Summary
Johanna Drucker argues that humanists must actively design models of knowledge for the digital age, asserting that these models will shape future culture. Her book, "SpecLab," details "risky projects with serious aims" undertaken at the University of Virginia's SpecLab, a digital humanities laboratory. These projects use critical practices and aesthetic principles to challenge the authority of technology based on analytic models of knowledge, drawing inspiration from graphic arts, experimental literature, and computational possibilities.
The book illuminates the potential of these experiments, extending beyond case studies at the intersection of computers and humanistic inquiry. It showcases how imaginative approaches can inform the design of digital knowledge systems, influencing how culture functions. Readers learn about specific projects like Subjective Meteorology and Artists’ Books Online, and the conceptual ’Patacritical Demon, an interactive tool for exposing interpretive structures in text.
Key concepts
- Speculative Computing — A field exploring experimental projects at the intersection of computation and humanistic inquiry.
- SpecLab — A digital humanities laboratory at the University of Virginia dedicated to challenging technological authority through aesthetic and critical practices.
- Models of Knowledge — Conceptual systems that determine how information is organized and understood, particularly relevant in the digital age.
- Subjective Meteorology — An experimental project that uses aesthetic principles to explore interpretations of weather phenomena.
- Artists’ Books Online — Projects that investigate the adaptation of artists' books for digital presentation and interaction.
- ’Patacritical Demon — An envisioned interactive tool designed to reveal the underlying structures of textual interpretation.
From the book
Description: Nearly a decade ago, Johanna Drucker cofounded the University of Virginia’s SpecLab, a digital humanities laboratory dedicated to risky projects with serious aims. In SpecLab she explores the implications of these radical efforts to use critical practices and aesthetic principles against the authority of technology based on analytic models of knowledge. Inspired by the imaginative frontiers of graphic arts and experimental literature and the technical possibilities of computation and information management, the projects Drucker engages range from Subjective Meteorology to Artists’ Books Online to the as yet unrealized ’Patacritical Demon, an interactive tool for exposing the structures that underlie our interpretations of text. Illuminating the kind of future such experiments…
Snippet: Nearly a decade ago, Johanna Drucker cofounded the University of Virginia’s SpecLab, a digital humanities laboratory dedicated to risky projects with serious aims.