Instructions: The course paper will be based on your reading of Dennis Baron’s book, A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution. This book discusses the ways that changes in technology have influenced how we write and how we read. In the course of his discussion, Baron wanders through many different topics, both historical (clay tablets, the pencil and the typewriter) and contemporary (the challenges of writing on a computer screen). In its blending of historical and contemporary concerns, Baron’s book offers a good way to reflect on the themes of this course. You will, of course, note that Baron’s book is getting a little dated as technologies have evolved. This dated quality can be useful as a way of prompting reflections on how the digital revolution continues to affect how we record, store, and access recorded information.
Your paper should be part book review (ca. three or four pages) and part reflection on how Baron’s various topics relate to the evolving technologies and social changes reflected in the readings throughout the course. Select one or two areas and focus on them. Connect Baron’s arguments to the readings you have done.
I wasn’t able to link the book, but I can share the word document links for each reading for the course.
