Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 15, No. 611.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
[1] From: "Al Magary" <al@magary.com> (11)
Subject: Re: 15.603 pencil and paper
[2] From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Mats_Dahlstr=F6m=22?= (38)
<Mats.Dahlstrom@hb.se> (by way
Subject: Ang: 15.608 pencil and paper
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 07:35:20 +0100
From: "Al Magary" <al@magary.com>
Subject: Re: 15.603 pencil and paper
> *pencil and paper* n. An archaic information storage and transmission
> device that works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp.
Etc.
No one has yet mentioned in this hacker's jest the arrogance of new
technologists toward the old creaky stuff. Interestingly, this definition
satirizes the new technology without restoring the value of the old.
And--infinite mirrors here--in this discussion we are congratulating
ourselves for recognizing the value of the old even while exploiting the
new. (But--tsk--in plaintext, not HTML. Where is something to scribble
with when you need it?)
Al Magary
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 07:36:24 +0100
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Mats_Dahlstr=F6m=22?=
<Mats.Dahlstrom@hb.se> (by way
Subject: Ang: 15.608 pencil and paper
Haskell Springer wrote: "Forgive my possible naivete, but if that fellow
was creating links (rather than paper footnotes) for T.S. Eliot's numerous
obscure allusions, taking care to make them more illuminating,
contextualizing, than academic footnotes usually are--even if he did so
with Eliot's endnotes themselves--why isn't that a useful application of
newer technology rather than a humorous misconception?"
Because the explicit hypertextual links are embedded in the very same level
as the edited text. Hypertextual links might be used to express
intertextual - or other, such as navigational, structural etc - relations,
but there are also other means to accomplish this. Intertextuality is
phenomenologically speaking one thing (implicit allusions operating at the
level of the signified), hypertextuality another (explicit links operating
on the level of signifiers). Intertextuality (references, allusions,
citations, implications, paraphrase, notes and what have you) exhibits a
far more varied and sophisticated territory than does the so far rather
crude hyper link. Using digital hypertext to embody intertextual relations
(such as allusions etc) entails the danger of turning the fertile question
marks of the edited work into sterile exclamation marks, thus "flattening"
the work.
Further: adjacent to this is the well-known discussion as to how to signal
the presence of the editor in the edited, digital text by way of visual
rhetorics and (typo)graphic markers. Different types of intertextual
connections might e.g. be signalled using different techniques such as
small javabased popup windows versus new browser windows or moving within
the same window; or using varying colours for anchors having varying types
of destinations etc (I believe The Internet Shakespeare Editions i.a. uses
such features) (haven't we had this discussion before?) . It is a delicate
question to what degree the editor is might be justified in making his /
her presence in the (if I may use the term) "copy-text" - whether we're
talking print editions or electronic ones. Intertextually alluding to Hans
Ulrich Gumbrecht, I'd say the editor has to know his/her roles, and play
them tactfully.
Yours / Mats D
Mats Dahlstrm, PhD student and lecturer
Swedish School of Library and Information Studies
Univ. College of Bors / Univ. of Gothenburg, Sweden
mad@adm.hb.se ; +46 33 16 44 21 ; http://www.adm.hb.se/personal/mad/
The history of structuralism is one from Saussure to not saussure.
(Malcolm Bradbury)
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