reading response 2.15.22
i am so fascinated by brander's idea of "semantic triple as link". i didn't really know
what a semantic triple was before reading this article--it makes sense as a general
grammatical concept, though. but hearing about it in the same context as links is kind of
mind-blowing! i don't have much to say on this front--it does make me look at sentences a
little differently now, though. words have links. and i wonder how they would translate
into actual web links. something to explore in the next variations?
the mit talk and rasheed's piece have an interesting conversation with one another--i
believe the former references the latter at some point. i especially love the part in
the mit talk when the authors are talking about how "all text is hypertext", because it's
true! really, whenever you see something interesting in something you're reading, you can
always go to another place to learn more about it. you can look up a word you're not
familiar with, you can look further into an animal you've never seen before, you can
revisit an old book or website or piece of art that the text suddenly reminded you of. and
it's true that this takes longer than just clicking a link, but it really does let you
explore the world, get lost in the journey, maybe rabbithole into something completely
different from what you were first looking up. whereas with a link, you just go straight to
the thing you were looking for. fast and simple, but not as adventurous. further--in
rasheed's article, she expands on this kind of exploration and refers to it as "research",
which i really like, because it is! it's research! looking around and learning! even if not
in the service of academia! and i like how her research methods affect her projects--allowing
her to see connections even when she's not looking for them, and allowing her to step back
and let the connections form themselves over time.
favorite quote: "i think, for me, it was always a matter of wanting to say the same thing,
but in a different language" (rasheed).
additionally, i really enjoyed playing with are.na this week. it feels a bit like tumblr,
except the sources can be from outside the site. very good for collecting materials and
being able to look at all of them at once, which i appreciate as a serial url bookmarker
who frequently forgets said bookmarks simply because they are mostly invisible.
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