Tag Archives: week9

The Hidden Power of the Interface

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After reading the final chapter in Borsuk’s “The Book”, I was captivated by the idea that Borsuk talks about in how we need to start viewing the interface of the page and how we as a society interact with it. Never in my life would I have imagined the interface of a page as a “crystal goblet” in which the desired information can be shown to you easily due to the accessibility and utility that the interface has. “A good interface, according to human-centered design principles, is like Warde’s crystal goblet: a transparent vessel which we access information we want”(198). Borsuk highlights the importance of how we can use the tool and view it because it is something that we never really had interest, nor have we ever thought about it on that level. We are always concerned with the content, but never with the interface and how that may alter how we the readers view the text.

Physical book’s interface not only allows us to interact with the text and content itself, but with the concept of the interface itself in which we can also add information. Essentially, we are learning how to read the system of the interface at a closer level than usual. Considering how we interact with physical books, I found it intriguing on how we use e-books and try to replicate that same interface interaction from the physical books.

Another quote that stuck out to about how we interact with physical books and e-books is, ”To change the physical form of the artifact is not merely to change the act of reading . . . but to profoundly transform the metaphorical relation of word to world”(203). Going from physical to digital changes everything about how we as the reader interact with the artifact itself. Yes, it may be showing the same letters, words and content, but it is no longer using paper and that in itself already alters how the text should be viewed. See as how Borsuk mentions how it changes the metaphorical relation, this sentence reminded me of last week’s class discussion on how digital text is essentially code which is HTML and it is just a bunch of flashing lights. At its core, that’s what the artifact is and how do we the reader interact with that?

Week 9: Methods of Studying Book as/in Networks & Media Archeology 

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When I read Robert Darnton’s essay “What Is the History of Books?”, I was surprised by how many different things he connects to something as ordinary as a book. At first, I thought he would just talk about old printing methods or famous writers. Instead, he describes a whole system of people, materials, and ideas working together. For Darnton, a book is part of a communication circuit that links authors, printers, publishers, booksellers, and readers. Each step influences the others, and the reader even closes the circle by reacting to what has been written.

I really liked this idea because it makes books seem alive, not just objects sitting on a shelf. The example of the 18th-century bookseller Rigaud, who had to smuggle Voltaire’s works through borders and censorship, shows how political and risky reading could be. It reminded me that books have always been about power. Who gets to print, sell, and read what.

Darnton also talks about how this field of “book history” brings together many disciplines, from sociology to economics. I find that exciting because it shows how literature is never isolated from the world around it. As a student today, I can also see how his “communication circuit” still applies, just with new players. Online publishers, e-books, and social media instead of printing presses. Readers still influence writers, only much faster now.

One part that stayed with me is Darnton’s question about how reading has changed over time. He mentions that people in the past often read a few books very deeply, while today we read many things more quickly. I recognized myself there, constantly reading, but maybe not always really absorbing.

In the end, Darnton made me see books as part of a larger story of human communication. His essay isn’t only about history, it’s about how ideas travel, survive, and keep connecting people, even centuries later.