Final Project

Describing Communication Technologies

 


In my episode I’m exploring a simple question: ‘Who actually decides what words we use?’

From old-school dictionaries to TikTok trends, I’m taking a look at how language changes, who influences it, and why certain words stick around while others fade out. Along the way, we dig into how technology, culture, and how everyday people shape the way we communicate. I hope you find it a relaxed, thoughtful wander into language as something we’re all helping create.

Listen with the embedded player above or download the episode here.

Episode One: What is a word?


Reference List:

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Boroditsky, L. (2017, June 7). How language shapes the way we think [Video]. TED. https://youtu.be/iGuuHwbuQOg

Dobson, T. M., & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital literacy. In D. R. Olson & N. Torrance (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of literacy (pp. 286–312). Cambridge University Press.

Elmer-Dewitt, P. (1993, April 12). Take a trip into the future on the electronic superhighway. Time Magazine, 141(15), 50–55. https://time.com/archive/6722878/take-a-trip-into-the-future-on-the-electronic-superhighway/

Innis, H. (1951). The bias of communication. University of Toronto Press.

Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004

Leetaru, K. (2017, July 31). In the digital era, if it hasn’t been digitized, does it even exist? Forbes Magazine.https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/07/31/in-the-digital-era-if-it-hasnt-been-digitized-does-it-even-exist/

Nelson, T. (n.d.). Xanalogical structure, needed now more than ever. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://cs.brown.edu/memex/ACM_HypertextTestbed/papers/60.html

Rastall, P. (2018). What is language for? Interdisciplinary perspectives on the existence of language. La Linguistique, 54(2), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.3917/ling.542.0003

Smith, A. (1999). What is digital information? Digitization is not preservation—at least not yet. Digitization is access—lots of it. What is gained and what is lost. In Why digitize? (CLIR Publication No. 80, pp. 1–13). Council on Library and Information Resources. https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80-2/

The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92.