Week 9: Making the hard decisions

During my time here at the iSchool I have written many papers on and about digital texts, digital textuality and digital reading. Deciding on a topic for my final essay in my final book-history-related class seems like it has a little more weight than previous essays – it may be my last chance for awhile to really dig into these topics. In part this decision is also difficult because I was recently told by a professor that if you aren’t making your assignments relevant to your desired career then you are wasting your time. So here’s my dilemma, do I focus on the practical, or on the theoretical?

I thought I might propose two ideas and solicit your opinions, so feel free to weigh in in the comment section!

The Practical:

One topic I’ve been thinking about, especially as it relates to academic librarianship is the toll digital texts have taken on library collections and collection development. In part this has to do with what we’ll be talking about next, specifically digital rights management. How do issues of access affect both the library and the reader? What can be gleaned from current academic publishing practices that may help libraries make better decisions about collection development when it comes to choosing to purchase a text in print or e-book?

Another way I may want to approach this topic (though it may move it away from practical application in the field) is by comparing the stringency of DRM in e-book publishing to the current rise in self publishing, Creative Commons licensing and the remixing that occurs online. I really loved the approach Whitney Anne Trettien took in “A Deep History of Textuality” and the creative way she looked at print-on-demand books. I also think that the various ways out of copyright books are used in the online “communication circuit” could stand in stark contrast to the measures being taken to protect in copyright texts with DRM (Maybe I, like Trettien, could also talk about another “zombie-like” book revitalization – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies anyone?). This essay idea is still a little fuzzy, but I think it provides a lot to work with and could present an interesting comparative look at the different facets of the modern day communication circuit.

The Theoretical:

The more I’ve been thinking about writing on Rief Larson’s Entrances & Exits (from my week 6 blog post which you can read here) the more interesting a test bed it becomes for investigating the “future of the book”. Aside from all the reasons mentioned in my previous post that make Entrances & Exits unique, one characteristic I am now really eager to investigate is the use of GIS technology (specifically Google Maps/Google Street View) to map the experience of reading and a users movement through the text. If you were at the Book History Colloquium a few weeks back, you will remember the really engaging talks about the value of maps and mapping to the idea of colonization and decolonization. Building off some of the insights I gained at the colloquium I think looking at the digital text as “map” and the way this affects the reader’s experience with and interpretation of the text could be particularly rewarding, specifically in relation to the following points:

• The relationship between the representations of reality (Google Street View), actual reality (the fact that maps represent their own version of reality) and fiction (the story being told)

• The relationship between way finding and the experience of reading

• Textual authority – specifically how maps work to enforce authority and “ground” the text

• The psychology of narrative reading

Now these are just some rough ideas which may not make their way into my final essay if I choose to write on Entrances & Exits. I think it may also be useful to look at literature on video games and how video games work as narratives. I am not a big video game fan but it may be valuable to look at how they may employ similar techniques or settings (the ability to move around an environment). Of course, writing on Entrances & Exits will require me to read the book. I think I will set aside the hour sometime Sunday – maybe that will help me make my decision too.

References:

Darnton, Robert. "'What Is the History of Books?' Revisited." Modern Intellectual History 4, no. 3 (2007): 495-508.

Larsen, Rief. Entrances & Exits. Editions at Play, 2016. Access at https://editionsatplay.withgoogle.com/#/detail/p_taCwAAQBAJ

Trettien, Whitney Anne. "A Deep History of Electronic Textuality: the Case of English Reprints Jhon Milton Areopagitica." Digital Humanities Quarterly 7, no. 1 (2013):http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/7/1/000150/000150.html.