Preface
How to Use This Pressbook
This Pressbook has been developed as a platform for hosting an introductory course at the intersection of digital methods and disability studies. The course content has been piloted first as an asynchronous, online course. Organized around a scaffolding assignment in which students created a digital project, the instructor used the modules to offer space for students to experiment with digital tools and methods. The sample course outline and assignment instructions can be found in the back matter of the Pressbook or at the following links:
Sample assignment descriptions and breakdown
In the second run of this course, we worked with a community-based group of disabled self-advocates. This time, we moved through the modules swiftly, covering two per day in the week-long, synchronous, online session. Our focus was on introducing the critical concepts relevant to disability studies and thinking through how they would find expression in the digital sphere. The disabled community members would later go on to use the exercises and tools presented in the Pressbook to launch digital campaigns for improved access to housing and attendant services.
Throughout the Pressbook, exercises are primarily developed as if users are working independently. In this preface, we have included ‘Instructor notes‘ corresponding to module exercises, offering suggestions and collaborative documents to adapt these exercises into a more dialogical form (coming March 31, 2022).
Included in the Pressbook back matter are Youtube tutorials for some of the digital tools needed to carry out module exercises. At the time of the Pressbook preparation, these tools are widely available and free for use. We recognize this may change over time and encourage users to substitute alternatives as needed.
Where possible, links have been PermaCC’d. This means that the content on these sites has been archived for future access, regardless of whether the original site is still operating. However, there are many live links to YouTube videos, digital galleries, and podcasts; please notify us at eignagni@ryerson.ca if these become unavailable in the future.
