but printers soon redesigned it to be clearer and more geometric.<\/em>\r\n\r\nPrint standardized the letter \u201cA\u201d and text more broadly, supporting mass literacy, schooling, and the rise of authoritative textbooks (Scholes).<\/em>\r\n\r\nPrint didn\u2019t just stabilize \u201cA\u201d\u2019s form - it shaped how generations learned to read.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 7: DIGITAL WRITING & THE LETTER A<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: Digital Writing & The Letter A: Digital technologies didn\u2019t replace print\u2014they rebuilt and transformed it.; Pixel (Low-resolution displays forced blocky forms.), Vector (Vector fonts and anti-aliasing restored curves.), Variable (Adjust dynamically based on screen size, user needs, accessibility.)<\/em>\r\nFinally, the digital age.<\/em>\r\n\r\nFinally, the digital age.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBolter (2001) describes digital writing as a remediation of print, visible in the pixelated \u201cA\u201d of early screens.<\/em>\r\n\r\nLow-resolution displays forced blocky forms, while vector fonts and anti-aliasing restored curves.<\/em>\r\n\r\nToday, variable fonts adjust type dynamically based on screen size, user needs, and accessibility.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis reflects Week 5\u2019s themes: digital writing is fluid, personalized, multimodal, and scroll-based.<\/em>\r\n\r\nA digital \u201cA\u201d isn\u2019t fixed - it's many shapes adapting to its users.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThis matters for education: screen-optimized fonts (Verdana, Georgia) and accessible designs like OpenDyslexic show how digital type can literally reshape reading.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 8: CONCLUSION<\/em>\r\n\r\n[SLIDE TEXT: What does the letter A teach us? It\u2019s a living record of 4,000 years of text technologies and the literacy practices they made possible.<\/em>\r\nWriting as technology; Materiality shaping form; Shifts from oral to literate cognition; New forms borrowed from old; Change driven by invention]<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo what does the evolution of the letter \u201cA\u201d teach us?<\/em>\r\n\r\nBringing this back to what we\u2019ve studied in this course:<\/em>\r\nWriting as technology (Postman, 2011)<\/em>\r\nMateriality shaping form (Haas, 2013)<\/em>\r\nShifts from oral to literate cognition (Ong, 1982)<\/em>\r\nNew forms of media often borrow from and reshape older ones, leading to a constant evolution (Bolter, 2001)<\/em>\r\nCultural and educational change is driven by invention<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe letter \u201cA\u201d evolved because humans needed new ways to communicate - and each transformation reshaped how we read, think, and learn.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSo the letter \u201cA\u201d isn\u2019t just a letter: it\u2019s a living record of 4,000 years of text technologies and the literacy practices they made possible.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 9: THANK YOU<\/em>\r\n\r\nThank you for watching my presentation and I look forward to your feedback.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSLIDE 10: REFERENCES<\/em>\r\n\r\nBolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.<\/em>\r\n\r\nGnanadesikan, A. E. (2009). The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet. Wiley-Blackwell.<\/em>\r\n\r\nHaas, C. (2013). The technology question. In Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy (pp. 3-23). Routledge.<\/em>\r\n\r\nInnis, H. (1951). The bias of communication. University of Toronto Press.<\/em>\r\n\r\nOng, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Methuen.<\/em>\r\n\r\nOpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (GPT-5) [Large language model]. https:\/\/chat.openai.com\/chat<\/em>\r\n\r\nPostman, N. (2011). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. Knopf Doubleday Publishing.<\/em>\r\n\r\nSAR School for Advanced Research. (2017, June 7). Lera Boroditsky, How the Languages We Speak Shape the Ways We Think [Video]. YouTube. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iGuuHwbuQOg&t=1s<\/em>\r\n\r\nScholes, R. (1998). The rise and fall of English. Yale University Press.<\/em>\r\n\r\nWriting tools image from: ChatGPT<\/em>\r\n\r\nAI Disclaimer: I used ChatGPT for generating ideas on how to structure my presentation, helped me with an outline, and used it to revise my writing for grammar and clarity. All final edits and ideas are my own.<\/em><\/pre>\n
All Slides<\/h1>\n
\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Describing Communication Technologies Below is my final project for ETEC 540 and describing communication technologies. I chose to follow the evolution of the letter “A” through time and how the evolution of a single letter has impacted our culture, education, and literacy. Click the image below to begin the presentation…<\/p>\n
Continue ReadingETEC 540 – Final Project<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":100070,"featured_media":520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-assignments","category-blog","category-etec540","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100070"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":696,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/educationaltech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}