Author Archives: Mark Barrett

Making Connections

Making Connections Drawing a line along the path we’ve taken this semester, it is easy to see we’ve covered a lot of ground.  Every element, however, has been thoroughly connected through the common theme of text (including orality as its … Continue reading

Posted in Making Connections, Reflections | Leave a comment

The Development of the Electronic Book

***This is a second draft of this commentary.  I frustratingly lost my first one after it was done and this is my attempt to reconstitute it from memory! The Kindle, the Nook, the Bebook.  These are but three examples of … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary 3 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Rip.Mix.Feed Examples

A few examples of my favourite social media tools.  Word clouds are very popular and it seems most people prefer to use wordle.  I’ve been using Taxedo, found at http://www.tagxedo.com Here’s an example of our “digital footprint”.  This was created … Continue reading

Posted in Rip.Mix.Feed. | 2 Comments

Commentary 2: Response to Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think”

Published in 1945, but originally written in 1939, Vannevar Bush’s article, “As We May Think”, is a fantastical description of an imaginary information machine called the “Memex” (Buckland, 1992) (Bush, 1945).  Bush argued that existing methods of transmitting and reviewing … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary 2 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Socio, Cultural and Psychological Effects of the Telephone

     In an increasingly globally connected world one could argue that no other technological advancement had had such an effect on the ‘shrinking world’, at its inception, as the creation of the telephone.  The ability to cast one’s voice … Continue reading

Posted in Research Paper | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Commentary 1: Developmental Theory and Cultural Literacies

A child is born into the world without any understanding of oral or written literacy.  Much like literate cultures can trace their understandings back to an oral tradition, children are not naturally predisposed to the ability to read or write.  … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary 1 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Text as Technology

Black Robe Clip* As seen in this clip from the film “Black Robe”*, text is clearly a technology – and one which people did not always have. An inherent distrust of what is misunderstood can also be seen in the … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, Text | 3 Comments

Mark Barrett – Shakespeare and Papyrus

Hi all.  My name is Mark Barrett and this is my 9th MET course.  I’m also taking 590 and thus these are my final 3 months (providing I don’t fail!) of completing my masters.  I am a high school teacher … Continue reading

Posted in Introductions | 1 Comment