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It is always easier to describe stasis (Renaissance, then Industrial) than movement (classical to Medieval). And yet this course is about movement - from the pre-historic to the post-typographic writing culture or electronic culture....connecting the dots if you will. Are we about to enter the age of the electronic scriptorium? What does that mean? What does that imply? In this new age we have to see ourselves as meaning seekers and meaning makers. The focus in the course is not to become retainers of information but learners of how to access information in the electronic age and to see it in perspective and all its implications. Ways of knowing rather than what is known will take precedence. The task before us is a difficult one. We are at a rare moment in history in which we are able to observe a process of intellectual and social transformation with few and perhaps no precedents in human experience. Each new writing technology (and by extension cave painting was a form of writing, a need to communicate if you will) brought with it some form of change. Why did man (I'm not being sexist here. The evidence does suggests, however, that it was indeed man who first wrote or at least that is how it was recorded) need to write? Here the society was tooling along their version of the Long Island Expressway and wham, we have evidence of writing, primative though it may be, but writing none the less. The first script, the evidence suggests, was on clay tablets somewhere around 3500 B.C. The invention of movable type and printing in the fifteenth century was responsible for creating not only an
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This first assignment is designed to see and experience collectively what it was like to write 6,000 years ago. I hope to give you a feel for the course. Get your feet wet. Jump in and have some fun while traveling back in time. This is the first and only assignment we will all be doing together. The rest of the course will be sequenced only by your individual learning style, needs and preference. Plato and other early rhetorical writers and thinkers (in different ways) spend a great deal of time in their writings considering the relationships between rhetoric, writing, and language and the 'technologies" we use to make/respond/think about words. This is sometimes tricky for us to think about nowadays since the basic technologies of writing --pencils, pens, paper, computers, etc.-- have become so transparent to us. The goal of this writing project is to attempt to make this aspect of writing, what is usually invisible to us, visible. This writing experiment has three parts. First, write a 20 to 30 word "text" on any type and on any subject that uses "technologies" found in nature and/or created by you. Second, write a brief (less than three page) word-processed essay that explains how you created the first part of this writing project and what the first part of the writing project exposed (or didn't) for you about the relationship between the technological tools you use to write and what sort of text you end up producing. Third, post this three page word processed essay on a web page and forward the address to the rest of us. You could also post a picture of the 20 to 30 word "text" if you have the technologies available to do so. Here are some things to think about: For the first part of this experiment, you cannot use any of the modern conveniences for any part of the process whatsoever. This includes any sort of purchased paper, inks, pens, pencils, crayons, typewriters, chalk, paints, brushes, or electronic devices. This also means you cannot use any of these technologies during any of the steps in your writing process. In other words, while I have no real way to really enforce this, it seems to me that it would more or less be "cheating" to write out a draft of your 25 or so words and then use the "natural" and/or "created" materials to write the final draft of the experiment. However, you are certainly allowed to make your own writing utensils and materials (it is suprisingly easy to make both simple papers and inks out of "natural" materials, for example). All projects must involve the most basic technology of writing, an alphabet. More specifically, you need to write your project in English (as opposed to some other language or form of representation.) You should evaluate the experiment with four basic criteria in mind: the extent to which the materials you use adhere to the rule of being found in "nature" and/or "created" by you; permanence; the success of the text you produce; and the overall creativity. "Permanence" simply refers to how long the text you will create can be expected to last. The most difficult criterion to define is the first one, materials found in "nature" and/or "created" by you. I put quotes around the words "nature" and "created" in order to problematize them. For example, if you decide to etch your words in a clay slab with a stick, one could say that you have indeed used "natural" materials. But it seems to me that, unless you actually went and dug up the clay yourself, ultimately you are using a technology as "(un)natural" as any other store bought product. Obviously, I don't have an easy answer for dealing with this problem. I would encourage you to use materials as "natural" as you possibly can and to recognize that what counts as "natural" and "created" is very much in the realm of interpretation, something you will want to discuss in the brief explanation of the project. I should also point out that there may be some sort of balance between these different criteria. For example, a particularly creative and "natural" project might not be all that permanent, and vise-versa. The project that you create does not have to be physically turned in, but posted on your web page. Think about it. You are now advancing about 4000 years and being asked to learn still another form of writing/publishing. This third part is really no different than the first and this is my first CONNECTION. The process of creating a web page is an ongoing affair. You can use a What You See Is What You Get Program (WYSIWYG) or a free program that comes with Netscape Gold. Directions for uploading your web page, once created, to the college server using a PC are available. Those using a Mac should contact me privately and I'll get directions to you. Do not use or create writing utensils or materials that have serious potential for being dangerously flammable, poisonous, toxic, unsafe, or unpleasant (e.g. a variety of bodily fluids). Do not create a writing project that causes some sort of permanent damage to property. This is supposed to be a fun writing experiment, not a hazardous one. Last but far from the least, be mindful of the fact that this is one of several experiments we might be doing in the course. Spend your time accordingly and be realistic about your project goals. The reason we are doing this is to consciously explore the technologies and materials we and our ancestors used to create texts; the goal is not to make great artistic masterpieces or to work yourself to death. It might be pretty cool to chisel your text into a piece of marble, but it seems to me the cost of materials and the time it would take to "write" the text are too much for this project. And again, remember that it is the essay that you write about your project that is important, which means you should probably spend more time writing your brief explanation of how you went about creating your writing experiment as you spend creating the 20 or so word writing project itself. Good Luck and have FUN. I'm doing the assignment as well and will be posting my word-processed essay soon after all of you.
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