Finding My Font
A Grand Tale of Lucid Adaptation!

•We become speakers,
•using mouth and ears
•time & place unified

With speaking, we
• begin to tell stories • experience/
create meaning
• we are no longer
locked into the now • imagine
possibilities and
• we can remember
past experiences • plan ahead
• have a point of • but most of all, seek
view and create meaning!
• can spin a
message

We represent meaning visually
using our hands and tools!

Speaking>skill & art,
> text to preserve

Chirography
Language no longer just
transitory;
selections of language can
outlive creators!
Voice separated from words
Tools for recording!
Eyes and symbols carry the
meaning

Centuries Pass ...
Books are rare.
Very few can read or write.
Texts are copied by hand.
Texts with information and
wisdom are sometimes lost
or altered.
But much knowledge is
preserved and passed on!
Time and space no longer
imprison person’s /
culture’s ideas &
information

The Invention of Type!
Type - individual letters
organized into words and
sentences.
Mechanical production,
not by hand.
Many more books.
Many more steps between
author and reader’s text.
Multiple identical copies
of texts.

The Printing Press Leads to
• posters and more politics
• authorized versions of texts
• authorized translations of the Bible
• the goal of universal literacy

Because of the Printing Press,
we developed
• alphabetic indexes
• modern science
• modern poetry and novels
• the quantification of knowledge
• dictionaries
• privacy and plagiarism!

Because of the printing press
The expense & bureaucracy
of publishing limits who can
get published
Type itself gives off a sense
of authority to readers’ eyes/
understanding
Manuscript is further
separated from printed text
One hand, pen, paper >
machinery > text on paper
for eyes

More steps
between writer’s hand and tool
and readers’ eyes

Separation
Writers are distanced from creating a
meaningful text
• handwriting has no authority
• printed text is hegemonic

Visual (still & moving) and
Aural Representations -
20th Century - Mass Media

My world starts with books, photos,
radio, records, movies, television,
(eye/symbol, eye, ear, ear & eye)

I despise my handwriting
• I can’t type without multiple errors
• My composing and publishing are
alienated!
• I don’t try to publish

Technology Liberates!
Word-processing and
the Bank Street Writer
+
My first writing group
=
Neatly printed text I
created directly (with 2
hands and my writing
machinery)

I shape my text directly
and
my appetite is whetted for a beautiful
appearance to equal my meaningful
composition of words

A student points to a
book on typography

• This new tool gives me control over my
text’s appearance!
• With control comes responsibility!
• I study layout, page design and
Fonts

• I use my new tool to write and
publish
• I use my new tool to apply to OISE
• I use my new tool to study how to
learn to use this new tool
• I use my new tool to write a thesis
about learning to use this new tool!

• I found my font - Lucida Grande
• I created my beautiful and meaningful
thesis using my 2 hands & my laptop
• I put it online - accessible beyond
time and place
• Readers’ eyes will see my words in
letter symbols > literacy
• So what’s next in my (our) grand
communication adventure? > secondary
orality and individual connecting >A hint ...

Bibliography & Image Credits
Available on Request
joan.vinallcox@gmail.com
For More About Joan’s Work,
http://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/my-e-portfolio/
and
http://jnthweb.pbwiki.com/
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada
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