How the Page Matters
Published on 5. November 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-4426-1535-9 (ISBN)
Description
From handwritten texts to online books, the page has been a standard interface for transmitting knowledge for over two millennia. It is also a dynamic device, readily transformed to suit the needs of contemporary readers. In How the Page Matters, Bonnie Mak explores how changing technology has affected the reception of visual and written information.
Mak examines the fifteenth-century Latin text Controversia de nobilitate in three forms: as a manuscript, a printed work, and a digital edition. Transcending boundaries of time and language, How the Page Matters connects technology with tradition using innovative new media theories. While historicizing contemporary digital culture and asking how on-screen combinations of image and text affect the way conveyed information is understood, Mak's elegant analysis proves both the timeliness of studying interface design and the persistence of the page as a communication mechanism.
Mak examines the fifteenth-century Latin text Controversia de nobilitate in three forms: as a manuscript, a printed work, and a digital edition. Transcending boundaries of time and language, How the Page Matters connects technology with tradition using innovative new media theories. While historicizing contemporary digital culture and asking how on-screen combinations of image and text affect the way conveyed information is understood, Mak's elegant analysis proves both the timeliness of studying interface design and the persistence of the page as a communication mechanism.
Reviews / Votes
'Mak's monograph is an important reminder of the rich tradition of intellectual and artistic achievement recorded and disseminated within the discrete borders of the page... Rather than a passive carrier of information, the page matters as a lively and active participant in a conversation between author, designer, and reader.' - Julie Holcomb (Information & Culture, October 2012) 'How the Page Matters represents an impressive scholarly accomplishment...The contribution Mak makes with her book is her clear and succinct description of the shifting meaning of the Controversia de nobilitate over five centuries of existence in libraries, universities, courts, and personal collections.'- Lyle Ford (Papers of the Bibliographic Society of Canada vol 50:02; 2012) 'This elegantly produced volume is a case study of one work as it moves from manuscript to print to website and is translated into Italian, French, German, and English...Mak provides helpful summary of writing on the history of manuscripts and books.'
- Martha W. Driver (Speculum vol 88:02:2013) 'I welcome this succinct and elegant study, which I recommend to those with interests in the architecture of the book.'
- David Sume (SHARP News, vol 22:04:2013)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 249 mm
Width: 171 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
339 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-1535-9 (9781442615359)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bonnie Mak is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Program for Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois.
Content
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Architectures of the Page
Reading the Page
The Paratext and the Page
Reading the Library
The Digital Page
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Architectures of the Page
Reading the Page
The Paratext and the Page
Reading the Library
The Digital Page
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index