The course traces the development of communication technologies and examines their collective and cumulative influence on society and culture. The course also looks at how the social uses of technology shape the development and application of the technology in question. The dialogic nature of the course encourages comparative analysis across history and cultures. To give shape to the course, the emphasis will be on the rise of literacy, the impact of printing and the electronic media, and concludes with an examination of the new digital technologies.
