Manipulating texts

The ease of cutting, copying, and otherwise manipulating texts permits different forms of hypertextual composition, ones in which the researcher's notes and original data exist in experientially closer proximity to the text than ever before.

According to Michael Heim, as electronic textuality frees writing from the constraints of paper-print technology, "vast amounts of information, including further texts, will be accessible immediately below the electronic surface of a piece of writing. . . .

By connecting a small computer to a phone, a profession will be able to read `books' whose footnotes can be expanded into further `books' which in turn open out onto a vast sea of data bases systemizing all of human cognition". The manipulability of the scholarly text, which derives from the ability of computers to search databases with enormous speed, also permits full-text searches, printed and dynamic concordances, and other kinds of processing that allow scholars in the humanities to ask new kinds of questions.

Moreover, as one writes, "The text in progress becomes interconnected and linked with the entire world of information".

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

Print encourages closure

With the development of print, Western culture moved even further away from a hearing dominated sensory world to one governed by sight.

More than writing, "print suggests that words are things" says Walter J. Ong's in his book Orality and Literacy. With the interiorization of this view writing/printing was no longer done with the intent to recycle knowledge back into the spoken world (as it was in, for example, Medieval university disputations); things were no longer necessarily written in order to be read out loud.

In addition, print embedded the word in space more absolutely than did writing . Through print, words become things that can be arranged on a page as they are in indexes, tables of content, lists and labels (an extreme example being the arrangement of w ords in the poetry of e.e. cummings).

Finally, Ong suggests that print encourages closure, a feeling of finality that was never present in, for example, oral storytelling.

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PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor

Today print service provider

To become a 21st century print service provider, two key recommendations are suggested.

The first is for providers to recognise that no one printing process can economically produce all applications that customers demand. The most profitable print service providers (PSPs) place jobs on the most appropriate presses for the job, based on factors such as run length, turnaround times, number of colours and added-value processes such as variable data printing (VDP) and finishing.

The second recommendation is to consider other factors such as the provision of end-to-end services, including aspects such as digital asset management and fulfillment which drive potential growth for printers. Consider new technologies and toolsOnce these recommendations have been factored in, new technologies and tools need to be considered that will have the capacity to identify jobs more suited to a digital press, and as they become more profitable, to run on conventional presses.

These technologies should also enable the calculation of the production cost for each job and also be able to compare the estimated profit the user will make for each press. By using job-by-job comparisons, PSPs can use the model to build a profile for a typical month's production and increase profitability on all jobs.The Internet is deemed one of the major contributors that has facilitated digital printing, with web-to-print applications being adopted by organisations wanting to reduce overall process costs. Through digital presses, organisations are able to combine the benefits of print on-demand while maintaining a consistent look and feel of printed products with offset materials.For example, it would be more cost-effective to print a generic holiday brochure that is distributed to travel agents on traditional offset presses, but this could be complemented with a personalised web-to-print solution. Visitors to the website are enabled to specify the places that they are interested in visiting and the type of hotels they want to stay in, then order a digitally printed brochure containing the personalised information they require. The brochure, based on a template, can be tailored to contain a number of variations in pictures, text, languages and URLs. Some travel companies will even include pictures from people's previous holidays.


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

Late age of print

The point is what we called the late age of print , and the transitional nature of the precipice on which we balance in philosophy is apparent when we enter metabole.

Many of the texts to which it offers links are linear print-texts transcribed to HTML for the web-browsing screen. But at least a few others take advantage of the web's inherent multimedia, networking, and hypertext capabilities to subvert traditional notions of print literacy. In short, Metabole has become, in its short history, less an online writing lab that performs electronic experiments in remediation than a sharply struck point about the interrelationships of technology and literacy, simultaneously questioning the ideology of print and creating a writing space in which textual transactions renegotiate literate behavior.

Printed counterparts

What we did in 2002 is now an everyday occurrence on user-generated content sites such as Wikipedia (founded in 2001), Daily Kos (launched in 2002), MySpace (launched in 2003) and Facebook (launched in 2004).

Internet users have very specific notions about what they want to know. But in this new world of mob-rules media, how do we know if what we're reading is quality news, junk opinion or psychotic confabulation?
It used to be that the printing press was the final arbiter, a micro-layer of ink adding heft to words. Certain websites can do the same thing (the Christian Science Monitor just announced plans to go to a Web-only daily publication model), but there remains a chasm between virtual texts and their printed counterparts.

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

From Ebooks to print now

At a time when most publishers are trying to anticipate the benefits of turning their backlists into e-books, two publishers have joined forces to buck the trend.

Humanities Ebooks LLP has enlisted the services of print publisher Troubador to do exactly the reverse. Through Troubador, the e-publishing company plans to make its backlist of academic titles available in print.

Whilst the ebooks are still available to buy and download from the Humanities Ebooks site (www.humanities-ebooks.co.uk) print versions of some of the titles are now available to buy, under the Humanities imprint, direct from Troubador, with many more titles to follow.
Troubador will eventually convert HEB's backlist of over 50 titles.

Managing Director of HEB, Dr Richard Gravil said:
"We've teamed up with Troubador because we want to provide our customers with maximum choice. The books produced by Troubador will complement what we already offer and allow us to reach a larger readership."
Jeremy Thompson, Managing Director of Troubador Publishing, said: "This collaboration has allowed both companies to maintain their focus on their respective areas of expertise whilst, at the same time, allowing us both to branch out into an exciting new area. I look forward to seeing how the relationship develops."

The Humanities Ebooks titles are available to buy in print from Troubador's website at www.troubador.co.uk/shop.asp

If you would like more information please contact Julia Fuller at Troubador Publishing, by email at julia_fuller@troubador.co.uk or by phone on 07870 864779

http://www.troubador.co.uk/shop_booklist.asp?category=Humanities%20Ebooks

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

Saleable ebooks

Myths abound about print books being the right kind of book and eBooks are on their last leg. These ideas spring from traditional publishing.

Hopeful authors have read it many times--that a true book, one that will bring you reverent kudos, must be in print and must be long. And it must have a top agent and publisher. Maybe true five-ten years ago. Like you, I believed it at first and went down that rocky road to get an agent, then publisher. Way too hard and took way too long.

My first rule. Write a short book first. Notice famous authors such as Ken Blanchard did.

Second rule. Write a non-fiction, self-help book first, then a novel. You'll experience more success with a non-fiction. Then, you can use the profits to stay the long haul for your fiction. Follow my lead. First, I wrote print booklets or journals and sold them at the back of the room in seminars of the same name. This led to thousands of income each month. Then I read self-publishing books such as Dan Poynter's. Right track. But, then I realized one can write a print and an eBook at the same time. And, you can sell either from your own Web site. Or, you can take a 50% or less royalty and sell from someone elses's site.

Remember one great benefit of eBooks. The author gets by with little cost. You can send the books via email if you don't have a Web site yet, and you can offer them as downloads at your site.One great benefit of short eBooks. Your audience loves them. They don't want to spend a lot of time reading. They want quick solutions in an easy to read format. They don't want long books over 130 pages with too much extraneous information. Give them answers to their questions and you'll have a fan for life.The sad truth that no emerging authors wants to believe--that they can get the publisher to publicize, promote and market their book. Not true. It's amazing how many bookcoaching clients really want to turn it all over to someone else. The problem is it's way too expensive, and no one knows nor has more passion for a book than the author. It's not money that rules, but a creative approach to sharing your wealth.Another rule. If you can write a book, you can also write ad copy for the book's introduction, the short "tell and sell," the back cover, or the Web or email sales letter. You just need some coaching from a pro. Start a promotion savings account and spend a little to get the best words that will attract and give your audience enough information to make it easy to buy.

Join a telegroup that writes each week and exchanges files with each other. Of course make sure the bookcoach is savvy and knows how a saleable book is put together, knows short cuts to write fast, and clear, and gives you useful feedback to help your book grow and get born.What's your intention? To think it takes too much time, too much money and you aren't much of a writer? If you can get by your resistances, you can learn how to write --well. If you put a little daily attention on your book project, you can finish it. Take some small action today and feel powerful, because authors are a special breed-and the club is awaiting your good news.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income.

Author of Write Your eBook or Other Short Book Fast and 10 others, she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The Book Coach Says. . .," and "Business Tip of the Month." at http://www.bookcoaching.com./ Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com Phone: 619/466-0622 -- Orders: 866/200-9743

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See that post with different algorithms in metabole -

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -

Realm of ephemera

Over the centuries, print literature has developed mechanisms for its preservation and archiving, including libraries and librarians, conservators, and preservationists. Unfortunately, no such mechanisms exist for electronic literature.

The situation is exacerbated by the fluid nature of digital media; whereas books printed on good quality paper can endure for centuries, electronic literature routinely becomes unplayable (and hence unreadable) after a decade or even less. The problem exists at both the software and hardware levels. Commercial programs can become obsolete or migrate to new versions incompatible with older ones, and new operating systems (or altogether new machines) can appear on which older works will not play.

With a foreshortened canon limited to a few years and without the opportunity to build the kinds of traditions associated with print literature, electronic literature would be doomed to the realm of ephemera, severely hampered in its development and the influence it can wield.

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

Expectations formed by print

Electronic literature arrives on the scene after five hundred years of print literature (and, of course, even longer manuscript and oral traditions).


Readers come to digital work with expectations formed by print, including extensive and deep tacit knowledge of letter forms, print conventions, and print literary modes. Of necessity, electronic literature must build on these expectations even as it modifies and transforms them. At the same time, because electronic literature is normally created and performed within a context of networked and programmable media, it is also informed by the powerhouses of contemporary culture, particularly computer games, films, animations, digital arts, graphic design, and electronic visual culture.





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

New art of publishing

Publishing an electronic journal means actually rethinking what we mean by both "publishing" and a "journal."

The technology is constantly changing (new versions of net browsers appear that change dramatically what we can do with text, audio, video, and graphics). But most importantly, we have to experiment with ways to write and present writing that do not just transfer print onto the Web (though there is a lot of this - kind of a anthropological approach, where there seems to be a mad rush to archive everything online before it disappears).

*Hypertextual*, for example, has a number of projects: space for articles and interviews, art work, reviews (all the traditional stuff) but the way we connect the various "parts," I think, makes a user's experience of *Hypertextual* different than if it were a print journal. And, I think, it is possible for users to have different experiences of the work in the journal, depending on the choices they make in regard to links. (from Jeoffrey Bennington)

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/

See that post with different algorithms in metabole

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts

Constraints of paper-print technology

The ease of cutting, copying, and otherwise manipulating texts permits different forms of hypertextual composition, ones in which the researcher's notes and original data exist in experientially closer proximity to the text than ever before.

According to Michael Heim, as electronic textuality frees writing from the constraints of paper-print technology, "vast amounts of information, including further texts, will be accessible immediately below the electronic surface of a piece of writing. . . . By connecting a small computer to a phone, a profession will be able to read `books' whose footnotes can be expanded into further `books' which in turn open out onto a vast sea of data bases systemizing all of human cognition", The manipulability of the scholarly text, which derives from the ability of computers to search databases with enormous speed, also permits full-text searches, printed and dynamic concordances, and other kinds of processing that allow scholars in the humanities to ask new kinds of questions. Moreover, as one writes, "The text in progress becomes interconnected and linked with the entire world of information".

Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/

See that post with different algorithms in metabole

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts

Sweeping change

J. Hillis Miller does point out that Derrida's Glas and the personal computer appeared at more or less the same time.

Both work self-consciously and deliberately to make obsolete the traditional codex linear book and to replace it with the new multilinear multimedia hypertext that is rapidly becoming the characteristic mode of expression both in culture and in the study of cultural forms. The `triumph of theory' in literary studies and their transformation by the digital revolution are aspects of the same sweeping change" (Literary Theory). This sweeping change has many components, to be sure, but one theme appears in both writings on hypertext (and the memex) and in contemporary critical theory -- the limitations of print culture, the culture of the book.

Bush and Barthes, Nelson and Derrida, like all theorists of these perhaps unexpectedly intertwined subjects, begin with the desire to enable us to escape the confinements of print. This common project requires that one first recognize the enormous power of the book, for only after we have made ourselves conscious of the ways it has formed and informed our lives can we seek to pry ourselves free from some of its limitations.

George P. Landow

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See that post with different algorithms in metabole

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts

Parodying

Circulation dynamic of texts published on the Internet resembles the medieval and Renaissance practice of glossing, parodying, or otherwise altering a manuscript before passing it along.

Slowly, though, the fixity and ubiquity of print have unfortunately eradicated such practices, all but banishing the notion of a collaborative, textually permeable work. Now, the cult of the author and the printing press are still inextricably linked; you can't have one without the other. By chance, digital text, however, requires neither.

As a consequence, and much to the chagrin of political critics, no economic model has yet been devised to explain its production and propagation in a capitalist society.

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See that post with different algorithms in metabole

See the journal French Metablog with today different posts

Enter Hypertextual as a member