This is a review of the piece of digital literature Out of Nothing, Everything: Conversations with Larry Harvey (1989 – 2019 burning man project, 2019a) evaluated using the effect on the reader of the conceptual frameworks of grasp, figure, and memory as outlined by Bourchardon and Heckman (2012).
This work is offered in eReader and PDF files rather than the most widely adopted ebook file format Epub developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum. It consists of transcripts of 3 interviews conducted by the author Jeff Greenwald between 2013 and 2015 with Larry Harvey who was a founder of the Burning Man event which as described on the website is “a temporary metropolis dedicated to art and community” (1989 – 2019 burning man project, 2019b) of 70,000 people aligned in their actions by the words of Larry Harvey in his 10 principles of Burning Man 1989 – 2019 burning man project, 2019c) which were written in 2004 to promulgate what was happening with the project around the world as further regional iterations occured. The book’s journey to me was fuelled by the principle of gifting which is one of the above principles that intersects with ease the capabilities of digital literature. I discovered the work through an email I received from the Burning Man Journal regarding a new publication from the Burning Man Project’s Philosophy Centre. The interviews were originally conducted for potential newspaper publication but when that didn’t go ahead the author gifted the content to Burning Man who then published it as a gift available to all.
Grasp was most challenging with this format. I focused on exploring the eReader version from my computer and when I clicked on it found myself in a database. My initial journey of accessing the work was exploring the folder system it was placed within and I was distracted into exploring the Burning Man Colouring Book before trying to open the item I was originally trying to access. The online accessibility of related texts is a mixed blessing allowing both distractions and delving into content. None of the software on my computer displayed an eReader file so I used Microsoft Store and downloaded freda due to it being the highest rated free application and was amazed to see it would function with personal computer, mobile device, surface tablet, and hololens. Two critical parts of how the reader experiences digital literature formats are both the hardware and software but I theorise that having to place a hololens on my head to read something would only be a barrier to more reading. I downloaded the freda application was able to proceed into the work quite seamlessly but the barriers to access were high.
My engagement with aspects of figure were mixed with this work. The cover image did not appear on freda’s virtual bookshelf just a black square thumbnail with the title at the bottom. It is uncertain whether this is due to freda or the publisher’s misstep. I clicked into the book and find a default format of white text on a black background with 2 pages viewable at one time. The opposite of Microsoft Word or Google Docs and I surmise this is due to the use-case of spending a significant amount of time focusing on reading text and how it may impact a reduction of eye strain. I read half of the book before exploring display options other than the default of which there were many. Changing the view to a single page gave the reader not only longer line lengths to read but also changed the number of pages in the work displayed at the bottom of the page. Thus there are cataloging issues as the workdoes not have a discrete number of pages; the number depends on how the work is formatted for viewing. I also try the autoscroll function so I no longer have to navigate pages myself but even on the slowest setting I find that I am being left behind. This may be due to the nature of the content as a dense philosophical treatise which left me rereading parts and slowing down for others and I would suggest this function may work well for less dense texts or if multiple people were reading a document the speed may represent a compromise to the slowest to allow all enough time.
Memory was not particularly engaged with in the simple format. The freda application was able to remember what page I was up to when I reopened it. The work had a couple of hyperlinks which were out of date. One for example said it would link to a photographic exhibition but instead linked to the local newspaper that had hosted that page.
The only benefit of this work being digital literature was that I discovered and was able to access it. Otherwise it would have functioned better in my life as a traditional work of print.
Grasp 2/5
Figure 3/5
Memory 2/5
References
1989 – 2019 burning man project. (2019a). Burning Man 2019. Retrieved from https://journal.burningman.org/2019/06/philosophical-center/tenprinciples/out-of-nothing-everything-larry-harvey/
1989 – 2019 burning man project. (2019b). 10 Principles of Burning Man. Retrived from https://burningman.org/culture/philosophical-center/10-principles/
1989 – 2019 burning man project. (2019c). Burning Man 2019. Retrieved from https://burningman.org/event/brc/
Bourchardon, S., and Heckman, D. (2012). Digital manipulability and digital literature. Retrieved fron http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/electropoetics/heuristic