Deconstructed Furbies

Last Saturday I made my way down the coast to the Great Northern Way Campus to take in Vancouver’s first incarnation of a Maker Faire. Many of the exhibits managed to incorporate art, engineering, reclaimed materials, and nostalgia. Take, for example, the deconstructed Furbies, even more disconcerting stripped of their synthetic hides, still myopically blinking and gurgling.

Maker culture clearly has a proclivity for the whimsical; many of the conversations at the Faire were around inserting art into public, industrial spaces. Leanne Prain spoke about reclaiming urban environments with knitted graffiti; ContainR, a rusted shipping container featured at the Olympics, was hung with milk-bottle dragons, a projector, and a screen to become a gallery space.

ContainR

And of course there were the robots. The Mondo Spider was the stuff of nightmares, but the show-stealer was the more democratic Arduino, on display at every turn. A cobbled-together 3D printer churned out plastic shapes. How many of its component parts can a 3D printer print? Most of the structural ones, I suppose. How long before robots can recreate and reassemble themselves?

But for me the highlight of Maker Faire was Rachael Ashe’s book art. As much as I love the print book as immutable physical art object, I am also interested in its potential as a canvas. I love that print books allow readers to engage creatively in a way that has a physical manifestation–that is, I am moved by the idea that the act of reading can change the read object as much as it changes the reader. For this reason I’ve always wanted to publish a book with uncut leaves, so readers would have to transform each page they read. But maybe this open-ended, creative dialogue is a better and ultimately more rewarding solution than an interaction imposed by the publisher would be.

The Mondo Spider, ready for its next victim.

Credit: Better Book Titles and David and Michael Molina.

Many critics are up in arms about a certain Twain scholar’s recent decision to produce a bowdlerized edition of Huckleberry Finn. Most have invoked a quotation from Twain himself on the difference between the right word and the wrong one.

Overwhelmingly, people are protesting the violation of the definitive text. But the notion of a definitive text is a fallacy–a text can no more be fixed than can its author. Conveniently, Twain is long dead, so we can imagine his values to be an unchanging continuum from the moment he first committed Huck to the page until now, when he is reportedly spinning in his grave. But in truth, a text undergoes any number of changes, hesitations, reinterpretations, omissions and the like over the course of its lifetime. In The Fluid Text, a study of the slippery nature of the book, examining primarily the works of Melville, John Bryant says it best: “The very nature of writing, the creative process, and shifting intentionality, as well as the powerful social forces that occasion translation, adaptation, and censorship among readers–in short, the facts of revision, publication, and reception–urge us to recognize that the only ‘definitive text’ is a multiplicity of texts, or rather, the fluid text” (2). Bryan cites the example of Melville’s growing political sensitivity and the many instances in his first novel, Typee, where he replaced savage and native with islander. These edits, of course, took place relatively early on in the book’s development, but even from the moment of its publication at least two versions of Typee have existed (the British and the American, and later clarified or reinterpreted editions of each) and so the text exists as all of its variations simultaneously. This is true also of Huckleberry Finn: one expurgated edition will not erase the existing text nor will it replace it. It simply contributes to the vector of the fluid text.

So to me, it’s clear that inviolable nature of the definitive Mark Twain is not what makes Alan Gribben’s actions unconscionable. Rather, we can look to the professor’s own reasoning to show us why his actions are inappropriate. He explains that in his years of teaching the text, he has always replaced the word in question with one that is laden with much of the same white-supremacist history but belongs to a past era–”slave” does not reflect the still-present racism we are reacting to with such discomfort in the word he has replaced. “I invariably substituted the word ’slave’ for Twain’s ubiquitous n-word whenever I read any passages aloud. Students and audience members seemed to prefer this expedient, and I could detect a visible sense of relief each time, as though a nagging problem with the text had been addressed,” Gribben says (via MobyLives). What nagging problem? That the text forces many of us to confront our own privilege.

I admit, I myself am squeamish about the “n-word.” I have never said it aloud nor have I used it in print, and I won’t use it here. I was born with a great deal of privilege that is bound up with centuries of oppression and violence and ongoing institutionalized and culturally pervasive racism, and this makes me supremely uncomfortable. Avoiding this discomfort with euphemisms and revisionism is self-serving and irresponsible.

But I don’t think that Twain is, to borrow a phrase from The L Word, much interested in making people feel fucking comfortable. Art and criticism exist to challenge the status quo. And it’s made clear by the fact that this word still carries so much power to disrupt, hurt, oppress, and accuse that the state of things in 2011 is not sufficiently different from the state of things in 1884 for us to forget the lessons Twain is trying to teach us about ourselves.

Poems by Cynara Geissler

“In the sanctuary parents resist evil,” Geissler writes. Parents, children, teachers, poets, lovers alike; in this cycle of poems, ordinary settings become sites of resistance, of battle, of redemption. Households depend on kittens, relationships follow meridians, the son of God is a peanut. By turns funny, romantic, tragic, and clever, Small, Stunted Ways is about the choices, both obvious and unexpected, we are faced with every day.

We are very proud to be publishing this amazing book, but not too proud to ask for your help. We are a start-up, and capital can pose a problem for us. So for our second venture, we’re going the patronage route. You can click over to indiegogo.com/small-stunted-ways to back this project, and in exchange you will get our undying gratitude AND we will send you your copy of the book before it goes out to the unwashed masses. Here’s a preview of Cynara’s delicious poetry:

remedial romance

in kindergarten

you speak only

with your body

adoration a simple series

of tangible gestures

sharing the same square

of carpet at story time

slipping a sticky orange slice

in his dirty palm

under the art table

in middle school

the body is suspect,

always shifting

you slide your heart

from your chest

and tuck it in looseleaf.

he slowly parts the bellows

of your careful accordion fold

and you brace yourself

for his answer

to the ultimate question

do you like me?

check     ☐  yes   ☐  no

in high school

your body wants

but words fail you

you give him

everything—

           pen, protractor, yesterday’s math

           homework—soundlessly

enemy tongue locked

in your jaw

your whole body curving

           toward him

9:30 Harlequin on starting a digital business from a print business

Harlequin’s session was (perhaps understandably) a bit sales conference-y, especially for 9:30 am on a Saturday. They talked about new and existing lines and handed out free books, and usually played coy or refused to disclose when asked any interesting questions. The one interesting point made was that although all their digital content is currently locked up with DRM, they are experimenting with a DRM-free line and, if it proves successful, it could influence the company’s practices. Harlequin is a leader in the digital world and if they can demonstrate that free (as in libre) content can be profitable as well as ethical, others will follow. Also, they have a teen line. YA romance novels? I don’t know how to feel.

10:30 Michael Tamblyn for Kobo

Michael Tamblyn was an engaging speaker as always, and the early-morning wine-tasting sure helped. I left my laptop on Vancouver time, so I was faced with a clock flashing 7:30 am as I sampled my bubbly. But to get down to the actual content, Kobo has extensive statistics on the reading habits of their customers. I thought the Kobo device had no wifi, but I guess that doesn’t stand in the way of tracking and reporting reading habits since at some point you have to go on the web to buy your books, not to mention the Kobo apps available for other wifi-ready devices. The effect of this is really creepy, especially in combination with Kobo’s recent contest soliciting reading photos from customers. Do you want Michael Tamblyn to know what you’re reading in the bathtub? More to the point, do you want him knowing what you read and what you skipped, and how fast, and how many times, and what you highlighted, and so on? Maybe you do, because it could contribute to a personalized recommendation system a la Amazon.

The discussion came down to the question of monetizing reading statistics, which could be the biggest benefit to publishers and distributors of reading devices, without creeping out the consumer or violating privacy. Some ideas that were tossed around were clear opt-in or opt-out procedures and transparency around data collection/storage methods so readers know they’re still anonymous. This is key, because publishers like Harlequin have used digital formats to reach audiences too embarrassed to buy risque or pulpy titles in-store (and also because Google, Amazon, Facebook and the like are becoming increasingly creepy around privacy and people seem less and less willing to tolerate this behaviour, so anything Kobo can do to stand out from the Big Brother crowd is a competitive edge).

11:30 Book as Object

This session featured beautiful notebooks and samples from Nice Work Press and Antsey Book Binding. The highlight of this session was the pithy and charming Aurelie Collings, who said, “The ultimate metatext is how the form of the book itself augments a deep reading experience.” I had hoped for more of this discussion instead of the unexamined privileging of print forms (the book-scented candle? really?) especially since, at BookCamp, they were preaching to the choir, but things went a little limp. Worth further examination is Antsey’s interesting use of format. Examples include a spineless book of photos and blank notebooks with covers using rearranged type to create multiple meanings. The first example probably works better as a digital publication, in format if not in terms of aesthetics and resolution, and the fact that it’s printed speaks to the buyer’s social class: this is a great example of book as status symbol and publishers need to pursue this avenue. The second example works only as a print book, and demands that you literally judge a book by its cover. There is no content. The book is its package and format and nothing else. It’s a great, tangible example of the value PPB brings to a book—content and form both need to pull their weight, and at this point digital is really good at the former and still working on the latter.

Somewhat anticlimactically, the session moderators pointed out that all the work they do can be done more cheaply overseas. This problem is endemic to the Canadian book industry. This conversation should have happened, but didn’t. Why should buyers support Canadian companies that cost more? (Don’t say ethics.) If there isn’t any reason, what can these companies bring to the table that make them worth the extra cost?

2:00 Structure and Typography of Ebooks

Joe Clark and Scott Boms spoke about plans to digitize works by Marshall McLuhan. Isn’t that a little presumptuous? If the medium is the message (or, as Joe says, the massage), what makes you think you’re qualified to change the medium? It seems to me you’d have to literally translate these works to digitize them—that is, distill the essence of them, isolate what of that is contributed, complemented or amplified by the format, and find a way to achieve the same in entirely new (digital) ways. And if that’s not the plan, you’ve missed the point.

Highlight of the session: structure and typography for the web will rely on standards, and the best standards that exist to date are the DAISY accessibility standards. Jean Kaplansky made this point a while ago, and it’s just one more argument for XML. The session’s lowest point: the constant trash-talking. Mr. Clark had nothing but disparaging remarks for Kobo and good old M-Tam, which were not only baffling (given that Kobo is relatively benign compared to its competitors and, hello, is a successful Canadian company, which is always worth celebrating) but also out of place at such a friendly event. Through the power of Twitter, Tamblyn appeared halfway through the session, and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for the conversation that happened after the session ended.

3:00 Bibliographic Data

With MPub grads! Solidarity. Points discussed: the challenges presented by digital forms, including version control (since edits and updates can be made as they happen instead of in a new edition with a new ISBN); different ISBNs are being demanded by different retailers, which defeats the purpose; inconsistent format demands from aggregators; lots more stuff. Publishing celebrity Nic Boshart (why does everyone know him?) brought up ISTC numbers, associated with content instead of format, which is a cool idea. I didn’t take much from this session because my background in bibliographic data is pretty limited, but it seems likely to play a big role in my future as a publishing intern.

4:00 The Book of MPub: Agile Publishing

What people are saying about the Book of MPub: It’s “extraordinary.” And it’s “more than just theoretical.”

John W. Maxwell did a great job presenting, which is probably why the MPub hired him (also, he is super smart). I wanted to jump in a lot to correct or expand but that seemed rude, so I only jumped in a little.

The positive response was really gratifying, especially Ingrid Paulson’s enthusiasm for automating production grunt work. Anyway, the bottom line is this: agile is the web way. Being agile means always pushing the limits, and that means making it safe to fail (smaller up-front investments of time and money, via POD and automation of tasks) and then failing over and over until you get it right—and it won’t be right for long, so you keep rolling with the punches. Technology, free/open source or otherwise (examples include WordPress, eCub, XSLPalette, the Adobe CS, the EBM, and more), put the pressplay team in a position to experiment, but attitudes and practices are a part of agility too. It was pointed out that this doesn’t scale: the project was conducted with six team members and that’s probably the limit, because communication began to break down. However, this model could be used by larger companies without hierarchical structure if project teams were small and autonomous.

Hur Publishing is super agile! But less because we want to exploit technology (although short-run digital printing from Friesens was a big part of our first project, Dragon Problems) and more because we operate outside inertial market structures (creating books that are art objects and handselling) and we work more as a team than a hierarchy (but don’t tell the boss I said that).

See a roundup of more eloquent BookCamp summaries and a video from Sean Cranbury (man of many hats) here.

Second Glance

May 1 from 1-3pm

448 Victoria Street

Bookland

May 8th from 1-3pm

750 Fortune Drive

The first reading will take place during the Art Walk so it will be a great time to check out other local talent.

Books are also available at The Art We Are in Kamloops (323 Victoria Street) and The People’s Co-op Bookstore on Commercial Drive in Vancouver.

We have media coverage coming up this week from Books on the Radio and in the Kamloops Daily News. Stay tuned!

Tracy and Kathleen.