Reimagine the future of text—help "The eGutenberg Project" build it's logo

eGutenberg

The eGutenberg Project is a program for teachers to learn about New Media Literacies, participatory culture and the world of open source data. The program grew out of the need to ENGAGE students more actively in learning, by getting their teachers psyched about the rapidly changing world of information and technology. Play is at the center of what we do, but being housed in an Ivy League college, we need to find a delicate balance of rigor/seriousness & play in how we tell our story to the world.

We help teachers reimagine the future of "text" through hands on production, research and play. Our first project is to remix and republish public domain editions of classical literature as eBooks with multimedia and critical annotations.

Some slogans we've played with (we haven't settled on one yet):

eGutenberg, teach the future of text
eGutenberg, reimagine the future of text
eGutenberg, remix the future of text

This non-profit helps teachers integrate 21st century skills into their curriculum and instruction so that students can become better readers, writers and researchers across and through digital technologies.

The program builds and shares methods to teach advanced understanding of complex texts, integrate technology into the curriculum, and navigate the rapidly changing landscape of information and communication. Our work with teachers provides a vehicle to explore the expansive reading and writing practices that will be required of students to fully meet the challenges and demands of 21st century literacies.

Here's an example: Imagine a social studies teacher struggling to provide historical context for her students as they study Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” She may take her students to the library to conduct research on the Civil War, or maybe even transport a stack of important texts on a cart to her room so that students may have temporary access. Unfortunately this 20th century approach to resources still pervades in many schools. Now reimagine the same scene, but this time the teacher has the tools and knowledge to build 21st century-based curriculum that teaches students to author annotated eBook editions of the “Gettysburg Address”. Research in this project might include historical images—Daguerreotypes, 19th century letters and journals from the Smithsonian’s online archive—music, regional artwork, and even audio files from the WPA’s Slave Narrative Collection. As students gather and interpret these primary source artifacts, adding their original comments, questions and analysis, they are creating new resources to share with others, whether in the form of eBooks, blogs, web pages, podcasts or other publication venues. Imagine how they deepen their understanding of the “Gettysburg Address” as they read and research its origins, purposes, and message. These student will be taught to be the readers, writers, and researchers that our increasingly technological and global world require. They are learning to combine and create new knowledge to share their learning with other students across the world, becoming contributing members of what Henry Jenkins has termed the “Participatory Culture” of the 21st century.

This grant funded program runs within an Ivy League graduate school of education.

The program itself is completely contemporary—attempting to carry technology and open source culture to teachers and students. But our housing organization has an Ivy League reputation and aesthetic. There is a fine line between rigorous academic and playful and even radical openness.

A few words on the attached sample logos:

The "NYCWP" eps file is a logo I had designed for the last project I worked on. I like the way it conveys the work of the project (teaching writing across NYC) in a playful yet elegant way.

The "World Logos" are all terrific, for my tastes (except the "QVC," "1" and the planes). They seem to be conceptually strong and elegant. I really like the "Dream Project" logo.

The "invention machine" is a design a friend made for my own personal website. It's not a logo — clearly way too crowded — but it gives a sense of an aesthetic I really like.