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In “The Humanist Moment,” Chris Higgins sets out to recover a tenable, living humanism, rejecting both the version vilified by the anti-humanists and the one sentimentalized by the reactionary nostalgists. Rescuing humanism from such polemics is only the first step, as we find at least nine rival, contemporary definitions of humanism. Which movement or theory is the real humanism? Higgins contends that we can reconstruct a critical, dialectical humanism from the very tensions in these conceptions. On this view, humanism is neither a theory nor a movement, but a moment, a specific intervention evincing characteristic sensibilities, enabling us to navigate through one of a number of recurring dead spots in the life of culture. Higgins outlines four ongoing human dialectics whose vibrant center the humanist helps us regain: genuine hope/acceptance in the face of both fantasy and cynicism; combined awareness of our connectedness and distinctiveness rejecting both dogmatic universalizing and particularizing discourses; and humane learning as distant from scholasticism as it is from anti-intellectualism. An entire section is devoted to the fourth dialectic, showing how humanism has appeared as a corrective both to historicism and to presentism, helping us reconnect with the untimely, living voice of tradition.

The paper is a theoretical reflection on a research study of `Create-A-Scape', a software resource for making mediascapes to support learning in the primary and secondary school curriculum. Mediascapes are collections of location-sensitive texts, sounds and images that are geo-tagged or `attached to' the local landscape, and learners use mobile technologies, such as PDAs, to roam in a space or landscape to detect and respond to these multimedia tags. The study, commissioned by Futurelab, was conducted in the summer of 2007 in England. Its aims were to investigate the Create-A-Scape resource and present insights into its use, perceptions of use, and the implications and potential of mediascape tools for learning, teaching and pedagogy. A survey of all who had downloaded the software outlined early perceptions and use of the resource. Five selected case studies were developed through visits, observations and interviews with teachers and pupils using the resources to create mediascape activities. A cross-case analysis articulated three distinctive theoretical perspectives, namely creativity, teacher knowledge and a sense of place. The paper presents the conduct and findings of the study, develops the discussion of the theoretical framework, and considers the potential of such resources for mobile technologies in curriculum integration, and supporting learning in meaningful physical places.