INTRODUCTIONS

by Eric Willis

As I reflect on the Living Literacies experience and the papers from that conference reproduced in this book, I am reminded of a trip to Crete where among other things I had the opportunity to see the Phaistos Disc in Herakleion's Archaeological Museum. This small clay disc from the Minoan civilization is probably 3500 years old and inscribed on both sides with forty-five different pictures in a distinct and fascinating spiral pattern. To this day it is the only one of its kind ever discovered among all the archaeological relics of the Mediterranean and still fascinates scholars, who haven't yet been able to decipher and agree on its meaning. One is left to only imagine what the author of the disc was attempting to communicate and when or if we will ever be able to understand its message.

The tragedy of this lost literacy is a reminder of the timeliness of the Living Literacies project and conference held at York University, Toronto from November 14 to 15, 2002. Intended from the beginning to explore the how, what, and why of literacy, the conference was a huge success at stimulating discussion and debate about the potential meanings of literacy in Canada's advanced technological society of the twenty-first century. What follows here are the presentations from that conference. As captivated and excited as I was by the idea and intent of this conference during the planning stages, I am even more impressed by the range and quality of the presentations included in this book. 

As the Master of Stong College here at York, I take pride in telling you that this conference and book are products of a committee of Fellows of the college that include Rob Bishop, Lara Ubaldi, B. W. Powe, and myself. As the prime mover for both, however, a special thanks goes out to B. W. Powe for the genesis and genius of the idea, the conviction to stay the course through the inevitable bumps and bruises that accompany an undertaking of this magnitude, and for the foresight to promote the significance of this issue. 

As intriguing and mysterious as the Phaistos Disc might well be to scholars, its story also informs us of the importance of seeking to understand and illuminate literacy in its many forms. It is our hope that this publication will help in this process for the reader.