Lot of 49 projects and artworks

Sat Nov 22 12:49:15 CST 2008

I've been thinking (arguing) about the Kindle (electronic) book thing lately.  I think of browsing in bookstores, and the physicality of holding a book, flipping the pages, searching for a remembered passage by my vision of where it fell (lower right hand page) in the book, etc. as an important part of the experience of reading.  I'm sure I could get used to reading a Kindle book, but I don't think it would be the same.  Also, so many books would never make it to the Kindle - the forgotten books you happen upon in a musty bookstore or an elderly relative's shelves.  Just as lots of movies were never converted to either tape or DVD, lots of books would be lost forever, as bookstores closed via a shift to electronic reading (as many are already closing due to electronic book buying).  I also think that kids raised on the computer as entertainment and quick wiki-fact provider, wouldn't be inclined to sit there and read an electronic doorstopper, when entertaining blogs(now)or videos (eventually) were available on the same device. 

My husband's excited about Kindle books as the wave of the future, but I'm confident that, for most of the people on the planet, it will be an out-of-reach yuppie toy, and, unless existing books are burned a la Fahrenheit 541, physical books will survive.

Does anyone on the list have a Kindle thing?

Laura 

-----Original Message-----
>From: Bekah <Bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>

>My point in relation to the TCoL49 discussion  is that I guess the  
>user will use the system to his own interests - kids have always been  
>more interested in the chatting on the telephone or games than in  
>reporting in to their parents or thinking.   No communication system  
>is going to really upgrade the level of thinking and change what  
>folks communicate about.
>
>Bekah
>
>
>
>On Nov 21, 2008, at 8:07 AM, Guy Ian Scott Pursey wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Sounds like we may've had similar experiences, Paul. I also grew up  
>> with
>> the Internet just as it was becoming a popular thing; started using it
>> heavily in my late teens. Chat rooms and mailing lists seemed to be  
>> more
>> common then as did fan-fiction exchanges and improvised role-play
>> situations for geekier contingencies... Then due to a number of  
>> scares,
>> use of this seemed to drop off and the focus apparently shifted from
>> information exchange and communication to e-commerce; shopping.
>>
>> I read Lot 49 after I'd stopping using the Internet so much, so it's
>> hard to say whether it's the "physicality" of the WASTE system or my
>> nostalgia for a network that isn't so voyeuristic; where real  
>> exchanges
>> take place.
>>
>> I was interested in what Bekah said about her teaching - I work in an
>> e-Learning Team at a University and part of the job involves exploring
>> new tools and seeing how they might be used to enhance teaching and
>> learning. My experience with students is nearly the opposite though  
>> - I
>> believe the majority of our UK intake comes from the middle class and
>> they've all grown up using all sorts of technology (personal,  
>> mobile and
>> otherwise).
>>
>> Often it's the lecturers and teachers who struggle to keep up. Most
>> students are so savvy at using Facebook and other sites to  
>> communicate,
>> they're well ahead of what the lecturers use in terms of technology.
>> However it seems, to me, so much of this "social networking" is
>> apolitical and self-promotional by nature, I wonder what it's doing to
>> young people's ability to organise and act.
>>
>> Of course, there will be exceptions to this but part of the appeal of
>> W.A.S.T.E. to me is that Pynchon romanticises communication to the  
>> point
>> where you think it might used to achieve something rather than  
>> exchange
>> trivialities... is this making any sense?
>>
>> Apologies for garbled thoughts,
>> Guy
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
>> Behalf Of Bekah
>> Sent: 21 November 2008 04:38
>> To: kelber at mindspring.com
>> Cc: pynchon -l
>> Subject: Re: Lot of 49 projects and artworks
>>
>> I use a  Smartboard at school -  I can type using a keyboard which
>> has been "projected"  onto the wall-sized computer  "monitor."   I
>> literally type on the screen.  The kids play computer games there.
>> I write with a stylus there and print it off.   We surf the net on
>> the wall.  I use it like a programed whiteboard - from my laptop to
>> the screen only the screen is a giant touchpad/monitor.   Meanwhile,
>> most of my kids,  the children of farm laborers,  don't have
>> computers in their homes.   "Shall I project a world?"
>>
>> Bekah
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 20, 2008, at 10:09 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>>
>>> I watched a couple of high school kids express amazement at an old
>>> typewriter.  "Wow, you type and it goes right on the paper?   
>>> Awesome!"
>>>
>>> Laura
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Paul Rafferty <paul.rafferty at gmail.com>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Despite the internet becoming the main source of communication in
>>>> my late
>>>> teens, I was totally seduced by the romance of WASTE. The internet
>>>> is a far
>>>> easier method but WASTE represents to me the struggle of
>>>> discovering of
>>>> anything left of the mainstream whilst living in a really small
>>>> town in the
>>>> UK (tape trades, mail-order zines etc). I can imagine the same
>>>> being true of
>>>> those who grew up with the internet too. The unfamiliar
>>>> physicality of WASTE
>>>> must be as seductive, if not maybe more?
>>>>
>>>> Paul.
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 3:38 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> There are so many alternate systems now that weren't in place
>>>>> when the book
>>>>> was written.  When I read it (in the late '70s),WASTE seemed like
>>>>> a cool,
>>>>> counter-cultural, populist, anarchistic movement that I wished I
>>>>> could be
>>>>> part of.  WOuld it seem that way to a reader who grew up in the
>>>>> age of
>>>>> e-mail and youtube?
>>>>>
>>>>> Laura
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Bekah <Bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
>>>>>> Sent: Nov 20, 2008 9:58 AM
>>>>>> To: Paul Rafferty <paul.rafferty at gmail.com>
>>>>>> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Lot of 49 projects and artworks
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Nov 19, 2008, at 4:27 PM, Paul Rafferty wrote:
>>>>>>> Is anyone familiar with any contemporary alternative mail systems
>>>>>>> or artworks that explore similar ideas to those discussed in
>>>>>>> Crying
>>>>>>> of Lot 49? I know WASTE has been borrowed and referenced
>>>>>>> throughout
>>>>>>> a range of media but does anyone have any examples of such a  
>>>>>>> thing
>>>>>>> actually existing?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm not sure if I'm using this correctly, so if I'm not, please
>>>>>>> let
>>>>>>> me know how to use it properly.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Does the Semaphore Project at San Jose count?   There's a lot of
>>>>>> stuff out there about it but this piece has a bit more.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.bookride.com/2007/08/thomas-pynchon-crying-of-
>>>>>> lot-49-1966.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bekah
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> www.hotclubdeparis.com
>>>> www.myspace.com/hotclubdeparis
>>>
>>
>>
>