Dirk van Weelden @ The Unbound Book Conference – photo cc by-sa Sebastiaan ter Burg
The first speaker during the session ‘Books by design’, Dirk van Weelden, brought a critical-philosophical point of view to the conference by addressing the way in which books are operating within society. He remarked that the book is an object, but the handmade letter changed to digital data. With that, the book’s function and importance changed, too. Van Weelden said books no longer function like Bibles. Book were ideas, they contained ideals, functioning to preserve a.o. gospels, scientific theories, laws, classical literature, philosophical texts and political analyses, Van Weelden said. What wasn’t published, was lost to humanity, therefore it was essential for their survival – and the library was a temple.
Textuality in different forms
Van Weelden went on to point out the finity of the coherent network, of experiences, ideas and visions. He argued the way information was selected, presented, sequenced and indexed added to the value of the information, or as he put it: “Its form turns information which it contains into something more than itself.”
The future media landscape, is to be that of neverending exchanges. Herein, the works are dependent on their context – works, words and media always exist within a sequential relation to other entities, what Van Weelden called a multi-media sequence. Yet the form should not be seen as larger than the work itself, in Van Weelden’s opinion, I believe he called that ‘naïve hippydom’. Text can only exist in websites, blogs, facebook, newspapers and magazines. This ubiquity of words leads to what Van Weelden calls ‘sign-consumption’, a commercial enterprise that ensures the overload of messages through every medium imaginable, even through merchandise and so forth.
To liberate the word from the prison which it was placed in by ‘the conservative past of books’ as well as the ‘commercial industry’, three things should happen, according to Van Weelden:
Firstly, we should become conscious of the fact that the idea of the book transcends the physical mode of the book. The consequence of this is also that text acquires a different role in the media landscape. The written word is important in a new transdigital context, in which it cooperates with different media.
Secondly, how people read, watch and listen should be examined. The form in which texts need to be poured depends on the intensity of the activity of reading. Van Weelden suggested a ‘tinkering’ of combinations, finding a digital equivalent for the physical book, that suits the attention of the reader who is involved.
Lastly, Van Weelden approached the economic perspective. He explained that, contrary to the tradition of print, cultural activities can now sustain and preserve themselves through technology. Allocating the right resources is both important for ideological purposes but also from an efficiency-perspective.
Constraints of the current situation
Van Weelden compared our current situation to the dominance the Church once had, brought about in part by the advent of print culture and the Gutenberg revolution. (Commercial) Media have a somewhat comparable hold on our private lives, albeit slightly less violent or totalitarian. To transcend the word to a higher level would mean that the future unbound book should be freed from what Van Weelden called the ‘dictate of the big media industry’. This will be a complex process which will include ‘economic and social considerations’.
Following a question from the audience, Van Weelden admitted that he is struggling to optimally disseminate his message and reach different audiences, ‘kindred spirits’, as an author. While he warned for the big corporations (like Google, Amazon), he also argued that there is definitely an economic factor in this equation, for example for smaller companies and freelancers, as those are groups that have difficulty generating an income.
Van Weelden reflected many ideas that came into being under the influence of the digitization of text, within a network of social, political and economic factors. With his lecture he showed us that it was the design of books, and texts in general, whether it be in print or digital form, brought with it many ethical questions related to sustainability, fairness and usability, thereby placing the future reading experience both in a sociocultural and a historical-economical context.
Dirk van Weelden
Dirk van Weelden (1957) graduated in philosophy in 1983 Literary debut: Arbeidsvitaminen (1987, in collaboration with Martin Bril) Novels: Tegenwoordigheid van geest, Mobilhome, Oase, Orville, Looptijd, Het Middel. Published several collections of essays and stories. Writes on art, photography, literature, media, design, architecture,cinema for newspapers and magazines. Editor of De Gids ( magazine est. 1837), ex editor of Mediamatic Magazine. Runner, bike rider, contemplates the transdigital typewriter.
For more information, you can visit his website: www.dirkvanweelden.net