SpecLab: Digital Aesthetics and Projects in Speculative Computing

263 Pages·2009·1.53 MB·English

by  Johanna Drucker

SPECLaB

SPeCLaB
Digital Aesthetics and Projects in Speculative Computing
JOHANNA DRUCKER
University of Chicago Press | Chicago and London
Johanna Drucker is the Martin and Bernard Breslauer Professor in the Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California,
Los Angeles.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2009 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2009
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-16507-3 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-16508-0 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-16507-8 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-16508-6 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drucker, Johanna, 1952–
SpecLab : digital aesthetics and projects in speculative computing /
Johanna Drucker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-16507-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-16508-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-16507-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-16508-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Humanities—Research—Data processing. 2. Humanities—Digital
libraries. 3. Image processing—Digital techniques. 4. Information storage
and retrieval systems—Humanities. 5. Metadata. I. Title.
AZ105.D785 2009
025.06′0013—dc22
2008041462
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For Bethany and Jerry,
with affection and appreciation

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction: The Background to SpecLab xi
1.0 SPECULATIVE COMPUTING 1
1.1 From Digital Humanities to Speculative Computing 3
1.2 Speculative Computing: Basic Principles and
Essential Distinctions 19
2.0 PROJECTS AT SPECLAB 31
2.1 Temporal Modeling 37
2.2 Ivanhoe 65
2.3 Subjective Meteorology:
A System of Mapping Personal Weather 99
2.4 Modeling a Critical Approach: Metadata in ABsOnline 109
2.5 The ’Patacritical Demon 119
3.0 FROM AESTHETICS TO AESTHESIS 127
3.1 Graphesis and Code 133
3.2 Intimations of (Im)materiality: Text as Code in
the Electronic Environment 145
vii
viii | Contents
3.3 Modeling Functionality: From Codex to e-Book 165
3.4 Aesthetics and New Media 175
3.5 Digital Aesthetics and Critical Opposition 189
4.0 LESSONS OF SPECLAB 197
Notes 201
Bibliography 219
Index 229
ILLUSTRATIONS
TABLES
1.2.1. Digital humanities versus speculative computing 25
2.1.1. Initial conceptual scheme of objects, relations,
and actions 48
2.1.2. Nomenclature scheme for conceptual primitives 50–51
2.3.1. Table of equivalents: subjective and traditional
meteorology 106
2.3.2. Conceptual categorization of equivalents 107
FIGURES
2.1.1. Preliminary design sketches for Temporal Modeling 53–59
2.1.2. Screen images of composition space 60–63
2.2.1. Hand-drawn design for Ivanhoe game space 79
2.2.2. Screen design based on hand-drawn image 80
2.2.3. Diagram showing details of game play 81
2.2.4. Sketch of books and papers in play 82
2.2.5. Diagram combining discourse fi eld and library
workspace 83
ix