Mediation(s)

Thinking about tomorrow's class, I wonder about many things. On so many levels this is a tedious discourse. Of course, there are real and obvious differences between what we now are forced to call "corporeal" books and digital "books" (notice the scare quotes, neither wanting to cede ground). The book is not only  a tool or instrument, it is itself. This complicates matters. The book is not chaff  to the text's wheat, as current applications such as Google Books would have it.  Yet, we understand the confusion. Digital books aren't things as much as they are temporal events. But these events are mediated by other parties. More cooks in the kitchen. Diffusion for all but scholars. For scholars, a caveat: Don't fall for myths of completion or accuracy with digital resources. Much the same as traditional resources, just the next chapter.  This is mostly about the rise of the visual.