At Landmark: Tim Brookes, 'Disappearing Alphabets ' 3/30/15

'Disappearing Alphabets and the Future of the Written Word'

What does the age of Digital Convergence, Twitter, and eBooks mean for the future of the written word? Writer/carver/painter Tim Brookes offers remarkable and thought-provoking perspective on this question by looking at thirteen forms of writing from all over the world that are in danger of extinction. He displays a sample of each script, leading a discussion on how technology will help—and always has helped—define the nature of communication, and shows how the story of a culture can be seen in its writing—even if that writing is (as in these examples) beautiful, bizarre, utterly unfamiliar, and disappearing.

Tim Brookes is a Vermont Humanities Council Speaker. Brookes works at Champlain College as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Professional Writing Program.