Sensing the

World
New mediA Writing
ENGL 4010 | Spring 2020 | Dr. Nathaniel A. Rivers | nathaniel.rivers@slu.edu

How can we use new (digital) media to not only write about the world but to
also change how the world shows up for us—to change how we see,
hear and touch the world? That is the central question for this course, and
it is the primary work of this course as well.

We are past the point in time when we merely express ourselves though a
range of media. Saturated as we are in media-rich environments, we also
sense the world through media. Students in this course thus do more
than compose with new media (although they will also do that);
students in this course explore how digital media technologies
change how they feel and respond to the environments they inhabit.
In this course, students experiment with how various digital media
technologies make the world known to them in new, different ways.

Students will develop a research project built around the sensing

capacities of a digital tool and directed toward a pressing social
issue. How can one engage the mobility of GoPro cameras to research
issues of accessibility? How can one deploy microphones to investigate
gender inequality? How can one utilize arial photography (e.g., a drone) to
map local environmental concerns? How can one use wearables (e.g., a
Fitbit) to trace how individuals (or groups) evaluate the “health” of a body?
Student research projects will culminate in a sophisticated and
compelling report composed to persuasively address (and possibly
redress) their chosen social issue.

English 4010 is a practice-based course driven by the student’s interests

and their chosen research project.