Computers, Cut-ups and Combinatory Volvelles:
An Archaeology of Text-Generating Mechanisms
By
Whitney Anne Trettien
B.A. English, Philosophy Hood College, 2007
SUBMITTED TO THE PROGRAM IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
JUNE 2009
©2009 Whitney Anne Trettien. All rights reserved.
The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.
Signature of Author:______Program in Comparative Media Studies May 6, 2009 Certified by:______William Charles Uricchio Professor of Comparative Media Studies Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies Thesis Supervisor Accepted by:______Henry Jenkins III Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Literature Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies Computers, Cut-ups and Combinatory Volvelles:
An Archaeology of Text-Generating Mechanisms
by
Whitney Anne Trettien
Submitted to the Program in Comparative Media Studies on May 6, 2009, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies
ABSTRACT
Through an archaeology of text-generating mechanisms, the present work excavates the deep history of reading and writing as material, combinatory practices. On the one hand, by positing the physical manipulation of language as a form of reading and writing, this archaeology answers Roger Chartier’s call for book historians to “take on the task of retracing forgotten gestures and habits” that do not fit “the genealogy of our own contemporary manner of reading,” a call echoed in much recent work on the “use” of early modern books. It thus challenges our assumptions about how readers and writers of the past made meaning from printed texts and, more broadly, the expressive potentials of the printed book itself. Yet this archaeology of ars combinatoria, the art of combination, also presents a imaginative challenge to historians of the book. For if we accept physically cutting paper or spinning a volvelle as a readerly and writerly act, then we must also erase the boundaries we have drawn between “the book” as a material form and “the digital” as an epistemology, reconsidering the various literacies each facilitates or forecloses.
In keeping with the spirit of media archaeology, which seeks to defamiliarize the past, the present work on text-generating mechanisms exists as a web-based text-generating mechanism. On the one hand, this medium allows me to present a comparative history without compromising specificity or reducing the complexity of one moment to a mere reflection of another; yet it still strives for thematic cohesion by using our digital present quite literally as a map for exploring programmatic epistemologies in our past. It lives on the web at: http://www.whitneyannetrettien.com/thesis/
Since MIT Libraries requires a paper copy of a thesis, all HTML pages and code used to produce this thesis are copied in the space below.
Thesis Supervisor: William Charles Uricchio Title: Professor of Comparative Media Studies
2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude toward my committee members William Uricchio, Kurt Fendt and Ed Barrett for their support and guidance throughout the process of writing (and reading) this work. I would also like to thank Nick Montfort and Chris Funkhouser for their invaluable input on early drafts of my project.
I am also grateful to Madeleine Clare Elish, Lana Swartz and Jason Rockwood for reading and commenting on a draft of my introduction, and to study-buddies Xiaochang Li and Lauren Silberman for keeping me at the library when I’d rather be out riding my bike. Thanks also to the CMS community at large for not only supporting my crazy ideas, but encouraging them.
Finally, “thanks” is too feeble a word for my gratitude to Phillip Torres, without whom none of this would have been possible.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………………3 TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………….4 index.html………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 styles.css………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………27 jquery-1.3.1.min.js………………………………………………………………………………………………………………78 effects.core.js…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………94 effects.slide.js………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………105 thesis.js…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………107 thickbox-compressed.js………………………………………………………………………………………………………113 thickbox.css…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………120 intro1.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………125 intro2.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………127 intro3.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………129 intro4.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………131 intro5.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………133 intro6.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………135 intro7.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………136 intro8.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………138 intro9.html……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………139 coda1.html………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………141 coda2.html………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………143 text.php……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………144 toplefthori.php…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………212 topleftvert.php…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………234 toprighthori.php………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………255 toprightvert.php………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………280 bottomlefthori.php…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………301 bottomleftvert.php…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………322 bottomrighthori.php………………………………………………………………………………………………………………348 bottomrightvert.php………………………………………………………………………………………………………………369 textwithdots.php………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………391
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computers,
cut-ups,
&combinatory
volvelles:
an archae-
ology of
text-
generating
mechanisms
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