But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones you don't know...

When considering one's own position as a creator and consumer of media we must first address the psyche. I have always been a 'normal' Irish guy. When I sit down to analyze my journey I must concede this position. It is only human nature to consider one's position above where it really is on the spectrum. I suspect in my case as both consumer and creator it would have me more enlightened than the average person on the street.

My Anglo-Irish roots have been cause for consternation and it is only with the benefit of four decades that I can begin to form a thesis about my raison d'etre. I grew up on a farm outside Athlone, a large provincial town. This farm has been home to my family for generations, eleven to be precise from circa 1733 and before. Before that our history is a little cloudy.

My father would have employed quite a large number of workers over the year, all of whom we treated as equals. Ireland has always had a very tense relationship between the proletariat and bourgeoisie. I suspect this exists as a reaction to seven hundred and fifty odd years of English/Norman occupation in Ireland.

This background led to family politics that would be centre right and my grandfather and uncle were both representatives on the county council since the formation of the state. Privately educated in a boarding school with a particular strong "West Brit" flavour, my own attitude while in attendance there, were as a 'Black Sheep', though not quite as ‘Black’ as in Athlone!

I attribute to my own outlook to growing as Church of Ireland in the devoutly Roman Catholic Ireland of the 1970's, with the spectre of the "Wee Six" haunting every aspect of that particular era, fostering in me an ‘outsider’ attitude which I carry with me today. I do feel that this affords me a more objective outlook in regards to message reception. Looking back at this, there was always air of cynicism involved in message consumption in our house.

From an early age I would have considered myself media aware, which channeled me into my current career.  I was sensitive to texts of all sorts and even today I hold 'the written word' in great esteem. Throughout history, words (here we can read texts) are synonymous with power. Reading of these must be combined with a rational of the meaning behind it, on all levels.  

Our proximity to Enniskillen allowed for both BBC and RTE to be beamed into our kitchen. Events now commonplace in Irish homes were scarce back then, so two media feeds allows for a better formed opinion. I can remember the fall of Saigon and being allowed watch Ali fighting when I as a kid. Perhaps it was this more than fate that led my path towards digital media.

As a creator my background is wide. I started in a pre-Media world where subject matter concerning media and the likes fell into a category that was headed "Communications".  I hold a National Certificate in Design Communications and a Degree in Visual Communications, each of these endeavors began back in the analog days of the 1980's. My professional career then spans from darkened rooms where the analog message came into being to the lofty heights of the world of the corporate branding.

My first enterprise in New York in 1995 was in a photo-typesetting bureau, where the union typesetter were the top of the totem pole, computer operators likes of myself were very much on the bottom rung of the food chain. Having followed on from that as a cog in the media behemoth that is Madison Avenue, my insight is far from average.  

Undoubtly in the current climate more traditional media channels are on the wane. Now media specific texts can precision hit their chosen targets with numerous options via database information.  Algorithms patrol these databases throwing meaning out from mountains of data. Personal IP address' tag you across the digital spectrum, these harmless digits allow pin point accuracy to the marketers and other who may want to find you.

Though I am sure that my pigeon hole in life should have been destined to be dominant hegemonic, I would perceive myself more in negotiated position. That been said, it is my own belief that Reception Theory is exactly that, theory. In practice today’s media recipients are far more sophisticated than even a decade year ago. The proletariat are no longer ignorant and void of education, despite what we are often being told by the media... 

Into the nuts and bolts of Writing Machines Chapters 3 & 4

The benefit of hindsight is all very easy to judge, so in Chapter three, Entering the Electronic Environment, we watch as Hayles catalyses through the early days of the desktop publishing revolution, that we now take for granted.   We must bear in mind that the author came from the generation of people whose greatest written works were created with that great instrument, the fountain pen.  

As Hayles journeyed through academia, then on through her initial contacts with early computer systems, her first encounters with the desktop publishing concept was a breath of fresh air.  Though even as she evangelized to her contemporaries, the full concept on by how much electronic literature was about to change, took some time to take on board.

Hayles embraced the various concepts and it was then that she began to realize their potential. It also began to dawn on her just how much conventional methods were so rigidly ingrained in the literary establishment. This enthusiasm would in turn lead to an awareness that a complete rethink of how everyone looked at literature would be required. The progression of this would have huge impact on artifact and meanings.

The initial raw text forms of literature, converted from artifacts, would eventually give way to more and more radical concepts such as rich media, with their images, audio and navigational devices etc.  At this period in history, the metamorphosis of inscription technologies had a huge impacted on culture and concepts. Not all were in favour with the herald of new technologies, but naturally there were early adapters.  These individuals followed in the footsteps of those who previously had combined words with images and went on to prospect new frontiers.

Hayles takes the time to point out that mankinds attachment to the artifact reflected the terms which were involved, one’s bond to the works were definitely on another level.  Of course with this in mind, one can extrapolate that the texts created in new environments must also reach the reader at a separate level, part of the reflex loops mentioned in an earlier chapter. we

Hayles appreciation of the early pioneers who created various works in this new arena, combined with her own recognition in the established literary field took her to international conferences and allowed for interaction.  It was while at these affairs that her theories were aired, sometimes conflicting with some of her earlier proteges.   Despite these encounters she was now confident that her ideas were along the right lines.

As we open Lexia to Perplexia on our state of the art computers, we must try to imagine what the initial reader saw as they peered into the Pandora’s Box that Lexia to Perplexia heralded.   Even the most staid of imaginations must have been stirred.  We struggle to grasp just what exactly the pilgrim web surfers who happened upon it might have thought.   The combinations and permutations that screen, hyperlink and clever typographic devices combine to project Lexia to Perplexia is an entirely new domain in terms of texts relationship to the conduit.

Memmott’s creation is still impressive today as his use of media broke away from conventions governing literature as he knew it.   Granted the piece looks flat in dimension but of course we have the merits of over a decade in technology to judge it upon.   At the works origin there must have been quite a bit of discussion on where all this technology was leading too, as it engages the reader on an entirely new basis.

Memmott’s pushing of the boundaries is admirable and we can only imagine his endeavours akin of Giotto’s application of perspective nearly 700 years prior.   His contemporaries crying anathema as he explores the new media.   One can see that it is much more than simply pretty pixels at work here.   The language of the writing on dissection is a foray at combining a semantic with a semiosis.   His clever use of noise through which emerges the strength of the symbol, perhaps is the first emergence of a digital Esperanto.

With the hindsight of twelve years and the advances in telecommunications technology, the modern use of text and twitter has accelerated the use of abbreviations, abridgments and symbols in everyday media.   Acronyms have permeated through all modern languages, subliminal imagery burned upon the retina absorbed by our brains at every level.  Somewhere here is a ode to Memmott’s original creation, where form overrode such details as the need to accurate structure, spelling or grammar.   A road map for things to come.

'Like a diamond bullet straight through my forehead'. W.E. Kurtz

While everyone has a story, be it Jerry Brukheimer or the guy panhandling on the corner of the city street, leave fiction to the fiction writers, that’s what I say.  Seventeen years ago I closed the cover on my last piece of fiction reading. The book was Homer's Iliad, I had purchased in Barnes and Noble, Fifth Avenue in August 1995, with my first pay cheque upon my arrival in New York City. 

Why so precise you may ask?  I have a habit of writing 'where and when' on the title page of the books I purchase, whether at an airport or on Ebay, the reference I put on the title page reminds me of the circumstance I attained them in.   I also have a tendency to write any words that fall outside my vocabulary inside the back cover so that I can research them later, on the basis that one can learn something new everyday. 

I love the nonfiction genre, all it’s various shapes, formats and fonts. Histories, biographies, militaria are the subjects that I crave, any amount of them.  There are not enough hours in the day as far as I am concerned for books. 

It was last Christmas then when a flaw appears in the plot.  As a stocking filler from my parents I received “Zero Hour” by Andy McNabe.  My eyes rolled towards the heavens. How inconsiderate can a mother be?  After years of tripping over, moving and complaining in general about my books, did she not get the point? I DON’T READ FICTION.

There is a school of thought out there, that in life you don’t choose to read your books, they choose you.  With this in mind combined with years of seemingly unrequited love, I decided that I’d give the book a chance. I mean it could have been wider off the mark in terms of subject matter, so how much could it hurt? The least I might do is be grateful.

It may sound strange, but the most prestigious place for my reading material in my little sphere, is the home toilet. Not to be confused with the work toilet, that's an entirely different place.   The work toilet is where, occasion permitting, one might steal a few minutes to gaze into the literary portal during the hours of commerce.   The home toilet however is pride of place, guaranteed at least four pages of reading each day, two pages ante meridian and two more then post meridian.  This may not seem much but I suffer greatly from a ‘busy life syndrome’, so carpe diem as far as chances to read are concerned.

Much to my surprise I started to love McNabe’s offering, couldn’t put it down, in fact and eventually when I did, I found myself back in the local Simon shop.  That great bastion of literature, searching out another offering from Mr McNabe’s repertoire.  I began to question what attributes did his writing have, that had sucked me in.

Andy McNabe is ex-SAS, Special Air Service, the créme de la créme of Her Majesty’s war machine, they put the special in Special Forces.  From their origins creating mayhem in the deserts of North Africa in 1941.  They have been rappelling through history and windows of embassies in London, crawling through the hedgerows of south Armagh or on the cold exposes of some Falkland hill.  With their eyes peering out of a black ski mask which adorns their all black garb, these guys walked the walk. Synonymous with action, suspense and danger with ‘Who Dares Wins’ as their swashbuckling motto.

But what captured me was not so much the matter of his stories but the style of his writing. McNabe delivers his story of a happy go lucky ex-solider, as he struggle to get through just another day in the international mercenary market.  A straight forward narrative of limited vocabulary, using quite a lot of dialogue delivered in five to six page chapters format involving no intricate literary architecture which makes for easy reading. With each foray, one is obliged to finish out the chapter yet spared any trips to the dictionary.  His story made me think “Hey, I could write that!!!”

Perhaps it was by Grand Design or simple co-incidence, but my respite in the realm of fiction has provide me with inspiration.  My “Writing in a Digital Age” module can be a conduit for my story.  So now I’m out of excuses, I have both the confidence and the vehicle to put meat on the skeletal bones of my story. Where it will lead I don’t know but I feel that I am obliged to compile something out of my jottings and rantings. 

Framework Questions for Writing in a Digital Age

1. What would you like to learn about “Writing in the Digital Age”?

Everything!!

Like most things in life, there are people who are good at what they do and there are those who are not so good. My knowledge of contemporary literature, especially in the digital space, is very sparse. Currently my knowledge doesn't go much past the fact, the wife has
a Kindle!!  

I would like to be able to produce a reasonable plausible script, not award winning but able stand up to scrutiny to my colleagues. With acceptable grammar, structure and syntax, maybe get most of the spelling right too!!

2. What do you already know about “Writing in the Digital Age”?

While bandwidth/memory have grown exponentially over the last number of years, consequentially standards have slipped.  The sentinels of the analog mediums have been brushed aside by the Jackass loving barbarian hordes. The ancient scribes of early Christianity who so carefully recorded the Greek and Latin text in colourful pigments and dyes, then embellished in goldleaf, so painstakingly in the dimly lit monastic cell of monastic Ireland, must shudder
to think of a Text speak Bible (Yes, there is one).

Slang and colloquialism erode away at the standard of the past. Careers that were built on these standards, surpassed by some blogger with a “book deal” or some ex-Taoiseach’s daughter with a film deal.

In reality digital media has finally put the mass in mass media. The 20^th century had seen the manipulation of the media taken to an art form, from Lenin and  Goebbels through to Turner and Murdoch. But as in the anarchic years of the early 20^th century, the peasants
are on the rise again.

Writing in a digital age must be looked on as a hybrid.  Well marshalled talent can still create hysteria, when one sees the Harry Potter mania that swept up the last decade. From an unemployed aspiring writer to a billion dollar industry in a relatively short space of time, Rowling has shown us that good creative writing can still flourish. Bear in mind that the Jackass loving horde are only a tweet away.

3. What are your strengths/abilities/past experiences with the digital media industry?

In terms of digital evolution, my generation were the first up on the shore.  The early Atari, Sinclar and Commodores of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s bore no resmblance to the slick laptops and ipads of today.

Line 10 “Geoff is cool”

Line 20 go to Line 10.  

The ABC’s of BASIC,  nowadays  JAVA and FLASH any amount of program languages are left to the hands of the professional programmer tucked away in the dark of some foreign land, accessed via a modern contraption we know as the internet.

An ironic twist of fate combined with a mediocre Leaving Certificate led me to the regional college in Athlone. It was there where I first laid my hands on an Macintosh Classic all to myself, kindly donated to the college by an American company who had recently set up in Ireland, Apple.  One of the few applications was from a company called Adobe, Illustrator 88. It had Bezier curves!! how cool? All were to figure in the desktop publishing craze emanating from America.

From the regional college in Athlone to the National College of Art and Design in Dublin,
my journey continued.  My only respite from my education was a stint in France. Instituional Design was a traditional typographic studio, which gave me experience digitizing the lead typographer works for some of the top brands in that country.

It was at NCAD that the two Macintosh computers were for final year student only, so as a second year student they were off limits to me.  This in turn drove me to invest. I became proud new owner of a Macintosh LCII with wait for it, yes, a colour screen.

Hour upon hour I honed my repertoire, Illustrator Photoshop and Quark Express. Each fortnightly module ended in my project somehow involving an A4 monochromatic laser print.

Upon graduation the bleak world of Ireland in the early 1990s did not appeal to me, so a bit of luck and I was off to be with my Uncle Sam.

A few months sampling the world of Kerouac, out on Route 66. I decided that no trip to the United States would be complete without a taste of the Big Apple. So I took my Chevy and wandered north up I-95. What I found there was a media behemoth where the DTP movement was gaining traction.

Initially I found work in Master Eagle, a type bureau down on West 27^th. These kind of bureau was where the creative industry of Madison avenue would send their days work,
to be rendered over night in time for the process to start all over again the following morning. Where the creative idea became realities. 

My bosses as Master Eagle were not long spotting that unlike his coworker, yours truely
had a knowledge of all three of the main applications, QIP, as they were known as, (Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop). Enough of the night shift, this was America, land of the free, home of the brave. I was off to ply my wares on the open market.

I was seven years in New York working as a freelance digital artist, seven year in the top agencies of the world, culminating in Landor and Associates, the Xanadu of the design world.  Each place I took apart their IT systems from top to bottom.   Analyzing, learning and gleaning as much as I could before the boredom set in and I moved to the next place.

The boom in Silicon Alley in the late 1990’s, the proximity to education in New Media and considering the surfeit of talent that the shining lights of NYC draws, many of whom I got
to rub shoulders with.  I had a ringside view of the digital goldrush which was the rise of the internet at the hub of corporate America.

As the great Jimmy Buffet maintains “It can all go to shit in an instant” unbeknownst to us
all, far away in some dusty cave, some guys were plotting the demise of Capitalism.

We all know where we were the morning of September 11, 2001. I was in bed right at the other end of the city. Fortunately for myself, I was working as a consultant to Scholastic Inc, in their new media department, it was an interesting position so I hung around for another couple of years. But in my heart I knew that the bell had tolled for me.

The subsequent demise of the economy in America, and despite other potential opportunities, life lead me back here to Ireland. With my experience I saw through the snake oil peddled by the former government, about Ireland being at the cutting edge of the silicon revolution, sure we had some influence but small fish, big sea.

I believe that good things lie ahead.  I have a very unique insight to digital media, one I certainly could not have achieved here on these shores. Fingers crossed it will have some legacy for me, somewhere in time. 

4. What are your strengths abilities past experiences with creative writing?

I've spent most of my life as a closet writer, yearning to scrawl at every opportunity. None better than a pen and clean sheet of paper, endless options.  Down the years my thoughts, policies and philosophies ended up on bits of paper here and there. Captured thoughts that resurface from time to time during clean ups. 

Very popular are notes written while traveling, while in some faceless hotel room or suspended on long haul flight.  I have written on journals, sometimes on sick bags of whatever international airlines whose service I was availing of. While waiting in hotel rooms
I took to writing to my daughter prior to her birth, personal feelings about her imminent arrival and afterwards observations of her early months.

As a child, it was my task to clean out trucks on their return from the various destinations that my father's company would be employed to dispense goods to Ireland, UK and some far flung reaches of Europe on occasion. In the bunk beds or between the seat there were discarded novels. These had wiled away the hours waiting to load, waiting to sail or stuck
at some customs post along the way for the drivers. These were my first foray into reading, Sven Hassel novels whisked me away to the Eastern front for nightly combat, beneath the quilt of my bed.

My imagination was honed at an early age, I was a "war" child. The comic books of Commando, Warlord and the Victor gave me an appetite for militaria which has never left me.  World War Two, then the Korean War led on to the Vietnamese saga, the images of
my early youth recall the fall of Saigon.

However hand-to-hand combat with the Red Army at the gates of Berlin was replaced by carpet bombing, where’s the fun in that? you ask?It is  just not the same. The modern wars of the late 20th century have no appeal to me.

As a teenager my English teacher would castigate me for my bad spelling or poor grammar but never for my imagination. Often requested to orate the latest self-penned edition of "Behind Enemy Lines" or "Eddie Spills Brains", I quite fancied myself as the next James Herbert.

Then life came along, school became college then work took me away from having the
time to spend dreaming.  Of recent years I have gotten back to jotting down a few ideas, whenever I can steal a moment.

5. Where would you like this module to take you? What would you like to achieve through this course as a whole? Consider both personal and professional goals when answering.

I would like to be able to convert a few of the ideas that I have bouncing around in my head (and jotted down on some pieces of paper) into some real life workable projects.  I have two definite projects a screen play and the perennial children's book.


I would appreciate being able to recognise the chaff from the wheat. It seems to me that there is an awful lot of the former making the grade in this arena.  I came to do this course out of curiosity to see how far on that digital publish world has most since I toiled in it's trenches.

I hope that this particular will enable me to finish off what I started insofar as my formal education.  Academically I was never driven and tended to do "just enough".  Now with
a few more years chalked up, I see that just enough is not a standard to go by.

Professionally my goal would be to open a media Lab of some description to service the Small/Medium enterprise business community.  My home town has no dedicated multi-media producer so I see a gap in the market.  The long term goal would be to 
set up a small educational establishment so that others could create in the digital space.

6. Favourite's

What is your favourite song?

Rain drops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens....Favourite is a big word like marmalade
or umbrella, not to be used lightly.  It is in the superlative class, along with Greatest and Coolest, never very definitive.  My favourite piece of music is Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" but for the purposes of this exercise I must go elsewhere as it might not be classed as a song.

My shortlist should contain some Johnny Cash. All the way through from his “Sun Recordings” through to his final “American Recordings”.  But through a short list of The Pogues with "Thousands Are Sailing", Kris Kristofferson's "Smoke Too Much" and Jimmy Buffet's "The Weather is Here I wish You Were Beautiful", all of which have a unique place in my little sphere.

For the sake of this exercise I must get of the fence and commit, so for universal appeal,
it is hard to see past "Amazing Grace" by John Newton. When one considers the context around it's creation, it is a very powerful piece.

What is your favourite piece of writing?

As a layman in terms of literature, my early engagements were of the fictional variety. 
The first writer that I took a shine to was a little known Danish writer, Sven Hassel.

Hassel served in the German army during the Second World War, I read his complete works and although they might not merit too much critical acclaim, they passed hour upon hour of my childhood.

My own library is a potpourri of biographies, history, sports and militaria. I never seem to be able to pass a bookshop without a quick peruse.  Nowadays I have jumped the fence into the world of non-fiction and currently my favourite writer is the war historian Anthony Beevor whose works adorn my bookshelves.

However to answer the question I will have to remain in an ecclesiastical genre, as per my previous answer, so to the Good Book and St Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 1-13.

At a philosophical level for me it sums up what a good citizen should be all about.

What is your favourite piece of Visual Art?

My favourite piece of visual art is Eddie Adam's 1968 Pulitzer prize winning photo "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner".  Here we see a  South Vietnamese officer head of the Police executing a suspected spy during the Tet Offensive of the same year. The photojournalism pioneered by the likes of Robert Capa, was a relatively new concept, it allowed for journalist to get right into the frontline, none close than this.

This particular photo exposes some wonderful themes, where we see raw rage, arguably the strongest known force, and hate among brothers.  On a different level, we see two pawn caught in the vortex of the Cold War. 

What is your favourite taste?

The taste of raspberries.  Those little red berries who herald the arrival of high summer. More sophisticated that their tasteless common cousin, the strawberry. The raspberry has so much more to offer.  

Our senses have an amazing ability to transport us back to our initial introduction to that particular taste smell and feel. Raspberries with their hint to tang hidden inside sweetness.

As a child my mother's eldest brother so often held the title of "favourite uncle". Eric would always share his time with you, and regale us with a bit of Rolf Harris or some song from Showboat etc. Combined with this, he was a master gardener.

Eric's jungle of a garden, climaxing in a terrace of raspberry canes whose welfare was paramount in his horticultural realm. When I pop a quality raspeberry into my mouth and
the flavour hits my tongue I’m whisked away to a summers day "with an old Australian Stock man lying, dying...."

What is your favourite smell?

The odour of asphalt for me is synonymous with summer growing up in the proximity of the main Dublin to Galway road.  The tarring of the roads, which would have always been done during the heat of summers past. It is a universal smell that emanates from road constructions all over the world, regardless of the latitudes or longitudes it takes me back
to the home of my youth.    

What is your favourite texture?

The texture of human skin is my favourite. As opposed to ostrich or snake skin, though some leathers have their merits, human skin for the most part is soft, smooth and warm
to touch. (NB. Dead folk's skin does nothing for me).

A popular misnomer that it has a colour, it is actually translucent.  It's alabaster like qualities make us covet it from those who have fine complexions. Though over time UV and oxidation can take their toll texturally, none can compare to fine healthy skin.

How would you communicate it to someone who couldn’t experience that particular sense?

To communicate a particular sense to one who is devoid of it. First one should ascertain the person’s vocabulary.  If possible, consider isolating their other senses by some means of sensory depravation, blindfold, earplugs etc.  Then can one begin to articulate the various characteristic of the sense to be described.  Ideally if one has access to props or audio one can introduce these throughout the description they can be of great assistance to aid or reinforce the concept one is trying to convey.

7. What's up with the fonts on this page?

The fonts in use on the page in question point to (a) lack of any typographic aesthetic on
the questioner’s behalf.  (b) the questioner is deliberately using his/her tragic selection as
a starting point for conversation.  (c) having a very poor selection of only eight fonts on
one's computer and trying to utilized them all on one A4. Or (d) All the above.

With a degree in visual communications, and years working in the design arena, (part
of it digitizing fonts in a traditional typographer's studio) this is a topic that I am particularly sensitive about.

Type awareness is often overlooked when modern youth are learning their desktop publishing skills.  Modern communication courses seem to be content with mediocrity in regards to font use. This is remarkable when one considers the ease that one can access any amount of type styles, just how little thought this topic is given.

However, every cloud has a silver lining and in an effort to glean positives from this particular layout we can see by the time the writer had reached question seven, he/she have forgone digital inscription and had resorted to handwriting, albeit in a not so elegant cursive but a functional script.  

Observations on Chapter One and Two of Writing Machines by N. Katerine Hayles

 

It is a very interesting venue which Hayles chooses to set the preface in.  The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles is exactly what is says on the tin, a Shrine.

It was of course a venue for the Academy of Motion Picture annual knees up what we know as the Academy awards. It lies dormant in the middle of a post-industrial Los Angles landscape.

The venue itself plays host to Siggraph's Electronic Theatre, each time the city hosts the conference. Opening night of the Electronic Theatre, like it's former employ, is where the glitterati of the digital visualization industry ply their wares and unleash their newest concept on their awaiting disciples, remediation at it's finest.

Where a peasant can catch a smile from Denis Murren or a grin from Jim Blinn, geek central. Back in the days I used to pilgrimage there, digital Mecca, as good as it gets. It is important to note that this book in question was written in 2001.

While the scene described in the preface is typical for the event in question since then the original effect houses of the 1990 have now been gobbled up by the major Hollywood studio in an attempt to catch up on the commercial success of Lucas' Industrial and Magic, and Job's Pixar.  We are all well across the Digital Rubicon today.

Hayles takes this opportunity to exorcise half a millennia of assumptions as we begin to map medial ecology byte by byte. Attention must be given to each individual facet by the exponents of media specific analysis, as they are all combined to take the writers concept to the finished article.

Ha!! As suspected, the message of the writer exudes the fact that ALL must be considered when one absorbs media, be it electronic media or otherwise. This becomes apparent when one of her text

is physically on hand.  While not the Codex Leicester, no small amount of effort has gone into its production relative to it's €14.72 price tag.  Its production costs is much higher than contemporaries of its ilk.

From the quality binding to the neat typographic title tricks engaged.  If one studies the "fish-eyed" emphasis employed one can see that it is not typeset as such but photo-manipulated.  I am going out on a limb but I suspect that consumption to this particular text via a photocopied handout would be anathema to Ms Hayles. (Noted is the fact that furnishing the entire class with individual copies wouldn't be financially viable I shall return this copy upon arrival of mine own).

It is my opinion that the writer's love of words, learnt in the

Missouri heartland and honed in the Ivy league, conveys that she herself is very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for media. In turn she proposes various terms to critique in the future.  Conscious of the fact that the former critics, the high priests of Literature, had scant regard for the entire nuances of the message.

Historically there has always been fiction at the interface of

technologies. No doubt somewhere in time, some Neolithic man looked at his neighbour's struggle to perfect a wheel and said to himself, "Where's he going with that idea?"  Societies are made up of Luddites, with those who resist innovation and the Early Adapter who welcomes it, literature is no different.

The future path taken by the academics need to be sensitive to all of the options taken by the writers, in order to create an environment where the former traditional medias can co-habit with their burgeoning counterparts.