Word of the week is:

Archivoilithic, which is a word to use in conversation more often.
Or: Why do we archive in the first instance?
It’s about removing the ability to forget – reframing the argument (much of the discussion online following the announcement of the British Library’s archive has been about the specifics of the archive, not what it is for. [...]

Notes from the coffee shop by the front line.

First day back from the London Book Fair, and here are some thoughts. They’re not organised, and not considered, but they are thoughts:
It’s encouraging to see the surge in interest in digital books, ebooks and even the inevitable cooing over the iPad, but what’s less convincing is the snake oil salesmen hawking their XML conversion [...]

Who died and made me God?

I need a bigger desk.
Don’t tell MrsT, for goodness’ sake, but this simply isn’t cutting it – unless it’s that it’s too cluttered, and what I need to do is to decamp somewhere like the Pervasive Media Studio for a day or so a week. Regardless, it’s like writing at the edge of a table.
There’s [...]

Embarkation

Today is the opening day of the project that I’ve been itching to start for the best part of six months. Six months that are going to be occupied with large-ish amounts of the following:

Digital storytelling,
Archival strategies and realities (especially the realities, which are going to end up taking more of my time than anything [...]

On the correct shelf, in the correct room…

The last time I wrote here, I was bemoaning the failure of the British Library (via our dear, beloved Government) to achieve anything meaningful with regard to the archival of digital texts. Even the preservation of such seemed to be beyond them.
To clarify and narrow down, though – I’m not terribly interested in the retention [...]

Archival things

The Guardian reports that the British Library has failed to archive any of the last six years published digital content. Not a vast surprise that the creation of a digital archive is a thorny issue, and needs legislating in order to get it right (although recent forays into new media legislation suggest that this too, [...]

Transmedia again. Sorry

There’s always a danger in blogs becoming parasitic – simply regurgitating content written by others and commenting on it, but in some instances it’s useful to sit back and let it be so.
Case in point: Henry Jenkins’ rebuttal/debate with David Bordwell (an aside – Jenkins was born in June 1958, which makes him 11 years [...]

Hypotextual form, and taking issue

Not that I’m wary of the big hitters, but when I take issue with someone, I’d rather it not be David Bordwell (Bordwell is to co-author of Film Art, which quite rightly is recommended to every first year student we see). I feel like I’m daubing my name on a statue of Churchill.
Still, if the [...]

Bristol>Media>Pervasivity

Brief one, as I’m busy being 40 today, but here’s the link to the Guardian tech weekly’s podcast from Bristol’s Pervasive Media Studio last Friday.
Right. Back to it. Being aged, that is.

Strangely schizoid funding processes

The last time I wrote in this blog, I was contemplating bidding for external funding. I was invited into some early discussions, with the proviso that the deadline was extremely tight, but that such a short run-up did mean that the competitive conditions might be favourable, so to speak.
So far, so good. Or, as Dr [...]