BookLab: Print to Programming

Instructor Info

Course Description

“BookLab: Print to Programming” offers an applied, comparative history of new media from the hand-press period to the present. Our approach will draw on scholarship in book history, bibliography, information science, media studies, and digital humanities, an intersection described by N. Katherine Hayles and Jessica Pressman as “comparative textual media.” We will take this comparative, interdisciplinary approach first to better understand machines of reading (from the printed book to computer code) as material, historical, and cultural objects. We will examine how practices of reading, writing, and publishing have interacted—thematically and materially—with contemporaneous technological innovations over the past 250 years. This cross-historical examination will open new modes of materially-engaged critique for our technological present.

In this class we focus on books as a synecdoche for a broader constellation of creative and informational media technologies. As scholars, students, and teachers, books are a medium we have lots of experience with, and one we feel like we understand. The full continuum of bookish objects, however, is much wider and weirder than we tend to imagine. Understanding the diverse ways humans have imagined, produced, circulated, and interpreted books gives us new purchase on questions of authority, agency, privacy, labor, and sustainability that remain central to socio-technical discourse, and which cut across academic fields, from information science to to book history, from computer science to literary studies.

We will complement our readings with praxis, gaining hands-on experience through critical making experiments using textual technologies from letterpress to zines to computer programming, as well as with archival materials from UIUC’s Rare Books and Manuscript Library. Together, weekly “book labs” and course discussions will help us consider relationships among modes of textual production, reception, and interpretation: including in our purview both “intellectual work,” such as writing, and “manual labor,” such as setting.

Through our discussions we will develop greater capacities to critically read machines, analyzing the political, cultural, and social forces that shape—and are shaped by—textual technologies. We will raise urgent questions around privacy, algorithmic bias, intellectual property, information overload, and textual authority, asking how a rich new media history might inform our technological present and contribute to a richer construction of the digital humanities and information sciences fields.

Acknowledgments

In developing this course I learned from many people, but I particularly thank Whitney Trettien, Matthew Kirschenbaum, and Kari Kraus for graduate syllabi from which I drew particular inspiration. I thank Matthew and Kari, in particular, for the Book Lab moniker, which they graciously agreed to share, and for Matthew’s own BookLab graduate syllabus from which I have learned (and borrowed) much.

Pre- and Co-requisites

BookLab presumes no prior experience and thus is well suited for all students interested in book history, digital humanities, or adjacent fields.

Course Policies

Code of Conduct

The code of conduct for this course borrows directly from the stellar model outlined by Northeastern’s Feminist Coding Collective. Their Code of Conduct and Community Guidelines are well worth consulting in full, but I have copied and lightly adapted those items most pertinent to the work we will do in our class.

Social Media

From time to time I will wish to take photos of class activities for posting on Skeuomorph Press’ website, Instagram and/or Bluesky accounts. If you would prefer not to appear in any such images, just tell me: no reason or explanation is necessary, and it will not affect your standing in the class in any way. I try not to name or tag people without their explicit permission, but if you know that you never want to be named or tagged in a public image, please tell me and I will make a note of it. If at some point I mistakenly include you in an image—in the background, perhaps, where I did not notice—let me know and I will remove it immediately. In general, I am fine with you posting things from class—some of our activities will be, if I dare say so myself, very photogenic!—but I ask that you follow these same guidelines out of consideration for your classmates. Please feel free to tag me—@ryancordell on most platforms—but especially the FabLab and/or Skeuomorph in your posts. Likewise, I will want to document your final projects with photos and/or video, but you can of course opt out of those projects being shared in any way, with absolutely no penalty for doing so.

Academic Integrity

The iSchool has the responsibility for maintaining academic integrity so as to protect the quality of education and research in our school and to protect those who depend on our integrity. Consequences of academic integrity infractions may be serious, ranging from a written warning to a failing grade for the course or dismissal from the University.

See the student code for academic integrity requirements: http://studentcode.illinois.edu/article1/part4/1-401/

Statement of Inclusion

From: https://diversity.illinois.edu/about/senate-diversity-resolution/

As the state’s premier public university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s core mission is to serve the interests of the diverse people of the state of Illinois and beyond. The institution thus values inclusion and a pluralistic learning and research environment, one which we respect the varied perspectives and lived experiences of a diverse community and global workforce. We support diversity of worldviews, histories, and cultural knowledge across a range of social groups including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, economic class, religion, and their intersections.

Religious Observances

In keeping with our Statement of Inclusion and Illinois law, the University is required to reasonably accommodate its students’ religious beliefs, observances, and practices in regard to admissions, class attendance, and the scheduling of examinations and work requirements.

Religious Observance Accommodation Request form: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofIllinois&layout\_id=19

Other accommodations may be available.

Accessibility Statement

To insure disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning of the semester, I request that students with disabilities who require assistance to participate in this class contact me as soon as possible to discuss your needs and any concerns you may have. The University of Illinois may be able to provide additional resources to assist you in your studies through the office of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES). This office can assist you with disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids. Please contact them as soon as possible by visiting the office in person: 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign; visiting the website: http://disability.illinois.edu; calling (217) 333-4603 (V/TTY); or via e-mail disability@illinois.edu. NOTE: I do not require a letter from DRES in order to discuss your requested accommodations.

Land Acknowledgment

Suggested by Native American House:

I recognize and acknowledge that we are on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands were the traditional territory of these Native Nations prior to their forced removal; these lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.

As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois has a particular responsibility to acknowledge the peoples of these lands, as well as the histories of dispossession that have allowed for the growth of this institution for the past 150 years. We are also obligated to reflect on and actively address these histories and the role that this university has played in shaping them. This acknowledgment and the centering of Native peoples is a start as we move forward for the next 150 years.

Graduate Academic Support & Tutoring:

The iSchool Writing Resources is the in-house writing support team for graduate students at the iSchool. They are here to help you with your writing and help you feel more comfortable and confident in your skills. The writing consultants are not professors or evaluators. They simply know the struggles of graduate and undergraduate-level writing and want to help you learn how to succeed and improve your writing skills. The iSchool writing consultants can help you with every step of the writing process. For detailed information on our services please visit our website:https://publish.illinois.edu/ischoolwritingresources/.