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Featured: Writing in Digital Cultures (WRIT 2004)

Featured: Writing in Digital Cultures (WRIT 2004)

Featured Course:
Writing in Digital Cultures AP/WRIT 2004
3.0 credits
Next Offering: Fall 2022 section A
Tuesdays, 2:30pm-5:30pm
On campus seminar

Mobile devices can change the way we write and think about the world

People standing by a white wall holding mobile devices
Photo by fauxels

Have you ever wondered how mobile devices can change the way we write and think about the world? Have you ever had an idea for a mobile app but aren’t sure where to start?

In this course, we’ll explore these questions as we learn to write about, with, and for mobile technologies. This version of Writing in Digital Cultures is all about the mobile devices—such as smart phones, computer tablets, and wearable devices—that are all around us.

From text messages to viral videos, we use mobile writing and composing practices to complete everyday tasks while expressing ourselves and engaging our communities. In this course, we will explore and practice this kind of writing while exploring how power and identity dynamics like class, gender, and disability matter.

Mobile technologies and applications are often presented to us as neutral and accessible. We’ll explore how and why this isn’t always the case while learning how to design and produce accessible, equitable, and ethical technologies. The goal is not only to discuss the possibilities available when composing with mobile technologies but also to provide us with a new way to think critically about ourselves, our communities, and our mobile devices.

Learn through production and play

  • Design a mockup and wireframe for a mobile app idea of your own
  • Produce and compose a short video of your digital history using a mobile device
  • Analyze one of your favorite mobile apps to explore its rhetorical features and functions

Meet the Professor

Professor Laura Allen Headshot

Hello! My name is Dr. Laura L. Allen, and I am an Assistant Professor in the Writing Department at York University. I specialize in digital rhetorics, race, and family literacy. I am excited to teach Writing in Digital Cultures for the Fall 2022 term.

My favourite thing about teaching this course is that the use of mobile devices in class is essential. I know that students are often asked to put their mobile devices away, but this class explores what happens when we bring our devices out to analyze, explore, critique, and play!

Check out the Writing Department's suite of amazing courses. The Writing Department's faculty is committed to your development as an effective writer.