The New Semester

The spring semester always makes me think of Pee Chee folders.



I'm an office supply addict.

Unlike in the fall, when there are lots of supplies to buy, starting the spring semester always meant reorganizing the folders.



I don’t have any Pee Chees to sort out , but I’m excited for this semester, too.  Although I’ve been teaching the “Media Shifts” class for several semesters, the topic of communication media continues to be interesting since the changes are happening so quickly and so constantly.  I’m fascinated by where we are now and by where we might be going.

My background is in the history of reading.  The scholarly work that I publish concerns readers in the 1700s--a time when reading and books were still a bit new. But some people were concerned that books and the habits of reading would disrupt the social order. And, in many ways, they were right.  The spread of knowledge in books did lead people to think about how society was organized.  Just consider what happened in the 1700s:  The French Revolution and the American Revolution. 

Are there new revolutions to come in the digital age?  I hope we’ll be able to think about this question in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, here's a resource you might want to look at as we think about one of the first people to worry about the consequences of media change--Plato.

Perseus Digital Library