'Ordinary Writings': lower-class writing practices in the transition to mass literacy in Europe, 1800-1918

该项目有助于公众就扫盲和扫盲标准展开辩论。它的历史视角为传统智慧提供了一剂解毒剂。它将表明，扫盲和文盲之间没有明确的区分，文学能力的水平根据具体场合和具体任务而有所不同，识字不需要上学。这将有助于将澳大利亚的研究推向文化史的国际前列。它将表明，文字遗产在所有方面都应该得到充分承认，而不仅仅是作为受过教育的精英的表达。我们书面遗产的这一方面需要重新评估，我们需要改善它的保存和获得它的机会。

This project contributes to public debate on literacy and literacy standards. Its historical perspective offers an antidote to conventional wisdom. It will show that there is no clear separation between literacy and illiteracy, that levels of literary competence vary according to specific occasions and specific tasks, and that schooling is not necessary for literacy acquisition. It will help put Australian research in the international forefront of cultural history. It will show that written heritage deserves full recognition in all its aspects, not just as the expression of educated elites. This aspect of our written patrimony needs re-evaluation, and we need to improve preservation of it and accessibility to it.