Hi everyone,
My name is Jeff Miller and I am one of your instructors for ETEC540 this term. You can find some more information about me in the WebCT course site. I wanted to make a posting here, too, to get us all started withe the introduction activity on our Community Weblog.
This picture is about 100 years old and shows a man setting type, likely for the publication of a newspaper. It captures a particular historical relationship with the technology of printing, one that required considerable physical labour and refined skill in those who were typesetters. This image also shows just how much our technologies of writing (printing) have evolved in the last 100 years, to the point now where it is possible to process type, display it on a screen as light, and transmit it around the world using a computer and pulses of data rather than a printing press, paper and dots of ink.
We will have ample opportunities in this course to explore the evolution of technologies of writing and reading. Against the backdrop of social, cultural and technological changes that attend such developments, we will explore how digital spaces for reading and writing both extend and challenge notions of literacy and academic practice. Like the typesetter of old, you will be able to get your hands dirty (well, perhaps your finger-tips), with digital publication tools on our course website, our community weblog and our wiki space.
Enjoy!
Jeff
