Sorry I haven’t written in a while, I got carried away with my research. You would not believe how deep this discussion about print versus digital reading technology goes. From historical viewpoints to scientific evidence, there is so much to think about. On the one hand, we can see an appreciation for the book in its physical form. However, reading about the history of the book, or codex, and its reception over time leads me to reconsider the e-reader. For example, the physical form of the digital text, and how it too could be appreciated by readers of the digital era. I think digital resources also could be considered inferior to print for reasons related to design or easily changeable features. Even though I love print books, I think we aren’t advocating fairly for the digital. After all, new generations are constantly coming of age and changing society. It could be highly possible that, one day, a person would look upon an e-reader with an appreciative eye and reflect fondly upon the sensational experience. –Clarisse McClellan
Year in Review
What a big year for me! Being a library from the B.C.E days, this was such a great experience! Making the jump into books about digital and books in digital form was a completely new opportunity for me. It really took me out of my box, a box that I was not prepared to get out of, but glad I did to further enjoy my time in this class and to maximize the amount I have gained and learned.
Writing in the Margins
I have been thinking about what someone was saying the other day in class, how writing in the margins connects the book to the reader, and basically how all real readers write in the margins. But I would disagree with this. I never, ever, write in the margins. I don’t even like to highlight my textbooks. I think of books as sacred in this way. I like to keep them perfect. I think writing in them disgraces them, so the different interpretations of how we interact with books is very interesting.
Hermione Granger, Signing Off
Well, we had our last official class today! It was bittersweet. But, I’m also quite relieved because now this means I can hit the ground running and continue on with working on my print. Last night, I tore down paper to the size it needs to be which I thought was going to be much harder than it was. Usually a tear bar is required but I made do with folding and ripping.
Tonight, I’ve made time in my schedule to make the actual prints! Obviously I’ll do some rough drafts, but best case scenario, I would be finished with the final drafts tonight! Fingers crossed that happens.
It’s been a great semester with everyone in the class so far, and I wish everyone the best in their future endeavors!
Topic Change
At the very last moment, on Sunday, I changed my topic for my final paper. Why? When doing my research I found myself more drawn to illustrations that contibuted to the work as a whole rather than take away from it. This is why I wanted to write about the benefits of pictures in children’s books and research the different types of illustrated children’s books. I also was able to collect a lot more on the topic, than my previous topic of books tranformed into pieces of art.
-Alexandria
Poems&Plays
In class the other day, we were discussing how poems and plays are read less and less and seen as less important. While I don’t disagree with this, I just thought of an interesting short anecdote I would like to share.
I am an avid Pinterest-er. I, like most millennial ‘basic’ girls, happen to have a quote board on said Pinterest page. Through this, I started seeing a lot of quotes that I liked by a specific author. I ended up buying two of her books that were a collection of poems! So I think it is interesting that digital technology, specifically a form of social media, made me more interested in poems than I had ever been previously.
Reunited
So with all this thought and talk of physical books versus digital, how good Dances on Draxghr is, lending my physical copy to a stranger and then having to more or less hire a motley crew to chase this stranger down to return my physical copy of Dances on Draxghr (which was almost totally destroyed by the way), I’ve forgotten one of the most important things in life right now: I’m a college student.
A word to the wise: when your professor asks you where you’ve been and where all your overdue homework is, maybe avoid saying that you skipped town chasing after a relic of the distant past.
Signed,
IT
Junie B. Jones and the Procrastination of Essays
So I haven’t started my paper yet and the draft is due in two days. I have all my sources read and the quotes I want have been pulled out, but I haven’t outlined my argument in anyway. The skeleton structure we discussed in class makes sense, but I’m more of a bullet point outline kind of girl so I guess I’ll start there. I think planning papers is the hardest part about writing papers. Once the planning is done, the paper writing process tends to go quickly and smoothly. I’m just so ready to be done with school now that the weather is nice so it’s hard to focus on getting this paper done.
Black vs. Blue
I made some progress this weekend on my final. Not enough to call is significant progress, but certainly enough to know that I’m on the right track and will definitely finish it by the time next Friday comes. To be perfectly candid, I should probably be putting more work into it and be prioritizing it, but I think junioritis is hitting me hard.
There are a few things I need to determine before the rough draft is due on Wednesday, and that is whether I should leave the print it in black or add a pop of color in there. On one hand, I like the way the plain black looks. But on the other hand, I love color and the blue that I was thinking of using adds a reference to House of Leaves from earlier this semester and makes it more fun. But it might make it too busy. I’ll do some trial and error and see what happens. Hopefully all works out well and I’m able to come to a conclusion!
Destruction
My final project has been interesting for me. While I am glad I am going back to my library days and using actual, tangible books in my project, it is also book as art, which means a lot of the times the conent is destroyed. I struggled for a lot of years about the burnging of my books and now I am writing about essentially “destroyed” books. It is quite ironic.
-Alexandria
