Week Nine: Methods of Studying Book

Posted on by
Reply

As our study of books nears the modern, digital-age, it is necessary to recognize the challenges that come with what we consider media archaeology. As a field, media archaeology is hard to define as it has no founding institution or principles which scholars may refer to and the advent of today’s ever-evolving digital landscape furthers the ambiguity. 

A strength and a weakness to digital creation is accessibility and its ability to support experimentation by any scholars and creators who can access such technology. The digital democratizes media production and includes more voices in scholarly discourse, however, with a surplus on information comes voices falling into the margins. As highlighted in An Archaeology of Media Archaeology, Huhtamo and Parikka present, “Media archaeologists have concluded that widely endorsed accounts of contemporary media culture and media histories alike often tell only selected parts of the story, and not necessarily correct and relevant parts. Much has been left by the roadside out of negligence or ideological bias” (3). While media archaeology aims to uncover media history that dominant narratives overlook, Huhtamo and Parikka warn against “widely endorsed accounts” as being notable but not neutral. Though such certain aspects of media culture may be widely accepted, they “often tell only selected parts of the story” with what is “selected” being a site of politics and power. What is “correct and relevant” will always be subjective, but it points to exclusion occurring in media archaeology though the discipline having best interests in preservation of varying backgrounds and perspectives. 

In the digital age, accessibility presents an illusion of inclusivity as algorithms and platforming of certain voices make it impossible for all to be heard. While conversations of AI replacing human creativity is ever prevalent today, as a scholar I feel more concerned about what information and narratives are already lost. I will be interested as we move forward into experimental and digital literature to know more about who are the creators behind the archives we observe and if their backgrounds are different than those of traditional literature.

Are digital text’s fixed?

Posted on by
Reply

There are many affordances to e-books and digital texts, but what are the drawbacks? Reading digitally changes the intimacy between text and reader, creating more distance between a person and what they read. The power of the codex is so effective because it is fixed; once it is printed, it cannot be changed. However, that begs the question: Is digital text fixed in the way codices are? Or is there a way for them to be tampered with?

We live in unprecedented times of censorship and deletion. Is there a way the government can tamper with digital text to benefit them and their agenda? As seen in the text, “Before considering contemporary e-readers, we need to explore the development of the e-book they support, which changed the relationship of word to world by turning text into data, fundamentally altering its portability. texts’ digital life unteathers it from any specific material support, making it accessible through a variety of interfaces.(Borsuk, pg 203) This quote’s use of the word, unteather, supports my argument that text is no longer connected or tethered to tangible material. Thus, making it an unreliable and unfixed medium.

The codex can always be relied on not to change. You set a book down, and the contents will never change. Digital text, however, ceases to exist once you turn the computer off and is susceptible to change or tampering. The word relationship is also powerful here, stating that the relationship between word and world has changed. Text is now data, which is a part of a much bigger online picture. The relationship between the reader and the word is now more distant. A reader is no longer fondling the page in an intimate intanglement, grasping new information with every page turn. This all affects the way a person will read and connect with the text. Thus, creating a new world of taking in information.

The Book Chapter Four

Posted on by
1

In Chapter four, the conversation of interfaces really interested me. Borsuk discussed how we encounter interfaces continually, on many different levels and devices, each being different and unique. She says-  “A good interface, according to human-centered design principles, is like Ward’s crystal goblet: a transparent vessel through which we access the information we want. This invisibility may be marked as utility, but it is not necessarily in our best interest” (page 116). As she discusses the invisibility of interfaces she says how this can harm us, as it limits our ability to understand them. She says this turns us into just consumers, and blocks the ability for us to make content. I thought this was an interesting observation, the Kindle being an example of this, its interface changing the way I read or consume a book. I knew this prior to reading this chapter, but thinking about it-it really does drastically change how I read. I feel like I skip through pages quicker and consume books faster on a Kindle or e-book device, then I would with a physical book. The difference in interface changes the difference in the content I’m consuming, I do not read the same way on a Kindle that I do with a physical book. This conversation about interfaces made me think more deeply about how I consume content on different devices, as well as how an interface in general changes the experience of the consumer. Each interface I consume has a different outcome than the rest, if I read a e book on a computer versus a Kindle, my engagement is deeper on the latter. I had not thought about how important an interface can be when consuming media, and how it overall changes my reading experience.

Another concept that fascinated me was the discussion of the “Physical Archive of the Internet Archive.” The text says “Physical Archive of the Internet Archive, housed in forty-foot climate-controlled shipping containers in Richmond, California, to maintain the books, records, and movies in their digital archive” (page 125). This caught my attention because I grew up 15 minutes away from Richmond, California, and I did not know this existed. I was intrigued with the fact that Borsuk was saying that libraries did not want physical books, which was a part of the creation of the internet archive. I had not thought about the fact that physical books were not wanted, I thought it would be the opposite, but it is interesting to read about how the internet archive was Birthed. A lot of books are being deaccessioned by libraries because the digital format now exists, which is sort of sad to think that digital versions are championing the print versions. Now that I know how I consume digital literature differently than physical literature, I prefer the latter. I enjoyed reading about the digitization of books and the interface as context to reading materials. 

Extra Credit: Searching the Stacks

Posted on by
2

Prior to our class, I had never stopped to consider that I did not know how to physically go and find a book in the library. I reflect back on the entirety of my education and realize that at no point was this system taught to me as I’ve been educated in a digital age. When asked to look at the call number in Special Collections, I recognized the significance of this number to find a book in the library system, however, without the help of a librarian, I did not think that I could find the book myself. For this reason, I felt it was important for me as a scholar to learn how to use the librarian and understand the experience of trying to find a source through physical means and not the digital I have been accustomed to.

I decided I wanted to try to find Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado as I am currently working on writing a paper about this novel and still need sources to support my thesis. To begin this process, I first went on the library’s website to find where the book could be found, which I now recognize is a privilege in granting me a starting point. The library’s website was very convenient as it gave me a map to follow on the fourth floor.

Once I made it to the fourth floor, I began looking for the section “PS” as the book’s call number listed and subsequently section “3613”. This was not particularly challenging, moreso, it just took time for me to find the correct stack as I am not familiar with the library.

The most tedious part of this process was once I found the correct stack was scanning the shelves for the correct book and call number. To fit on the books’ spines, the call numbers were very small, which took a close eye, but I did ultimately find the book I needed and another book by Machado next to it which was a helpful find.

This process made me have a greater appreciation for easy access to digital libraries, though it gave me greater confidence in my research abilities if I need to access a physical source of information. Due to being more accustomed with the digital library than the physical one, I took note of my discomfort in having to find a source myself without a search engine to assist me, however, it was important to me to know I could achieve this task through a learning mindset and without asking for help. Though it would have been easier to find the book online, this physical experience of taking myself to the library, walking through the aisles, and searching for information forced me to be more engaged with research and critically think about what information I needed to know to find what I needed, like the call number. In today’s age of access to information being such a quick process due to technology, this act of slowing down made me reflect on intentionality with research and form greater academic self-reliance.

A Forgotten Art

Posted on by
3

Unlike a canvas in the art world; the sheet of paper is not a respected piece of art form and also a forgotten one. Mak shows us how true this is when explaining how we as a society have been using paper for essentially for over two millenia, and we have never really looked into the piece of paper itself. That we have always looked past it and perhaps, we may have read the page to quickly (literally). “In our haste to establish a history of the book, we have read the page too quickly. The page has remained a favored spaced and metaphor for the graphic communication ideas over the span of centuries and across different cultural milieux – Yet the page has become transparent, disappearing in its very function”(Mak 8). Mak is telling us that we as a society have never appreciated paper and what it has done for us even though its our preferred choice of space to share our imagination. It is indeed more than just a container in which ideas can be woven into it and that more is the history in which we often forget about quiet often. As Mak states in the quote, we constantly associate drawing and writing on a paper which is its function, but never saw past its function to truly learn about the material and history of the paper. Pretty ironic considering how we are never taught about the history of paper even though we constantly use it or see it almost every single day of our lives.

I too, am a person who never really paid much attention to the page. I always viewed it as a place to explore one’s imagination, but its physical aspect was something I never took into thought. Which is crazy considering how I grew up knowing the differences between the material of paper, but never really the why its using that specific material. Mak and Borsuk’s ideas of looking past the content and looking into the physical form of these art pieces reveals to us that we as a society are starting to lose the real history of some important things because we are blinded by the power of its function.

Surrealism in Short

Posted on by
2

A child looks up to the sky and makes out an elephant, a piece of cheese, or an animated character from a popular cartoon–all within the clouds. That same child, grown up, may now see new configurations, or they may very well search for those same images above their heads. When looking at clouds, the surrealist attempts to embody the youthful mind in search of nothing specific, but rather any and every thought that crosses their mind. Drawing from Bonnie Mak’s “How the Page Matters” and Phillip Megg’s “History of Graphic Design” section on Surrealism, our worldviews are encouraged to be ever-changing, rather than stagnantly adhering to tradition.
As cloud-sighting is yet to follow a traditional norm, the same cannot be said for writing. Mak weighs in on this, saying, “From a young age, we are trained to believe that the boundaries of the interface are always identical to the edges of the material platform of the page. (Mak)” In a modern example, it could be seen as the default margins for Google Docs I’m typing through now. I have this much space; therefore, I must use it, and so I do. Most people follow suit, though to the surrealist, the page is no longer a constraint, but a feeding ground. With this movement, “Intuition and feeling could be freed, (Megg)” and the question turns from “what do I want to fill this page?” into simply “what do I want?”
Though asking “what do I want?” is not always the question when considering stream-of-consciousness or automatism writing. Allowing subjectivity opens the mind to past associations, such as the elephant or the piece of cheese. To change your mind requires a dissolution of previous thoughts, traditions, or beliefs. Only then will the cloud acquire a completely new meaning–one you may have never known possible.
But why is this important? Why is a new cloud configuration important to us as humans? The answer lies in what the surrealists seek–an uninhibited truth. For example, books without blank space existed until someone stepped back from the tradition of pinching pennies and left a bunch of blank space. In turn, this opened the door to a multitude of benefits, whether room for marginalia or easier, faster reading, as noted by Mak.
It’s important to note that the example I’m labeling surrealism existed years before the term was coined. Intuition has existed since the dawn of time, and the times human draw their focus to it may all be called surrealist. So, sure, you may see an elephant in the clouds because you have before, but what does your gut see?

Week 8: Propaganda, Attitude, and Artistic Choices

Posted on by
4

Everything is political and has a purpose, especially in what people view. Every letter font, size, style of language, is chosen for a specific purpose. Art, paper, and ink, have history in political events, pressure, and perspective.

For example, we talked about in class how Blackletter changed to Roman type during the Nazi regime because of the founding and implications of using that specific font. Type, font, and ink, can be used for different types of propaganda and tried distinctions between people and who they see as unequal to them to status. Historically, wealthier people have tried to bar out or distinct themselves from those with less through refined language, slang, or writing in latin or calligraphy. They’ll have personalized stationery with multiple envelopes with gold leaf or wax.

Often with printed or written propaganda, there will be a set standard that it is based upon. There will be a certain process used to achieve different varieties of products but will achieve the same outcome of drawing viewers in and getting them to associate an emotion with an action or person. I’ve found it very interesting in different eras and places, the same tactics are used repeatedly. Big font with strong primary colors with simple, but strong text. The language and assortment of text is curt to get the point across like Hope, Change, We can do it!, even callbacks when Trump uses Reagan’s campaign slogan in simple font with a relatively plain red background. This usage of bright spread ink shows strong emotion and connects the viewer to past memory and likeness to another. It reminds me of a bull seeing red and continuing to tie the color with the action of charging towards it.

To be effective, something doesn’t need to be detailed, it needs to be eye-catching and sharp. Rigid lines or symbols or even attitudes of characters on the page reflect this ferocity of the message. The more detail it has, it causes us look too long, examining the intricateness of the propaganda and draw out it’s motives or ignore it as it isn’t easily digestible.

The printing press and publishing will always be one of the most powerful assets to propaganda and the spread of influence, like Gutenberg’s first purpose, spreading the bible. Every piece that goes into making posters or art or text is done with intention, changing the way for generations we have viewed and acted in the world.

The Medium is the Message

Posted on by
3

In Bonnie Mak’s introduction and first chapter of “How the Page Matters,” she introduces the importance of the page and how it influences the reader. In class, we have had many discussions about how “the medium is the message.” This sentiment has been woven through Mak’s chapters in which she argues that there is more to meet the eye when it comes to a page of a book. On page 8, of Mak’s chapter, she writes, “Yet the page has become transparent, ‘disappearing in its very function.’ So accustomed to its form, we no longer notice how the page is fundamental to the transmission of ideas and that it shapes our interpretation of those ideas.” With this quote we see how the page has slowly slipped from our minds. As we read, we no longer view the page as a canvas or artform. At first glance, a page might simply be seen as words on paper but it goes beyond that. Those words were carefully formatted in a way to capture a reader’s attention. The page is the vessel for the author’s content, able to display the information in the way that they want to convey it. Mak echoes Amaranth Borsuk’s ideas of content and books in which both of them claim that books are vessels for information. In chapter 2 of Borsuk’s “The Book” she claims, “the book as content rather than object.” These claims support that the medium is the message. The way that books present their content is extremely important to what the reader consumes and absorbs. As a result there is a deep intention placed into the consideration of format, typography, illustrations, etc. Every factor that goes into a book has the ability to alter the reader’s opinion. Later in her chapter, Mak expresses this importance of how every aspect of the page is incredibly significant. On page 16, Mak writes, “likewise, the structures for arranging these letter forms in manuscripts and printed books are graphic indications of how designers visualized ideas and organized them for themselves and other readers. The processes of thinking and reading, then, may be discerned in part from the clues offered by the page.” The page is an underrated yet incredibly crucial aspect of the book. This where the message is laid out for the reader. Significant time and effort has gone into the placement of ideas so that they reflect the author’s intentions. The layout is critical for information absorbtion. The page itself has become the message.

Week 8: Material Life Ideas

Posted on by
3

After reading Bonnie Mak’s introduction to “How the Page Matters”, it made me think about how I read books. I spend so much time thinking about “the what” when I read (the words, the arguments, the stories) that I rarely pause to consider “the how” when I read. More importantly, how the physical page itself shapes my understanding.

There was one passage that particularly struck me. “The page transmits ideas, of course, but more significantly influences meaning by its distinctive embodiment of those ideas.” (page 5) This seemingly straightforward observation leads to a deep line of investigation. With this, Mak is arguing that the page isn’t just a neutral container for information, it’s an active participant in creating meaning. The selection of paper or parchment, the size of the margins, and the inclusion or exclusion of images are not only aesthetic choices. They are also cognitive ones that radically change the way we interact with text.

What really got me fascinated with the reading the most is Mak’s challenge to the notion of “print culture” as a discrete historical era. I’d always kinda accepted the common narrative that the printing press created a revolutionary break from manuscript culture, but she presents me to see continuity and overlap. Even today, as we navigate between print books, PDFs, and mobile screens, I never would’ve thought we would be participating in the same ongoing conversation about materiality that medieval scribes engaged with when choosing between papyrus rolls and codices.

This makes me wonder about our current moment of supposed digital revolution. Are we really experiencing something unprecedented, or are we simply the latest chapter in a much longer story of technological adaptation? How does the material difference affect my understanding and memory when I read an article on my phone as opposed to in a real journal? What little changes in meaning take place when I turn in papers as Google documents instead of printed pages?

Mak’s work reminds me that intellectual history isn’t just about tracing ideas through time. It is about understanding how those ideas have been physically instantiated, designed, and redesigned across centuries. 

More Than a Safeguard

Posted on by
4

Within the first part of Bonnie Mak’s text, How the Page Matters, Mak states, “…the page has emerged as a safeguard for intellectual and artistic achievement” (Mak 3). But I believe the page is more than just a safeguard, it is also (something Dr. Pressman mentions a lot) a form of radical action, through the unique use of a page we reevaluate some of our core ideas and notions of the reality around us. For instance, if we think back to one of the special collection items we viewed last week, the astronomy foldable piece (if someone could remind me of its actual name and maker, I would deeply appreciate it because I am gelling right now), reimagines how we see the page. The individual triangles can be pages by themselves, or when it is all laid out it could be one big page, or when folded in a 3D shape the page itself can become 3D. These changes radically change our perception of reality. One thing can be many, and can shift between two states (like 2D to 3D). Both the piece and Mak’s text makes us think that if we don’t even know what a page is, then what do we really know about the world, society, and politics. There is this paradigm shift that deconstructs what we see and builds it anew. They both challenge and update what has commonly been seen as ‘normal,’ and leads to question things on a grander scale. The page can be a tool to bring about change not only in ourselves, but also in society (etc). This makes the page more than just a safeguard, more than a defensive tool, but also makes it an offensive tool that can make a real tangible change. Even making minutia changes to the page’s architecture can have profound impacts. Something as small as a margin can transform the way we take in or see knowledge. It also can change how we react to the content on the paper itself. One example I can think of is the use of margins, negative space, and words on a page that holds a poem to construct a specific shape. Or I also think about a page in a kid’s book that mimics the shape of the content or vice-versa. For instance, if the page is made into an apple shape, no matter the content you will automatically think of an apple, and also try to relate it to the content on the page itself. By deliberately changing the architecture of the page, one takes a radical action to change the readers’ thoughts and perceptions of the world.