This document tells the story of how writing technologies have evolved from speaking and handwriting to the printing press and modern word processors. It focuses on how these advances have impacted information sharing and literacy over time. Specifically, it discusses how speaking was the early form of communication, followed by the development of writing by hand. The printing press then allowed mass production of texts and increased literacy. More recently, word processors have given authors greater control over their writing and made publishing more accessible. Overall, the document traces the progression of communication technologies and their effects on preserving and spreading knowledge.

1. Finding My Font
A Grand Tale of Lucid Communication!

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

3. With speaking, we

4. We represent meaning visually
using our hands and tools!

5. Speaking>skill & art, >
text to preserve

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

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

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

11. 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

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

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

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

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

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

17. 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)

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

19. A student points to a
book on typography

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

21. • 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!

24. • 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
• So what’s next in my (our) grand
communication adventure? - A hint ...

26. 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 License. To view a
copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/license/results-one?
q_1=2&q_1=1&field_commercial=n&field_derivatives=sa&field_jurisdiction=ca&field_format=&field_worktitle=Finding+My+Font
&field_attribute_to_name=Joan+Vinall-Cox
%2C+Ph.D.&field_attribute_to_url=&field_sourceurl=&field_morepermissionsurl=&lang=en_US&language=en_US&n_question
s=3