Post-Digital Print

Last updated
Post-digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894
Post-digital Print The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894.jpg
Post-digital Print The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894, book cover
AuthorAlessandro Ludovico
LanguageEnglish
Publishedpublished
PublisherOnomatopee
Publication date
2012
Publication placeNetherlands
Pages192
ISBN 9789491677014
Website http://postdigitalprint.org/

Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing since 1894 is a 194-page publication written by Alessandro Ludovico in 2012. This book is said to encompass post digital print and explain examples of the many ways print has been expanded on, changed, and different inventions that have come about over the post-digital age. Ludovico makes it a point to emphasize how print has been thought to die off since 1894 but how in his opinion it has done no such thing, but instead is needed for the future. [1] The book is one of the 10 best books of 2019 recommended by LSE (London School of Economics). [2]

Contents

Author

The author Alessandro Ludovico was born in 1969 and resides in Bari, Italy. It is said that Ludovico has contributed greatly to the post digital age. This is due to his success as a Media critic and editor-in-chief of the magazine Neural since 1993, a host for the weekly radio show Neural Station, a collaborator of the Digital Kraft exhibitions, a founding contributor of the Nettime community, a founder of the organization Mag.Net, and a founder of the European Peripheral Magazine list. [3]

Synopsis

A chapter by chapter synopsis of the book has been depicted as follows by a review from the website We Make Money Not Art.

Chapter 1, “The death of paper (which never happened),” analyzes 7 moments when a new medium in history was thought to be a superior alternative to paper.

Chapter 2, “A history of alternative publishing reflecting the evolution of print,” depicts how artistic avant-garde has used print during the 20th century.

Chapter 3, “The mutation of paper: material paper in immaterial times,” looks at the explanations for why paper makes sense even in our digital age.

Chapter 4, “The end of paper: can anything actually replace the printed page?” critically views electronic devices, strategies, and platforms.

Chapter 5, “Distributed archives: paper content from the past, paper content for the future,” explores any long-term implications of choosing one medium over another.

Chapter 6, “The network: transforming culture, transforming publishing,” explains how working as a network can increase the quality of cultural entities. [4]

Content

According to Ludovico the first announcement of "the death of print" was in 1894. The book looks at how since that time independent bookshops, large bookshop chains, newspapers and magazines have to compete with Internet-based publishing or be wiped out. Ludovico explains how physical print publishing can survive and why he believes it is important that it should. He does this by tying together the current situation and future prospects of physical print publishing. It is explained that not every print technology was designed to print millions of copies. Spirit duplicators, photocopiers, and print-on-demand publishing allowed access to print for smaller print runs of projects with less mass appeal.

Post-Digital Print innerpages Post-Digital Print innerpages1 photography by Fieke van Berkom.jpg
Post-Digital Print innerpages

Artists and political groups pushed the technology with pamphlets, unlicensed newspapers, the alternative press, fanzines, books, and journals. Ludovico establishes that due to how technology and the internet present the problem of filtering rather than access. This is not the only problem that he explains the print interface does not have. This Ludovico considers in depth when looking at eBooks which simulate print ever more closely which, according to a reviewer, confirms his argument that print is the better interface. This is also because the book explains that eBooks have an environmental impact that makes books look more appealing, and suffer all the problems of censorship and technological obsolescence that print now does not.

The reviewer of furtherfield.org believes that Ludovico certainly has the credibility that “lends his conclusions a context and authority that mere theory might lack.” This is because Ludovico is part of numerous art projects, events, and interventions that have placed him in the changes in publishing and textual media occurring over this period. He feels that printed materials are better interfaces, archives, and art objects than purely digital objects and therefore post-digital print and original print have to merge to spawn new models for carrying and spreading unprecedented amounts of information and culture. [5]

Publication

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book</span> Medium consisting of pages of text or images

A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Modern books are typically in codex format, composed of many pages that are bound together and protected by a cover; they were preceded by several earlier formats, including the scroll and the tablet. The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printmaking</span> Process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper

Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique, rather than a photographic reproduction of a visual artwork which would be printed using an electronic machine ; however, there is some cross-over between traditional and digital printmaking, including risograph.

Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate page layouts and produce text and image content comparable to the simpler forms of traditional typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge University Press</span> Publishing business of the University of Cambridge

Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessment to form Cambridge University Press and Assessment under Queen Elizabeth II's approval in August 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Print on demand</span> Printing business process

Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints in single or small quantities. While other industries established the build-to-order business model, POD could only develop after the beginning of digital printing because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technologies such as letterpress and offset printing.

Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editing of books, journals, and magazines to be posted on a screen.

A penciller is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors and lettering in the book, under the supervision of an editor.

The Beaver is the fortnightly newspaper of the LSE Students' Union at the London School of Economics, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of books</span>

The history of books starts with the development of writing, and various other inventions such as paper and printing, and continues through to the modern-day business of book printing. The earliest knowledge society has on the history of books actually predates what would conventionally be called "books" today and begins with tablets, scrolls, and sheets of papyrus. The current format that we consider to be books, with separate sheets fastened together rather than a scroll, is called a codex. Then hand-bound, expensive, and elaborate manuscripts appeared in codex form. These gave way to press-printed volumes and eventually led to the mass-printed volumes prevalent today. Contemporary books may even have no physical presence with the advent of the e-book. The book also became more accessible to the disabled with the advent of Braille and audiobook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Page layout</span> Part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement of visual elements on a page

In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives.

Make is an American magazine published since February 2005 which focuses on do it yourself (DIY) projects for individuals and groups, involving computers, electronics, metalworking, robotics, woodworking and other disciplines. The magazine is marketed to people who enjoyed making things and features complex projects which can often be completed with cheap materials, including household items. Make has been described as "a central organ of the maker movement".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accessible publishing</span> Approach to publishing and book design

Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

<i>Neural</i> (magazine)

Neural is a print magazine established in 1993 dealing with new media art, electronic music and hacktivism. It was founded by Alessandro Ludovico and Minus Habens Records label owner Ivan Iusco in Bari (Italy). In its first issue there was the only translation in Italian of William Gibson's Agrippa .

Fixed book price (FBP) is a form of resale price maintenance applied to books. It allows publishers to determine the price of a book at which it is to be sold to the public. FBP can take the form of a law, mandatory obligation on all retailers, or an agreement between publishers and booksellers. An example of a fixed book price law is French Lang Law and the German Buchpreisbindung. An example of a trade agreement is the former Net Book Agreement in the United Kingdom.

Information capital is a concept which asserts that information has intrinsic value which can be shared and leveraged within and between organizations. Information capital connotes that sharing information is a means of sharing power, supporting personnel, and optimizing working processes. Information capital is the pieces of information which enables the exchange of Knowledge capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of books</span> Overview of and topical guide to books

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to books.

<i>Library of the Printed Web</i> Physical archive

Library of the Printed Web is a physical archive devoted to web-to-print artists’ books, zines and other printout matter. Founded by Paul Soulellis in 2013, the collection was acquired by The Museum of Modern Art Library in January 2017. The project has been described as "web culture articulated as printed artifact," an "archive of archives," characterized as an "accumulation of accumulations," much of it printed on demand. Techniques for appropriating web content used by artists in the collection include grabbing, hunting, scraping and performing, detailed by Soulellis in "Search, Compile, Publish," and later referenced by Alessandro Ludovico.

Alessandro Ludovico is a researcher, artist and chief editor of Neural magazine since 1993. He received his Ph.D. degree in English and Media from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge (UK). He is Associate Professor at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and Lecturer at Parsons Paris – The New School. He has published and edited several books, and has lectured worldwide. He also served as an advisor for the Documenta 12 Magazine Project. He is one of the authors of the award-winning Hacking Monopolism trilogy of artworks.

Amaranth Borsuk is an American poet and educator known for her experiments with textual materiality and digital poetry. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Washington Bothell's School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, where she teaches undergraduate courses on poetry, philology, and experimental writing. She also serves as the Chair of the school's M.F.A. program in Creative Writing, which she co-chaired from 2018 to 2022.

Ruth Catlow is an English artist-theorist and curator whose practice focuses on critical investigations of digital and networked technologies and their emancipatory potential. She is also the Director, with Marc Garrett, of the Furtherfield gallery, commons space, and online arts-writing platform based out of London, which the duo founded in 1997.

References

  1. "Post Digital Print". furtherfield.org. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  2. "Post Digital Print". www.blogs.lse.ac.uk/. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  3. "Alessandro Ludovico - Monoskop". monoskop.org. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  4. "Book review: Post-Digital Print – the Mutation of Publishing Since 1894". We Make Money Not Art. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  5. "Post Digital Print". www.furtherfield.org. Retrieved 2015-10-26.