Chris Aldrich Profile picture
Sep 18, 2021 19 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Ian Bogost has a nice look at the UI affordances and areas for growth in the e-reading space.

A🧵 of annotations
theatlantic.com/books/archive/…
definition: bookiness

Does this only come out because there's something that's book-tangential or similar and it needs to exist to describe the idea of not-book, book-adjacent, or book-like on some sort of spectrum of bookishness.
hyp.is/jbsr7Bi2EeynDQ…
Some discussion of early book prototypes.
#BookHistory
hyp.is/5iDMBhi2EeyXQZ…
Aside from reading words to put ideas into my brain, one of the reasons I like to read digital words is that the bigger value proposition for me is an easier method to add annotations to what I'm reading and then to be able to manipulate those notes after-the-fact.
I've transcended books and the manual methods of note taking. Until I come up with a better word for it, digital commonplacing seems to be a useful shorthand for this new pattern of reading.
#DigitalCommonplacing #Annotation
hyp.is/TcjpLhi3Eeyoxf…
It is an odd circumstance that tail bands are still used on modern books that don't need them. From a manufacturing standpoint, the decrease in cost would dictate they disappear, however they must add some level of bookiness that they're worth that cost.
hyp.is/7HCuVBi3EeywJ3…
Having helped others to self-publish in the past, I definitely do spend a bit of time putting the small sort of bookiness flourishes into their texts.
hyp.is/dgP4Vhi4EeyoyS…
This may be the first time I've seen uncanny valley applied to a topic other than recognizing people versus robots or related simulacra.
hyp.is/zOmbdhi4EeyVbb…
It would be quite nice if a digital reader would allow actual writing in the margins, or even overlaying the text itself and then allowing the looking at the two separately.
I do quite like the infinite annotation space that @hypothes_is gives me on a laptop. I wish there were UI for it on a Kindle in a more usable and forgiving way.
The digital keyboard on Kindle Paperwhite is miserable. I've noticed that I generally prefer reading and annotating on desktop in a browser now for general ease-of-use.
hyp.is/fXUpBhi5EeyqWr…
Also, I don't see enough use of mise en abyme. This is a good one.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_a…
Intriguing reference of a book as a memory palace here.

The verso/recto and top/middle/bottom is a piece of digital books that I do miss from the physical versions as it serves as a mnemonic journey for me to be able to remember what was where.
I wonder if @IBogost uses the method of loci?
#mnemotechniques
hyp.is/EBsZKBi6EeyZvB…
I do dislike the running headers of digital copies of books as most annotation tools want to capture those headers in the annotation.
It would be nice if they were marked up in an Aria-like method so that annotation software would semantically know to ignore them.
#A11y
hyp.is/i9Vg-hi6Eey8TC…
This is related to an idea that @TomCritchlow was trying to get at a bit the other day. It would definitely be interesting in this sort of setting.

hyp.is/hn__2Bi7EeyJcL…
Amazon is definitely not catering to my reading, annotating, and writing experience.
hyp.is/q9lOOBi7EeyfNq…
And if you prefer to read these on my own website, try
boffosocko.com/2021/09/18/557…
Or read them in context on the original article at
via.hypothes.is/www.theatlanti…

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More from @ChrisAldrich

Jun 30, 2022
Thinking about rubrication and manuscripts. I feel like I ought to build a Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey script that takes initial capitals online and makes them large, red, even historiated /illuminated. An illuminated and historiated initial letter (D perhaps wit
Or perhaps something that converts the CSS of @Hypothes_is highlights and makes the letters red instead of having a yellow background? #EdTech
A bit reminiscent, but of a different historical period than the index card idea.
What if we had a collection of illuminated initials and some code that would allow for replacing capitals at the start of paragraphs we were reading?
Read 6 tweets
Jun 28, 2022
When we discuss the topic of the history of abortion and birth control in the United States, where are the mentions of Where are My Children? (Universal Studios, 1916)? Black and white still photo from the movie Where are My Chil
The movie was Universal's top grossing film of 1916. It's estimated to have grossed over $3 million at a time when ticket prices were less than 50¢ each.
Where are My Children? was written, produced, and directed by Lois Weber. The film was ultimately added to the National Film Registry in 1993.
Read 12 tweets
Sep 24, 2020
Good morning #HeyPresstoConf20!

I’ll briefly show how I use my #WordPress website as an evolution of the Renaissance era commonplace book. This now often goes by the other names #wiki, #digitalgarden, #secondbrain, or #zettelkasten.

boffosocko.com/2020/09/24/557…
Commonplaces are essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: recipes, quotes, letters, poems, proverbs, prayers, formulas. Commonplaces are used by readers, writers, students, & scholars as an aide-mémoire for concepts/facts.
#HeyPresstoConf20
boffosocko.com/2020/09/24/557…
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century.
#HeyPresstoConf20
boffosocko.com/2020/09/24/557…
Read 15 tweets
Jul 14, 2020
#MyHighlights from "The Top 3 Most Effective Ways to Take Notes While Reading" via @usehighlights fs.blog/2013/11/taking…
"At the end of each chapter write a few bullet points that summarize what you’ve read and make it personal if you can — that is, apply it to something in your life. Also, note any unanswered questions. When you’re done the book, put it down for a week."
"Pick up the book again and go through all your notes. Most of these will be garbage but there will be lots you want to remember. Write the good stuff on the inside cover of the book along with a page number."
Read 5 tweets
May 28, 2020
So... a while back I tweeted about a bit of functionality I've long thought would be a cool one to have for Twitter:
I would often see people post tweetstorms, long threads of related tweets, to tell an extended story.
Invariably people see these threads and say "Why don't/didn't you just post that on your website as a blog post instead?"

(In fact, why don't you try it on this very tweet?)
Read 28 tweets
Mar 19, 2020
Last year I thought it would be fun to outline how people might use their #WordPress websites to actively participate in #PressEdConf20 by posting content on their WordPress website and syndicating copies to Twitter for those following that way.
boffosocko.com/2020/03/19/557…
My general thought was:
The only thing better than A WordPress and Education, Pedagogy and Research Conference on Twitter would be A WordPress and Education, Pedagogy and Research Conference using WordPress itself!
#PressEdConf20
boffosocko.com/2020/03/19/557…
So let’s give it a spin by providing an outline for how to accomplish it in true #IndieWeb & #DoOO fashion? Perhaps a few people might trying doing this year’s conference this way? Here’s an early #PressEdConf20 presentation to get the juices flowing.
boffosocko.com/2020/03/19/557…
Read 15 tweets

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