This course explores the various ways humans write and have written since the beginning of writing.  In short, this is a survey of the practical methods or systems of meaningful inscriptions – knife, brush, quill, paint, ink, pencil, print, and pixel — and of the sites of writing itself — clay, animal skin, parchment, linen, wood pulp and cyberspace.  By studying the material origins of writing, students will come to understand how the making of writing simplifies and complicates communication.