Week 02: Print culture and literacy

LECTURE ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 09

Deborah Brandt, "The means of production: Literacy and stratification at the twenty-first century," in Literacy in American lives (2001).
Carl F. Kaestle and Janice A. Radway, "A framework for the history of publishing and reading in the United States 1880-1940," in Carl F. Kaestle and Janice A. Radway, eds., A History of the Book in America, vol. 4 (2009).
Ted Striphas, "E-Books and the Digital Future," in The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control(2009).

If it's your week to write a 500-word article report, you must post this to your section blog before your section meets. An article report should briefly summarize the main argument of the article, and then pose a question or comment in response. You will also want to say a little something about the author of the article and the way people responded to it. What can you find online about the person who wrote the article? Can you find any online reaction to the article? (It probably came from a book, and you can probably find book reviews.)
If it's your week to give a speech, prepare and practice! Otherwise, prepare for a possible extemporaneous speech response.

First five minutes: QUIZ on reading terms (which will have been previewed in lecture)
Two four-minute student speeches (#1 and #2), one on each of the readings (and two two-minute student extemporaneous responses). Your TA will designate a classmate to record your presentations on digital video. The recording will be either emailed to you or uploaded to your discussion section wiki (which you'll be joining this weekend). After watching the recording, you must email your TA with one substantive way in which you could improve your delivery.
Discuss this week's lecture and required readings.
Discuss tasks and strategies for writing assignment #1. (Rough draft due on wiki by start of next week's discussion.)
Discuss the written presentation grading metric.

This week you'll learn how to use your discussion section wiki: