Lost… Without a byte
Driving south on I-147 yesterday, it dawned on me that I could be headed north. Or should have been. After clicking cruise control, I had this inkling that I-147 south might not lead to I-40. And, yes, I had no GPS. I’d loaned it to my daughter. No iPhone, either. I did, however, have an iPod Touch, but roadside wifi isn’t even on the map. Which meant that I was lost, with no directional prosthetic. There was this stubborn overwhelming sense coursing through me that there had to be some digital solution at hand, a button somewhere in the Honda that would help me find my way home. The sensation was palpable and didn’t go away even when I stopped at a gas station for directions. Without sending a message by way of Western Union, something has happened, and there’s no going back: I’ve succomb to technology. Not good. Not bad. Just lost.
The Other Side of the Mirror — Setting Limits
Writing The Honey Trap: The True Story of Madame Elizabeth Brousse, A/K/A Cynthia has been an awakening, of sorts. Going digital seems to make all the difference in the world to the process of drafting, editing and publishing.
Until now, the idea behind this blog has been to examine the affect of software on the writing process. But now that I’m on the other side of the mirror, which is to say, writing code — in essence, turning the writing into software — I need to reflect on my original aims.
To be brief, coding interferes with writing. It’s just tedious. However, I’m convinced it improves the reading experience, which is crucial, perhaps the whole point. It occurs to me that The History News Network could present a problem (hnn.us/blogs/74.html) because their interface is so limited. It’s really not designed for “digital literary non-fiction.” Comparing The Honey Trap with, say, The Dolly Madison Digital Edition, from UVA can be disheartenting, although it may be missing the point.
Perhaps what I need to do is to set limits, to define what THT can actually achieve digitally.
Here’s one idea: To make the Honey Trap sufficiently interactive that other scholars can employ my links and resources to prove, disprove, augment or even transmute the story of OSS, the origins of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Madame Brousse. Digitizing THT should provide historians with resources to advance the story, beyond what I am able to achieve.
Next up: How using software to produce digital copy changes the art/craft of writing.
