English 494, Spring 2009

English 494, Writing in a Digital Age, Spring 2009

Katherine Heenan
Writing Programs
Department of English
Box 870302
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302

Overview

English 494 focuses on the conventions and interconnectedness—the weaving of text, images, sound, and video—of writing in a digital age. The course is designed to increase students' awareness and understanding of how, perhaps now more so than ever before, writing requires specific attention to context, audience, and meaning-making. Special emphasis will be placed on the theory and practical rhetorical conventions for social and digital media. Our goal throughout the semester will be to critically evaluate the rhetorical, social, cultural, educational, and ethical dimensions of digital texts; to examine issues of technology and literacy; and to interrogate identity (including gender, race, class, and more), and representation in digital spaces.

The topics we cover, the readings we do, and the discussions we have in this course should help us to:

explore and understand social and digital spaces as rhetorical spaces;
understand the various cultural dynamics of digital and social writing arenas;
better understand the multiple and layered elements of digital writing conventions;
become more sophisticated navigators of digital information; and
become more effective writers and communicators in a digitally mediated world.