May 14, 2007 -- SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Robin Williams, an icon in the Macintosh computer community, will be at Cal Poly Thursday, May 17, to speak on 21st century technology. Her talk, titled "We're Just a Blip in the Continuum -The Impact of the Written Word on Humankind," will be at 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Philips Hall in the Performing Arts Center. A reception will follow. Williams is well known for her books on design, typography and technology. She is a frequent speaker at conferences around the United States. Her latest book is "Podcasting and Blogging with GarageBand and iWeb." She is the author of dozens of best-selling and award-winning books about the Macintosh computer, including the groundbreaking “Little Mac Book” and “The Robin Williams Mac OS X Book.” Williams is considered a renaissance woman. Her scholarship bridges modern communication technology with Shakespearean literature. Through her writing, teaching and seminars, she has educated and influenced an entire generation of computer users in the areas of design, typography, desktop publishing, the Mac and the Web. Williams is also a Shakespearean scholar and author of “Sweet Swan of Avon.,” a book that brings the Shakespearean authorship question to life. Williams has studied Shakespeare at St. John's College in Santa Fe and Oxford University in England. For three years she has been a featured speaker at the Authorship Conference at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London and is the founder of The Mary Sidney Society. The story of the written word from the ancient clay tablets of Nineveh to the text on a PDA has been a fascinating leapfrog of typography and technology, said Williams. “While that might seem obvious, what is more subtle is how typographic communication has influenced literacy, impacted society, created religious upheaval, and led to air conditioning.” Williams will discuss how the written word will continue to impact humankind and explore what forms it will take. "We'll take a roller-coaster ride through the defining moments in the history of written and printed communication. Becoming aware of the past makes it disturbingly clear that the future is uncertain. Thank goodness," Williams said. The presentation is sponsored by Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts and the Graphic Communication Department as part of the department's 60th Anniversary Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series 2007. The public is invited to the free talk and reception.