User:Simon/Trim4/Thesis outline third draft: Difference between revisions
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
* why do we need texts? what is their function? | * why do we need texts? what is their function? | ||
** technology of language and its evolution through orality > literacy | ** the technology of language and its evolution through orality > literacy | ||
** preservation of memory - language inscribed in oral traditions, and in writing | ** preservation of memory - language inscribed in oral traditions, and in writing | ||
** social - the recollection of this memory forms narratives that constitutes | ** social - the recollection of this memory forms narratives that constitutes subjects | ||
* ways of reading: browsing vs searching, skimming vs scanning | * ways of reading: browsing vs searching, skimming vs scanning | ||
* access to texts (or lack thereof) - where do they come from? | * access to texts (or lack thereof) - where do they come from? | ||
Revision as of 09:40, 6 November 2019
TASKS OF THE CONTINGENT LIBRARIAN
1. ACQUIRING TEXTS
- why do we need texts? what is their function?
- the technology of language and its evolution through orality > literacy
- preservation of memory - language inscribed in oral traditions, and in writing
- social - the recollection of this memory forms narratives that constitutes subjects
- ways of reading: browsing vs searching, skimming vs scanning
- access to texts (or lack thereof) - where do they come from?
- copyright law and authorship - Eva Weinmayr’s essay
- technical methods of digitising printed texts
- scanning, processing text, redesigning, reprinting, make-do workflows
- personal experience of using libraries?
2. CLASSIFYING AND CATALOGUING THEM
- aspects of classification
- social, linguistic, semiotic, political
- collections of texts
- professional, amateur, critical librarianship practices and how they relate to these aspects
- what connects the books and the readers
- how does locality relate to the collection?
- proximity
- in the infrastructure of the library (the catalogue, the shelves, the folders, the interface)
3. MAKING TEXTS ACCESSIBLE
- conversion between formats for diverse reading needs (academic/technical/social etc)
- how do people read texts? how do machines read them?
- knowledge distribution methods and networks (distinction between digital and analog methods is blurry as they are often combined)
- social
- distribution of objects arranged through a social network:
- governmental
- copyright law and its restrictions on distribution of knowledge
- municipal
- public libraries, social initatives (e.g. Leeszaal)
- pirate
- bootlegging, samizdat, warez, zine culture, unofficial/uncatalogued publications
- social
- the importance of locality (in both physical and virtual domains) and its relation to a library's survival
- making it public vs making it private
- pirate vs commercial models - what’s at stake?
4. CREATING A SYMBOLIC LINK BETWEEN TEXTS AND READERS
- a definition of the symbolic (Lacan’s example of a door and its uses outside of binary open/closed)
- what are the conditions for this symbolic link to resonate and persevere?
- what strategies can be adopted to initiate and maintain this?
- associating texts with the people who read, annotate, and discuss them
- written & oral discourse around texts - how can these be published?
- shifting power relations from top-down to bottom-up models of library infrastructure
- supporting the sociability of libraries through
- collectively organised cataloguing and classifying systems
- bootlegging and "unofficial" publishing practices
- localised distribution methods
- associating texts with the people who read, annotate, and discuss them