User:Kim/writing/Thesis outline draft: Difference between revisions

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;[What will the text be about? (thesis). What do you want to explore? Be clear about HOW you want to tell your story.]
;[What will the text be about? (thesis). What do you want to explore? Be clear about HOW you want to tell your story.]


I aim to write a text that is concise, yet playful in its form. It will be about the role of meta data <ref>or information? this lets me think about how information is formatted data - what exactly am I aiming for in this case?</ref> <ref>but for sure "paratext"</ref> in (post) digital publishing practices. I will explore historical developments in the production of text by looking at early forms of markup such as marginalia and the pecia system <ref>''edit'' pecia system explanation</ref>, different digital characteristics for instance source code comments or protocols and will finally propose version control software for (collaborative, experimental) writing and making public. The meta data of the present text is a crucial part of the text and the process of writing itself.
I aim to write a text that is concise, yet playful in its form. It will be about the role of meta data <ref name=":1">or information? this lets me think about how information is formatted data - what exactly am I aiming for in this case?</ref> <ref name=":2">but for sure "paratext"</ref> in (post) digital publishing practices. I will explore historical developments in the production of text by looking at early forms of markup such as marginalia and the pecia system <ref name=":3">The Pecia system was developed in the 13th century in the so called Manuscript culture - a time in between oral and print based knowledge production, preservation and circulation. The Pecia system allowed for books to be split in several parts (peciae) which could then be transcribed by several copiers, working simultaneously, producing a copy in a significantly shorter amount of time than a single person working alone. Pecia marks were crucial to this whole process as they allowed for communication between copiers.</ref>, different digital characteristics for instance source code comments or protocols and will finally propose version control software for (collaborative, experimental) writing and making public. The meta data of the present text is a crucial part of the text and the process of writing itself.


===2. Outline three key issues you want to explore===
===2. Outline (three) key issues (KI) you want to explore===
# hiddeness (veiled, closed source, seamless) in present day technology/ interfaces but also in the sense of invisible labor (in writing, rendering, reading?)
# hiddeness (veiled, closed source, seamless) in present day technology/ interfaces but also in the sense of invisible labor (in writing, rendering, reading?)
# paratexts  
# paratexts  
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==step 2==
==step 2==
===Intro (what is this text about?)===
===Intro===
on including meta data in digital/hybrid publishing projects, not only as means to an end of production but making them part of the text, the body of work at hand. define meta-data (or what ever terminology I come up with), contextualize my interested and lay out importance of this text
In this text I will examine the role of meta data <ref name=":1" /> <ref name=":2" /> in publishing practices through the lense of invisibility and separation of labor. I will look at historical developments in the production of text through early forms of markup such as marginalia and the pecia system <ref name=":3" /> and consider different digital characteristics for instance source code comments or protocols.
===Key issue 1 = chapter 1 (invisibility)===
labor: holistic- vs prescriptive technologies and division of labor <ref>in "Dividing and Sharing" Femke Snelting writes on the division of labor as a consequence of the separation of design from content in web programming (and standardization) https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/SI26/dividing-and-sharing.md?ref_type=heads#divisions-of-labour</ref> (here also: using early markup "pecia system" enabled division of labor in print production) <ref>"<?php> - invisible code and the mystique of web writing" in "From A to <A> - Keywords of Markup" https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/browsing/from-a-to-%3Ca%3E.md?ref_type=heads#php---invisible-code-and-the-mystique-of-web-writing</ref> resulting in opaque processes and culture of compliance, invisibility of 'software' <ref>Wendy Hui Kyong Chun "On Software, or the persistence of visual knowledge"</ref> and todays invisibility of interface <ref>Donald Norman "Why Interfaces dont work"</ref>, culture of compliance – todays user condition (vs "programmer")
<br>
ambiguity of visibility: its not always be good to be visible / legible (to whom? / whose benefit?)
# include "the right to opacity" bc visibility must be understood contextually. could "right to opacity" also have implications for this specific technology / practice of publishing i am discussing?
# write about being legible, bc meta data is additional text (for whom?) write about machine readability and indexing / scarping


===Key issue 2 = chapter 2 (Paratexts)===
Later I will turn towards the inclusion of meta data, specifically in digital/hybrid publishing projects, not only as means to an end of production but making them part of the text, the body of work at hand.
Paratexts: historically conceptualized for print / literature (include page numbers, headers, pre-and post faces, footnotes and other marginalia ...) - possibilities for digital paratext?, What implications do paratexts hold for present day digital / hybrid publishing? >> "paratext mediates between text and reader", what mediates relation between text and user?<br>
 
<blockquote>Paratext is, rather, a threshold, (p 2) A Zone not only of transition but also transaction (p 2)</blockquote>
In the last part of the introduction I will define meta-data (or what ever terminology I come up with for this), and a contextualize my interests in-, and wider relevance of this text.
===Key issue 3 = chapter 3 (publishing otherwise) (infrastructures)===
===KI 1 invisibility===
i feel this chapter should contain more of my own stand point / towards (end) thesis <br>  
In this chapter I wan to look at invisibility: of 'software' <ref>Wendy Hui Kyong Chun "On Software, or the persistence of visual knowledge"</ref> or in computation in general. Companies instrumentalize culture of convenience enforcing todays user condition (as opposed to programmer <ref>Melanie Hoff "Always Already Programming"</ref> but also as passive, dependent ... witfully outlined by Silvio Lorusso "User Condition" <ref>https://theusercondition.computer/</ref> ) through fragmentation of processes and seamless interactions.
why am i writing about this?
 
* pushing against fragmentalization of: user / developer, against hidenness / black box of today technology,
also had some ideas about interfaces <ref>Galloway, the interface effect, especially ''chapter 1: unworkable interface,'' where he inquires interfaces as windows and doors and general questions of visibility (seamfullness) as much as functionality (un-productiveness, un-workability) of those</ref>. invisibility of interface <ref>Donald Norman "Why Interfaces dont work"</ref>, what is their role here?, interfaces are how we see (inside) and interact with a computer.
* accepting notion of hidden, hides non canon histories and voices in technology, hides uncertainty and inconsistency  
 
<ref>thinking of Johanna Druckers "Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approches to Interface" in which the author arguments towards interfaces that render visible and affirm acts of interpretation</ref>
It is then important to bring up ambiguity of visibility: its not always good to be visible / legible, but has to be viewed in context. visible to whom? and for whose benefit?
* highlighting that writing technologies (print and digital) have contiguous history and are not opposed to another
# include "the right to opacity" <ref>Édouard Glissant called for a “right to opacity” throughout his works "Poetics of Relation", "Philosophy of Relation" and "Caribbean Discourse". I encountered the concept in "Imperfect Solidarities" by Aruna D'Souza, where she describes it as the right to remain intranslatable and unrecorded into western thought.</ref> bc visibility must be understood contextually. could "right to opacity" also have implications for this specific technology / practice of publishing i am discussing?
away from proprietary, bloated platforms and applications. highlight necessity of agency and collective autonomy both in the creation process and over public objects. discuss adjacent tools and attempts (octomode etc). making the hidden visible as possible breaking with closed of/ invisibility discussed in 1 - present git and version control. excurs into history and version control, socio-cultural embededdness of git, present gitpub.<br>
# consider what it means to be (hyper-) legible. meta data provides additional textual information, that it is important to question, for whom? Issue machine readability and indexing / scraping for LLMs and SEO.
maybe the last chapter could also have a rather infrastructural focus through which we arrive at the git software and gitpub? what would my take or understanding of infrastructure be in this context? it does relate to paratext in the sense of enabling circulation, it also mediates a relationship/ action, just as infrastructure does
===KI 2 Paratexts===
* git is interesting bc it is connected to labor of programming (especially the writing of commit -m) it carries quite a lot of invisibility in itself
Paratexts are historically conceptualized for print / literature (e.g. page numbers, headers, pre-and post faces, footnotes and other marginalia ...) I would here like to examine possibilities for digital paratext: What implications do paratexts hold for present day digital / hybrid publishing? If "paratext mediates between text and reader", what mediates relation between text and user?<br>
<blockquote>Paratext is, rather, a threshold, (p 2) A Zone not only of transition but also transaction (p 2) <ref>Genette, G. (1997) ''Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation'' Jane E. Lewin. Translated by J.E. Lewin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Literature, Culture, Theory).</ref></blockquote>
===KI 3 Labor===
holistic- vs prescriptive technologies and how the later enabled a division of labor <ref>in "Dividing and Sharing" Femke Snelting writes on the division of labor as a consequence of the separation of design from content in web programming (and standardization) https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/SI26/dividing-and-sharing.md?ref_type=heads#divisions-of-labour</ref>  resulting in opaque processes and culture of compliance. I here also want to refer to "<? php >  Invisible Code and the Mystique of Web Writing" <ref name=":0">"<?php> - invisible code and the mystique of web writing" in "From A to <A> - Keywords of Markup" https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/browsing/from-a-to-%3Ca%3E.md?ref_type=heads#php---invisible-code-and-the-mystique-of-web-writing</ref>, especially its point about the invisibility of server side writing (such as php, which is written but never viewed by the end user, opposed to e.g. html which you can read in the web inspector). In this section I also want to lay out a brief history of text production starting with copying practices in the manuscript era that involved an early form of markup.
 
===KI 4 (?)===
''i feel this chapter should contain more of my own stand point / towards (end) thesis <br>  
why am i writing about this?''
* ''pushing against fragmentalization on the side of production (user / developer) and use (hiddenness / black box of today technology) as those are instrumentalized and beneficial for few''
* ''notion of hidden hides non-canon histories and voices in technology, hides uncertainty and inconsistency <ref>thinking of Johanna Druckers "Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approches to Interface" in which the author arguments towards interfaces that render visible and affirm acts of interpretation</ref> while portraying technology as smooth, efficient and friendly''
* ''highlighting that writing technologies (print and digital) have contiguous history and are not opposed to another''
* ''whats the role of labor in all this?''
'''community / tools:'''
 
Move away from proprietary, bloated platforms and applications. Highlight the necessity of agency and collective autonomy both in the process of creation and over public objects. Discuss adjacent tools and attempts (octomode etc). Framing my attempt of making the hidden visible as possibility for breaking with closed off objects discussed in chapter 1. Here introduce git and version control: excurs into history and version control, socio-cultural embededdness of git, present gitpub project.
 
or '''Infrastructure:'''<br>
The last chapter could also have a rather infrastructural focus through which we arrive at the git software and gitpub, both would serve as examples for my argument.
 
Infrastructure is commonly perceived as invisible <ref>S. Lee Star asserts that Infrastructures only become visible when they break, a claim that Brian Larkin counters in "Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure" while raising the importance of examining how this apparent ''opacity'' of infrastructures is instrumentailized and why.</ref> what would my take or understanding of infrastructure be in this context? To some extend, it relates to paratext, which enables circulation and mediates a relationship/ action, just as infrastructure does. But infrastructure here must also be seen from a more technical perspective, relating to protocol and physical artifacts. (wait, am I using the terms ''infrastructure'' and ''technology'' synonymously right now?)
 
I could then introduce git as infrastructure for programming work. in the sense of version control it also relates to the laborious tasks of programming (especially the writing of commit -m, which some have a system for but most pose a burden to overcome).


===Conclusion===
===Conclusion===
will state the role of meta-data in current day publishing as a possibility for resisting (invisibility)
* ''meta-data in publishing as a possibility for resisting (invisibility)''
* ''the program is part of the writing''
* ''making apparent software, process, how we write but also are written by technology''


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 21:47, 15 October 2025

This outline draft refers to the GitPub project proposal

step 1

1. What do you WANT to write?

[What will the text be about? (thesis). What do you want to explore? Be clear about HOW you want to tell your story.]

I aim to write a text that is concise, yet playful in its form. It will be about the role of meta data [1] [2] in (post) digital publishing practices. I will explore historical developments in the production of text by looking at early forms of markup such as marginalia and the pecia system [3], different digital characteristics for instance source code comments or protocols and will finally propose version control software for (collaborative, experimental) writing and making public. The meta data of the present text is a crucial part of the text and the process of writing itself.

2. Outline (three) key issues (KI) you want to explore

  1. hiddeness (veiled, closed source, seamless) in present day technology/ interfaces but also in the sense of invisible labor (in writing, rendering, reading?)
  2. paratexts
  3. labor
  4. how do we publish together but apart from platforms and bloated applications? or
  5. infrastructure (?)

step 2

Intro

In this text I will examine the role of meta data [1] [2] in publishing practices through the lense of invisibility and separation of labor. I will look at historical developments in the production of text through early forms of markup such as marginalia and the pecia system [3] and consider different digital characteristics for instance source code comments or protocols.

Later I will turn towards the inclusion of meta data, specifically in digital/hybrid publishing projects, not only as means to an end of production but making them part of the text, the body of work at hand.

In the last part of the introduction I will define meta-data (or what ever terminology I come up with for this), and a contextualize my interests in-, and wider relevance of this text.

KI 1 invisibility

In this chapter I wan to look at invisibility: of 'software' [4] or in computation in general. Companies instrumentalize culture of convenience enforcing todays user condition (as opposed to programmer [5] but also as passive, dependent ... witfully outlined by Silvio Lorusso "User Condition" [6] ) through fragmentation of processes and seamless interactions.

also had some ideas about interfaces [7]. invisibility of interface [8], what is their role here?, interfaces are how we see (inside) and interact with a computer.

It is then important to bring up ambiguity of visibility: its not always good to be visible / legible, but has to be viewed in context. visible to whom? and for whose benefit?

  1. include "the right to opacity" [9] bc visibility must be understood contextually. could "right to opacity" also have implications for this specific technology / practice of publishing i am discussing?
  2. consider what it means to be (hyper-) legible. meta data provides additional textual information, that it is important to question, for whom? Issue machine readability and indexing / scraping for LLMs and SEO.

KI 2 Paratexts

Paratexts are historically conceptualized for print / literature (e.g. page numbers, headers, pre-and post faces, footnotes and other marginalia ...) I would here like to examine possibilities for digital paratext: What implications do paratexts hold for present day digital / hybrid publishing? If "paratext mediates between text and reader", what mediates relation between text and user?

Paratext is, rather, a threshold, (p 2) A Zone not only of transition but also transaction (p 2) [10]

KI 3 Labor

holistic- vs prescriptive technologies and how the later enabled a division of labor [11] resulting in opaque processes and culture of compliance. I here also want to refer to "<? php > Invisible Code and the Mystique of Web Writing" [12], especially its point about the invisibility of server side writing (such as php, which is written but never viewed by the end user, opposed to e.g. html which you can read in the web inspector). In this section I also want to lay out a brief history of text production starting with copying practices in the manuscript era that involved an early form of markup.

KI 4 (?)

i feel this chapter should contain more of my own stand point / towards (end) thesis
why am i writing about this?

  • pushing against fragmentalization on the side of production (user / developer) and use (hiddenness / black box of today technology) as those are instrumentalized and beneficial for few
  • notion of hidden hides non-canon histories and voices in technology, hides uncertainty and inconsistency [13] while portraying technology as smooth, efficient and friendly
  • highlighting that writing technologies (print and digital) have contiguous history and are not opposed to another
  • whats the role of labor in all this?

community / tools:

Move away from proprietary, bloated platforms and applications. Highlight the necessity of agency and collective autonomy both in the process of creation and over public objects. Discuss adjacent tools and attempts (octomode etc). Framing my attempt of making the hidden visible as possibility for breaking with closed off objects discussed in chapter 1. Here introduce git and version control: excurs into history and version control, socio-cultural embededdness of git, present gitpub project.

or Infrastructure:
The last chapter could also have a rather infrastructural focus through which we arrive at the git software and gitpub, both would serve as examples for my argument.

Infrastructure is commonly perceived as invisible [14] what would my take or understanding of infrastructure be in this context? To some extend, it relates to paratext, which enables circulation and mediates a relationship/ action, just as infrastructure does. But infrastructure here must also be seen from a more technical perspective, relating to protocol and physical artifacts. (wait, am I using the terms infrastructure and technology synonymously right now?)

I could then introduce git as infrastructure for programming work. in the sense of version control it also relates to the laborious tasks of programming (especially the writing of commit -m, which some have a system for but most pose a burden to overcome).

Conclusion

  • meta-data in publishing as a possibility for resisting (invisibility)
  • the program is part of the writing
  • making apparent software, process, how we write but also are written by technology

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 or information? this lets me think about how information is formatted data - what exactly am I aiming for in this case?
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 but for sure "paratext"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Pecia system was developed in the 13th century in the so called Manuscript culture - a time in between oral and print based knowledge production, preservation and circulation. The Pecia system allowed for books to be split in several parts (peciae) which could then be transcribed by several copiers, working simultaneously, producing a copy in a significantly shorter amount of time than a single person working alone. Pecia marks were crucial to this whole process as they allowed for communication between copiers.
  4. ↑ Wendy Hui Kyong Chun "On Software, or the persistence of visual knowledge"
  5. ↑ Melanie Hoff "Always Already Programming"
  6. ↑ https://theusercondition.computer/
  7. ↑ Galloway, the interface effect, especially chapter 1: unworkable interface, where he inquires interfaces as windows and doors and general questions of visibility (seamfullness) as much as functionality (un-productiveness, un-workability) of those
  8. ↑ Donald Norman "Why Interfaces dont work"
  9. ↑ Édouard Glissant called for a “right to opacity” throughout his works "Poetics of Relation", "Philosophy of Relation" and "Caribbean Discourse". I encountered the concept in "Imperfect Solidarities" by Aruna D'Souza, where she describes it as the right to remain intranslatable and unrecorded into western thought.
  10. ↑ Genette, G. (1997) Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation Jane E. Lewin. Translated by J.E. Lewin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Literature, Culture, Theory).
  11. ↑ in "Dividing and Sharing" Femke Snelting writes on the division of labor as a consequence of the separation of design from content in web programming (and standardization) https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/SI26/dividing-and-sharing.md?ref_type=heads#divisions-of-labour
  12. ↑ "<?php> - invisible code and the mystique of web writing" in "From A to <A> - Keywords of Markup" https://gitlab.com/km_kt/xp-reader/-/blob/main/browsing/from-a-to-%3Ca%3E.md?ref_type=heads#php---invisible-code-and-the-mystique-of-web-writing
  13. ↑ thinking of Johanna Druckers "Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approches to Interface" in which the author arguments towards interfaces that render visible and affirm acts of interpretation
  14. ↑ S. Lee Star asserts that Infrastructures only become visible when they break, a claim that Brian Larkin counters in "Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure" while raising the importance of examining how this apparent opacity of infrastructures is instrumentailized and why.
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