Text Technologies: A History

Description

The field of text technologies is a capacious analytical framework that focuses on all textual records throughout human history, from the earliest periods of traceable communication―perhaps as early as 60,000 BCE―to the present day. At its core, it examines the material history of communication: what constitutes a text, the purposes for which it is intended, how it functions, and the social ends that it serves. This coursebook can be used to support any pedagogical or research activities in text technologies, the history of the book, the history of information, and textually based work in the digital humanities. Through careful explanations of the field, examinations of terminology and themes, and illustrated case studies of diverse texts―from the Cyrus cylinder to the Eagles' "Hotel California"―Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan offer a clear yet nuanced overview of how humans convey meaning. Text Technologies will enable students and teachers to generate multiple lines of inquiry into how communication―its production, form and materiality, and reception―is crucial to any interpretation of culture, history, and society. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Illustrations......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction to TEXT......Page 16 Finding and Defining TEXT......Page 17 Describing TEXT......Page 19 What Is the Study of Text Technologies?......Page 21 How to Use This Book......Page 22 Overview of This Book......Page 23 Intentionality......Page 24 Materiality......Page 25 Functionality......Page 27 Cultural Value/Aura......Page 29 Sedimentation......Page 31 Authority......Page 33 Production, Transmission, Consumption......Page 36 Censorship......Page 40 Copyright......Page 41 Consortia......Page 43 Cryptography......Page 45 PART II: HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK......Page 48 Timelines......Page 49 Chauvet Cave Paintings......Page 53 Babylonian Clay Tablets......Page 56 The Cyrus Cylinder......Page 58 The Florida Ostraka......Page 59 Behistun Monument......Page 61 The Rosetta Stone......Page 64 Roman Inscription......Page 65 Japanese Tsunami Stones......Page 68 Breamore Church......Page 70 Signs......Page 72 Graffiti......Page 73 Papyrus......Page 75 Paper......Page 78 Wax Tablets......Page 80 Seals......Page 81 Parchment and Vellum......Page 83 The Hereford Mappa Mundi......Page 86 The Scroll......Page 87 The Codex......Page 89 Tattoos......Page 91 Manuscript Culture......Page 93 A Bible......Page 96 A Book of Hours......Page 98 An Antiphonal......Page 100 Voynich Manuscript......Page 102 Jacobite Manuscript Poetry......Page 104 Bookbinding......Page 106 Woodcuts and Block Printing......Page 108 The Gutenberg Bible......Page 110 William Caxton and Early Modern Printing......Page 112 Protestant Bibles......Page 114 Shakespeare’s Works......Page 116 Minard’s Carte Figurative......Page 118 Chromolithography......Page 120 Newspapers......Page 121 Magazines......Page 123 The Spectator......Page 125 Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language......Page 127 Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie......Page 128 Charles Dickens’s Writing......Page 130 Readers and Reading......Page 131 The Marsh Library......Page 132 The British Library......Page 133 The Zoetrope......Page 135 Film......Page 138 Television......Page 139 Radio......Page 140 BBSs and the Well......Page 141 HTML, CSS, and RSS......Page 142 Web 2.0......Page 143 Touchscreen Tablets......Page 144 Proprietary Content Streams......Page 146 Writing Systems......Page 149 Substrates......Page 150 Sample Tools and Materials......Page 151 Trends, Themes, and Issues......Page 152 PART III: CASE STUDIES......Page 154 The One-Dollar Bill......Page 155 The Rosetta Disk......Page 159 The Cyrus Cylinder......Page 163 “Hotel California”......Page 167 Kelmscott Chaucer......Page 169 Manuscript to Print......Page 174 Compact Disc to MP3......Page 180 Scroll to Codex......Page 183 Notes......Page 188 Bibliography......Page 194 A......Page 212 C......Page 213 F......Page 215 I......Page 216 M......Page 217 P......Page 218 R......Page 219 T......Page 220 W......Page 221 Z......Page 222