I’m
going to go ahead and assume that you’re thinking this Preface is a bit much,
especially for a blog. Perhaps it
is. But allow me to explain...
This
blog has been created as a requirement for my ENGL 985: Digitizing the
Victorians course. The course is
designed to have us examine Victorian Literature that has been digitized, as
well as to familiarize my classmates and myself with the Digital
Humanities. Each week we are to reflect
on our readings, websites we visited, and/or information we’ve found on
listservs we signed up for. Each of
these concentrates on DH, Digitized Victorians, or the bare bones of digitized
media.
For
instance, this past week we read articles from the Blackwell Companion to
Digital Literary Studies which discussed the history of Digital Libraries, what
they do, how they work, and the components of how to assemble one. We read about the differences between a virtual
and physical library; virtual libraries can be more accessible and also
preserve texts that are out of print, create new ways to read texts, and
provide more ways to research topics and find books. These come out of tools that were originally
provided by physical libraries but were expanded upon. In class we discussed, though, how virtual
libraries still need to improve upon their ethical conditions. Physical libraries were provide a public
service to communities by making books more readily available, aiding with
literacy, and preserving privacy to those who check out books from their
establishments. Because some databases
and virtual libraries cost money to access, there is a lacking of the ethics
that physical libraries provide. However,
is beginning to be combatted with virtual libraries such as Internet Archive and Open Library. These two virtual libraries provide readers
with scanned copies of books and texts—provided they are out of copyright—free
of charge (or, at least for the cost of having internet each month). Instead of having to buy a text or borrow from
the library with the risk of having late fees, readers can access books from these
virtual libraries and read them as they would a tangible one. This contributes to the ethical aspect of
virtual libraries; by providing an alternative to physical books, access to
literacy can be opened up even further.
Now,
what does any of this have to do with a “Preface”? Why not just turn this into a regular post,
then, and be done with it? Thanks to my undergraduate
degree in creative writing I had an idea about how to shake things up for my
blog: write the posts in a Victorian tone.
While I will be commenting upon the readings and websites gone over that
week, my intention is to do this through the voice of Victorian. This may seem odd; after all, there were no
computers during the Victorian age.
There was, however, a surge in technological advances. One of our readings from this past week (which
greatly aided in my argument formation) explains “[i]n
the nineteenth century it is possible to find many examples of what might today
be termed multimedia, a reintegration of creative activities and a recognition
that the individual artist might excel in various modes and formats, such as
poetry (text), painting (image), science, and technology” (Walsh). Walsh also explains,
Both
the industrial and digital revolutions are attended by technologically enhanced
and augmented modes of communication. Thus, artists, critics, scholars, and
others from both periods are faced with transformative social change that
necessitates reflection and commentary as they are simultaneously provided with
conditions and tools (cheaper printing, growing literacy, word processors, the
internet) that facilitate the communication of their ideas.
Because of the surges in technology, authors from both the
nineteenth century and today have had to alter how their art is received. Books in the nineteenth century could be
serialized and mass produced, providing not only profit but the ability for
authors to reach out to a wider literate audience. Technology today has allowed authors the
ability to use literal moveable type through the advent of laptops. Digital media has also provided another outlet
for literature to explore. These
technological advances have allowed authors to try new things for the sake of
art.
Although this
blog is not so much “art” as it is a requirement for my course, I would like to
honour the similarities between these two literary time periods by having my
blog explore how a Victorian would react to the digital literary advances of
today. I think it will work out if I
write in the tone of a Victorian were that style popular today; that is, a
Victorian isn’t going to be flashed into the future and thrown into the
hodge-podge of today’s technological society.
Imagine steam-punk, if you will, but with more computers. Because of my own inadequacies with computers
and technology, I feel that by writing through the tone of a Victorian—one who
is likely learning how to deal with the boom of technology despite possible
digital illiteracies—I will be able to place both my modern and Victorian self within
the technological context of both then and today.
So without
further ado, I present to you all A Digitized Victorian.
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