ENG 3803 Fall 2023 Orchard

History of Text Technologies (colloquially known as "HoTT") examines the development of different text technologies across time and space. Tom Standage writes that humans have participated in "social media" for at least two millenia. Long before the digital age, we scrawled graffiti and life stories on village walls, passed along gossip in commonplace books, and continually developed new technologies and methods to circulate their messages more effectively.

During this course, we will explore the social and cultural conditions of text technologies, and how they shaped-- and continue to shape-- how people use (or decide not to use) them across the globe. Along the way, we will also practice how to be ethical historians who critically examine harmful narratives and biases towards the cultures whose text technologies we study.

Class activities will involve: developing our own text technologies, researching in FSU's Special Collections and Archives, and curating our own exhibits.