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01 Kick-off: Tasks of the Contingent Librarian

Pad: Introduction to the Special Issue with Simon
In this Special Issue, How Do We Library That?, we will start by considering the word "library" as a verb; actions that sustains the production, collection and distribution of texts. We will question indexical attitudes that lean towards universalisms and search for proposals for how we "library" our particular collection.

This first session was about listening to Simon, to each other, and to ourselves. Simon shared with us the cards from Tasks of the Contingent Librarian. We took notes collectively on the pad on what has been said by each one of us or in pars. I think we all enjoyed the process and the chance to work together because we decided to do the assignment (make cards for the bootleg library) as a team. We made 6 cards in total. Have a look at the Pad below.

• Bootleg library
• Pad to our Cards in bags

Scan and listen

02 Print Screen

Pad: Print & Publication Station & XML

It was interesting to have a look at the bootleg library and XML (experimental media lab). Simon gave us a task to select a text from the books in them and then to reflect on what's been read. I decided to work with one super cool book, Resonant bodies, voices, memories. I recorded 6 minutes of audio of me talking about the book. Then we used the files to make a transcription in vosk. It was fun to see if and how the software will (or will not) capture words, sounds, and pronunciations. My text file was super messy and nothing made sense.

• About VOSK
• Vosk - all our transcriptions after we edited them to make them legible for the reader.
• Zettlekasten - (zettle = (paper) slip / kasten = box)
• 100 unique copies of The Beatles’ White Album
• CoolGuy - cool website of a cool guy
• Baby by Justin Bieber But 800% Slower

03 Text, TBC

Pad: Dimensions of text - editorial, technical, social
We went to the Research station and we met W., the librarian/gardener.

04 Scribes Getting Personal ☞

Pad: Different ways to indicate/index/point to things

Web-to-Print We had a full-day workshop on web-to-print at the Varia library (Gouwstraat 3, Rotterdam). Output: make more cards and work with the space at vvvvvaria.

• Pandoc - web to print
• Assignment - Devise a proof of concept for your "HTML gardening". Next week we meet again at Varia to materialise the outcomes.

05 Gardening the Library

Pad: Week Five: Gardening the Library

My Notes

Before going to varia, I went to a nearby coffee and found a nice book. Sequential Drawings: THE NEW YORKER SERIES By Richard McGuire

06 Paper Machines

Pad: Paper Machines

We started the day with a review of the reading materials Simon suggested before the break and we also watched those two videos. Here are his notes on Vannevar Bush 'As We May Think'. Suzan found this website about the 'Classified Index of Card Games' and saw these Flower Cards.

Discussed also these:

• A book ENTIRELY WOVEN IN SILK
• The Jacquard Loom: A Study in Book Production
• Apple Macintosh - Your Tour of HyperCard (1991) Apple Computer
• Biblio-Graph
• Jeanne van Heeswijk - is an artist who facilitates the creation of dynamic and diversified public spaces in order to “radicalize the local”. Her long-scale community-embedded projects question art’s autonomy by combining performative actions, discussions, and other forms of organizing and pedagogy in order to assist communities to take control of their own futures. This webpage is an artwork that illustrates the relationships among the participants in Jeanne van Heeswijk's art projects since 1993
• Oblique Strategies
• Instant Warnet
• Flask - web builder from templates
• A Year with Swollen Appendices

As a result of today's class we developed the first version of the rules. We made them as we were playing.

• Second print out of the deck with new terms (actions) in it
• Card Game Rules, 1st attempt

07 Six: A Textile, A Framework

Pad: A Textile, A Framework

How do we library that?

When we ask "HOW" we want to know more about methods, systems, and ways to do something. This question is about the process (or steps) that can lead us to achieve a certain output. So the answer to this SI's question might be hidden in the process of gardening. Seeing "library" and "garden" as intertwined actions, and gardening as the way we can library something, to answer the HOW question.

 In "How do we library that?" we already have our WHAT and WHY. 

 What = a library 

 Why = having a library 
 

We visited the Social Practice Library and met Jeanne and her team

Questions:
Imagine this, you want to begin developing something (a library) or you are a beginner in doing something (librarying), so you might probably feel overwhelmed, your mind is flooded with so many questions and don't know where to start. There is so much to be done, and you are not sure where to start no order, no steps, no

1. What this library is about?
2. What do you want to create?
3. Why does gardening matter to you?
4. What elements are part of your dream garden?
5. What elements are not part of your dream garden?
6. What are the first books, magazines, or publications that immediately come to mind when you think of library produce?
7. Are you going to have help from library members and other people?
8. Think about your specific growing and garden zone. Do you have a long growing season or a short one?
9. Do you want "crops" you can store for some months?
10. Do you like caring for people (readers, volunteers, team members)?
11. Do you have a container garden with seeds?
12. Beginner set up recommendations for seeds?
13. How do you know what to put together? Do you organize by author, genre, and cover color?
14. Conditions - sunlight, soil, moisture?
15. What do we like to read?
16. Is it accessible?

08 Seven: Permutation

Developing the "How to play the Game"

Tailored our Rules of the Game by having the specific location in mind. However, we want at some point to further define the rule-generating script (script.py) to make the rules applicable for different locations (libraries, spaces) in which the game would take place.

As an outcome of the day we aimed at having a specific set of rules for the game we intend to present on the release. We focused on making the game (and rules) understandable for the players/visitors/guests. We put ourselves in the players' shoes and tried to make the instructions much clear and also playful for the ones who are about to play it.

• Defining the Audience
  

We started with defining who is our audience; who we would like to invite; thinking of the limitations and possibilities of the space and how the people would interact with it and the objects, humans, and machines around.

• Defining the Workflow
  

Then, we started answering all questions we had about what will happen from the moment people start showing up at the door, about what they will need to play the game and the outcome we would be happy (wish) to see at the end of the night. At some point, we decided to call the rules "actions" because we felt that it is a more accurate representation of what we are trying to do. They are not rules that everyone needs to follow. Instead, they are a set of actions (ideas) that people are invited to perform when playing the game.

• Defining the introduction
  

The last thing we did was draft the introduction about the game. We listed all the elements that need to go in it, described each one separately and individually, and then put the descriptions in the pad so we can discuss them as a collective.

Version of the Actions

Basically, what we had at the end of the day was:

• list of people we want to invite
• list of questions we want to ask Leeszaal's team
• list of new questions for ourselves we need to answer during the pre-release stage
• redefined some of the text files in the Git repository (like tools and objects) and created new ones that are tailored to Leeszaal (themes and spaces)
• we had several rounds (versions) of the actions in order to see if they make sense for us but also for the players. we did this by working around the idea of permutations and generative artworks like in the House of Dust by Alison Knowles
• we drafted the context (or the introduction letter) that is going to be part of the "starting pack" for the guests at Leeszaal
• we talked about the setup, how to group people (min-max number of participants), means to reach out to people, what could be the physical objects people would take for themselves after the game ends

09 Materialising the Metaphor

Materialising the Metaphor

Summary: Why does a garden matter?

Special Issue 19 x Leeszaal