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The myth of the new: Mass digitization, distant reading, and the future of the book

Gooding, P.; Terras, M.; Warwick, C.

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Authors

P. Gooding

M. Terras



Abstract

This article presents the theoretical background to a wider project that is attempting to increase our understanding of the impact and uses of large-scale digitization, being undertaken by the first author at University College London with the working title ‘What is the impact of large-scale digitization upon researchers and the information sector?’ It discusses the controversy surrounding the emergence of mass digitization: the creation and collection of huge resources containing millions of pages of textual cultural content. It demonstrates that the polarized nature of the literature about this technological development is far from unprecedented, and in fact can be traced through the theory of a number of varied fields: the debate surrounding mechanization and digital technologies, our understanding of the role of the sublime in modern representations of technology, the similarities between the sociology of city life and digital information overload, and the way in which innovations are diffused throughout society. It proposes that these theories explain why debates around technological innovation often become so hyperbolic, creating an almost mythological view of technological determination. It concludes that, as a result of the processes outlined in this theory, mass digitization has become stuck between two conflicting rhetorical movements, and that it is therefore necessary to begin working to increase our understanding of this technology and to move the debate onwards using evidence from the real world.

Citation

Gooding, P., Terras, M., & Warwick, C. (2013). The myth of the new: Mass digitization, distant reading, and the future of the book. Literary and linguistic computing, 28(4), 629-639. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqt051

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Dec 1, 2013
Deposit Date Sep 5, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Literary and Linguistic Computing
Print ISSN 0268-1145
Electronic ISSN 1477-4615
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 28
Issue 4
Pages 629-639
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqt051

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Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Literary and Linguistic Computing following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Gooding, P, Terras, M. and Warwick, C. (2013) 'The myth of the new : mass digitization, distant reading, and the future of the book.' Literary and linguistic computing., 28 (4), pp. 629-639 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqt051.




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