ENG 480G: Introduction

Until very recently, ENG 480G was the only course in English & Journalism which considered the role of computers and digital technologies in English studies. No longer. We’ve added a second course, ENG 489G, New Media, so this semester 480G is all new.

ENG 480G will still include theoretical treatments of literary approaches to understanding computers, computer networks, and new media, but will have a more practical focus than in the recent past. Our course will be shaped around a series of concepts which are critical for computers and writing. We’ll read relevant web pages, essays, and use appropriate computer programs in Simpkins 309, our computer classroom outfitted with the Adobe Creative Suite. Our readings and activities break down into three broad units, though there will be extensive overlap:

Course readings come from a wide variety of genres and disciplines. Some provide historical background. Quite a few are how-to guides or some form of technical documentation. A few readings give a sense of the “status quo” of thinking about computers and writing. Still others are written to provoke and inspire. Given this variety, our approach to the readings will vary considerably from week to week. Sometimes we will dive deep into the texts, questioning their assumptions and reading very critically. Sometimes our approach will be intensely pragmatic, mining the readings for help or using them as a reference.

Our course activities will include use of the following technologies:

Graduate students who take the course will extend the study of Computers & Writing by investigating the branch of rhetoric and composition with the same name.

Learn more about the course by exploring the rest of this syllabus. Please, do contact me if you have any questions.