From Handwriting to Footprinting: Text and Heritage in the Age of Climate Crisis - cover image

Copyright

Anne Baillot

Published On

2023-07-06

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80511-087-3
Hardback978-1-80511-088-0
PDF978-1-80511-089-7

Language

  • English

Print Length

177 pages (vi+171)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 10 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.39" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 11 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.43" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback260g (9.17oz)
Hardback260g (9.17oz)

OCLC Number

1391693611

LCCN

2022361499

THEMA

  • ABC
  • JHMC
  • RNPG

BIC

  • GM
  • GLP
  • H
  • RNPG

BISAC

  • ART056000
  • SOC002010
  • SCI092000

LCC

  • Z110.R4

Keywords

  • preservation
  • access
  • sustainability
  • digital humanities
  • archiving
  • digital dissemination
  • climate crisis

From Handwriting to Footprinting

Text and Heritage in the Age of Climate Crisis

How do we currently preserve and access texts, and will our current methods be sustainable in the future?

In From Handwriting to Footprinting, Anne Baillot seeks to answer this question by offering a detailed analysis of the methods that enable access to textual materials, in particular, access to books of literary significance. Baillot marshals her considerable expertise in the field of digital humanities to establish a philological overview of the changing boundaries of ‘access’ to literary heritage over centuries, deconstructing the western tradition of archiving and how it has led to current digital dissemination practices. Rigorously examining the negative environmental impact of digital publishing and archiving, Baillot proposes an alternative model of preservation and dissemination which reconciles fundamental traditions with the values of social responsibility and sustainability in an era of climate crisis.

Integrating historical, archival and environmental perspectives, From Handwriting to Footprinting illuminates the impact that digitisation has had on the dissemination and preservation of textual heritage and reflects on what its future may hold. It is invaluable reading for anyone interested in textual history from a linguistic or philological perspective, as well as those working on publishing, archival and infrastructure projects that require the storing and long-term preservation of texts, or who want to know how to develop a more mindful attachment to digitised material.

Reviews

[...] beschreibt und analysiert die Zugangsmethoden zu analogen wie digitalen textuellen Materialien und spannt einen Bogen von alten Handschriften über kulturgeschichtliche Aspekte von Texten und den drei textbezogenen Praktiken Archivieren, Editieren und Publizieren zu deren Umweltauswirkungen [...] From Handwriting to Footprinting ist manchmal eine tiefschürfende kulturgeschichtliche und philosophische Abhandlung, liest sich stellenweise wie ein Lehrbuch (etwa wenn es um die Bedeutung von Versionierung und Metadaten bei digitalen Archiven oder die Vorteile von XML für Archivierung und Maschinenlesbarkeit geht) und ist insbesondere im dritten Kapitel ein Appell, das eigene Handeln in puncto Klimaschutz auch dort zu hinterfragen, wo es nicht offensichtlich ist [...] Konkrete Antworten sind nicht unbedingt zu erwarten, aber jede Menge Denkanstöße.

Stefan Schmeja

Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, 2024. doi:10.1515/bfp-2024-0024

Full Review

Contents

0. Introduction

(pp. 1–4)
  • Anne Baillot

1. Archiving Text

(pp. 5–54)
  • Anne Baillot
  • Anne Baillot

4. Conclusion

(pp. 151–153)
  • Anne Baillot

Contributors

Anne Baillot

(author)
Professor (Département d'études germaniques) at Le Mans Université