Tutespark... just a fancy word for discussion, or a revolution in course delivery? The first lecture of the semester saw me sitting in one of the first few rows of a lecture theatre choc-full of unfamiliar faces. Two of those faces were standing behind the lecture podium plastered with anticipation over this turn-of-phrase. What do you think, bloggers?
The lecture consisted of an introductory spiel on the emergence of 'new communication technologies'. With the course expectations and assessment housekeeping out of the way, one-sided discussion turned to more intriguing matters: what constitutes 'new' and 'old' technologies, and under what circumstances does new technology become old? A brief journey through the history of communication technology development didn't answer the question, but raised several other interesting dilemmas.
I think perhaps that the student who suggested 'painting' as one of the first communication technologies developed had a point - drawing is technically a style of painting... whether it is done on a wall with sticks or in the sand with nothing but a finger. This painterly form of communication technology lives on today on public bathroom doors as well as approved public graffiti artworks.
Since the lecture, I stumbled across this interesting clip about new communication technologies on YouTube. The statistics deal with the increasingly pervasive nature of communication technologies in society. Check it out here...
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