Writing Technologies: Understanding the Past and Imagining the Future

Please join us for a talk given by Jordan Wirfs-Brock (Assistant Professor of Computer Science) and Lydia McDermott (Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse, Director of the Center for Writing and Speaking)

Humans are storytellers, and technology shapes the way we tell stories. In the first half of this talk, we will consider writing as a sociotechnical system by describing how major technological shifts — from clay tablets to typewriters to AI chatbots — have changed practices of reading and writing. Then, we will consider the question: What will reading and writing look like in 25 years? Or 100 years? Or 1,000 years? In the second half of this talk, using critical and speculative design techniques, we will lead the audience through a series of hands-on activities for envisioning alternative technological futures. The audience will leave empowered to envision and create alternate ways of relating to stories through technology.