Physical appearance

Immersed in societies that thrive on and reciprocally feed mass media communication, we have been living in an "information age" for decades.

But the label has only recently been applied to contemporary society, in response to the rapid integration of computer technology into practices of communication and production, and fails to indicate the extent to which computerized technologies impact our culture in unique and significant ways when compared with the technologies which preceded it. Computerized networking offers an era of rapid information exchange-of an interpersonal dialectic-which is continually modified and updated, all according to a variety of languages at play. An individual's physical appearance is neither implied nor relevant in the computerized network environment which defies those spatial and temporal laws of nature which govern our physical bodies. Language is exchanged unhindered by the usual distractions of physical appearance, gesture, and tone of voice, which are only rarely avoided in other communication technologies such as television, radio, and telephone.

text from Rhizome

Sony&Google for ebooks

Sony, together with Google, on Wednesday announced it is providing access to more than 1 million free public domain books in its eBook Store, including classic novels, biographies, historical texts, romance novels and more.

The titles, which Google has digitized as part of its Google Books project, are available in EPUB format and naturally work with the $280 Sony PRS-505 or the $350 PRS-700 Reader.

The PRS-500 does not work with the Google offering.

The process involves downloading software, signing up for an account and loading the e-books on your compatible device. For now, it’s available only to U.S.-based readers (probably due to licensing agreements and copyright issues across borders).
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Jean-Philippe Pastor


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Shepherds and Golden Age

The Eclogues are a series of ten poems that Virgil wrote circa 40 BC.

The majority of these poems deal with shepherds and their various concerns. The fourth Eclogue is decidedly different in this respect. In the poem Virgil makes several statements about a child destined to bring a Golden Age and free the world from fear. Early Christian scholars (such as Saint Augustine) read this poem and concluded that this child that Virgil spoke of had to be the Messiah: Jesus Christ.

Later writers, such as the Italian poet Dante, would also interpret this poem to be a prophecy regarding the Christ.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Hypertextopia-PHONEREADER Library -- Jean-Philippe Pastor

Predicted Golden age according to Virgil

In his fourth eclogue, the way Virgil treats the linear motion, or flow, of time further suggests the inevitabilityof the predicted Golden Age.

In particular, the shifts between present and future tenses of verbs create this impression. The birth of the Child under Virgo is announced in present tense:

“iam noua progenies caelo demittitur alto”.

The effects of the new age are foretold in the future tense: “occident et serpens,” and “omnis feret omnia tellus”. However, the Golden Age is not merely in the future: “Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas”. The prophetic poem leaves no question about the approach of the new age; there are no pre-requisite conditions.

The age is both here now and will inevitably continue to fully materialize in the future.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Hypertextopia-PHONEREADER Library -- Jean-Philippe Pastor

Digital and different metal ages

Is digital age a golden age for today ?

It is significant that in several places in The Republic, Plato makes a distinction between the "diviner metal," the 'gold' that is within everyone since "all are of the same original stock," and the "commoner metal," the gold of earth, which "has been the source of many unholy deeds" (III, 417a).

When we recall the age in which Plato was writing, with the fall of Athens (404 B.C.) and the death of Socrates shortly thereafter still fresh in memory, we can appreciate the depth of his inquiry into first principles. It was all too clear to him that Athens had suffered defeat primarily from within, and only secondarily from without. Where had the education of its youth gone wrong? Paideia -- that beautiful Greek word for the nurturing of the soul from childhood on -- had lost its luster. He sought, therefore, to restore it by formulating a scheme whereby children from infancy would be reared with the noblest ideals of honor, justice, and with frugality of mind and body, in order that they might become "true saviors and not the destroyers of the State" (IV, 421b).

In his ideal government, the real guardian is he who "sets in order his own inner life, and is his own master and his own law, and at peace with himself" (IV, 443d), and because of this, in both his private and public responsibilities he will act wisely and for the good of all under his protection.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts-Enter Hypertextopia-PHONEREADER Library -- Jean-Philippe Pastor

Some questions about digital texts

What difference does the machine and machinic processing make? What new formal and generic properties can we see within digital texts?

On what basis - computational, formal, institutional, aesthetic, practical, or otherwise - may we group together digital texts into a literary field?

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-PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Future of writing

Gregory Ulmer's work has been central to contemporary thinking on the future of writing and his international presence as one of the leading figures in media arts discourse has influenced a multitude of disciplines from electronic literature and Internet art to critical theory, communications studies, and art history.

His ebook "Illogic of Sense" features a diverse group of artists, theorists, and creative writers who develop new forms of hybridized "digital rhetoric." Their inventive and audacious experiments take advantage of recent developments in the field of new media studies, and as part of Alt-X's mission to participate in the creative commons provided by the Web, are available for free download.

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Mark Coker tells us about Smashwords

Over the last few years as Smashwords gestated in my head, I spent a lot of time contemplating the furious changes to come as digital books make their way to the Internet.

In physical form, a book has characteristics that cause most of us to apply value to it - we may appreciate the cover art, its display is crisp and sharp, it's durable, it's portable, it has weight and substance in our hands, it looks sharp in our library, it tends to smell better with age, and simply reading it in public is form of self-expression.Simply by transforming a book to digital form, we strip away the physical and have a product that is more ethereal. We also change the perceived value of the book in the eyes of the consumer.
Now in digital form, a book is little more than words and images that must compete with all the other forms of information dissemination, knowledge sharing and entertainment, most of which can be had for essentially FREE on the Internet.So what does this mean for authors and the future of writing? Are digital books moving toward free?

Considering the Smashwords business model is predicated on taking a 15% cut of sales, I certainly hope we don't go all free. And as an author who put several hundred hours of work into my own novel, I admit I desire some form of monetary compensation.Over the weekend, I posed this question to authors over at LinkedIn, asking if we need to broaden our definition of author compensation, and the responses are quite interesting (check them out). Most authors answered they want compensation in cold hard cash. The idea of alternate measures of compensation, such as fame or enhanced credibility, is anathema to most authors who have responded so far. Several have pledged to stop writing without compensation.The debate is fascinating to me because for years, traditional print publishing - the ideal most authors aspire to as the sign of success - has failed to offer adequate compensation to all but a few authors.What do you think?

Posted by Mark Coker
Labels: author compensation, digital books, ebooks

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Slow writing time

Those who know my work with digital media may be surprised to read that I largely support this remark by Mark Bauerlein in his article Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind: Slow reading counterbalances Web skimming in the Chronicle of Higher Education (19 Sept 08):

---given the tidal wave of technology in young people's lives, let's frame a number of classrooms and courses as slow-reading (and slow-writing) spaces. Digital technology has become an imperial force, and it should meet more antagonists. Educators must keep a portion of the undergraduate experience disconnected, unplugged, and logged off. Pencils, blackboards, and books are no longer the primary instruments of learning, true, but they still play a critical role in the formation of intelligence, as countermeasures to information-age mores. That is a new mission for educators parallel to the mad rush to digitize learning, one that may seem reactionary and retrograde, but in fact strives to keep students' minds open and literacy broad. Students need to decelerate, and they can't do it by themselves, especially if every inch of the campus is on the grid.

I don't agree with restraining the digitizing of classrooms, which Bauerlein also calls for, but I do agree with ensuring there's a mix of learning spaces available. I also think that teachers should have the imagination to sometimes teach outside of the classroom altogether. In my own case, I teach mostly online and am constantly struggling with ways to bring that slower and more physical engagement into the learning experience.

Most of Bauerlain's approach is the same-old same-old but I do think we must pay attention to the need for slow spaces both in teaching and in life. Slowness is certainly a vital element of transliteracy.

Thanks to Mez at Facebook for the link to Bauerlain's article.
x-post from http://travelsinvirtuality.typepad.com/suethomas/2008/09/slow-teaching.html
Posted by Sue Thomas

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -
PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor