Cut, Paste, Diagram

Since we are discussing how the library must change with transformations in information technology (at least that’s one branch among many possible discussions), we have to consider how the written word is/will be presented as visual data.  The previous post, “Illuminated Manuscript” reminded me of two projects that specifically manipulate words and the architecture of sentence making in visual forms that are both thought-provoking and unfamiliar.

Stephanie Prosavec's 'Sentence-Length' diagram of "On the Road"

A 2008 project by Stephanie Prosavec explores the potential of sentence structure as visual data.  This project is akin to the genre of data-visualization that architects employ in diagrams.  But in this case, it is relevant to the discussion of how literature might look in the future.  Her diagram of On the Road breaks down the book by sentence length and some generalized subjects.  While this makes for great American literature trivia and some attractive diagrams, does it have any value as literary information?  

For now it is a beautiful, but static, diagram.  But what if you had this visualization for every book (perhaps available as an app for your smartphone)?  And what if you wanted to see how much of a certain book or group of books focused on some key word or subject?  This would be a great tool for visually selecting literature.  If literature is to be digitized, then we can assume that the words themselves could be displayed in an unlimited variety of ways (as data, basically).  If the library of the future is not a warehouse for storing books, perhaps it could be a tool for visually sorting and arranging literature to find patterns of communication that have not been previously apparent.

Jonathon Safran Foer's, Tree of Codes.

The second project is a recently published book by Jonathan Safran Foer called, Tree of Codes.  Like Prosavec, Foer treats a novel and its architecture as data which exists beyond its original composition.  He literally cuts out selected words from an existing book to leave a completely new piece of literature.  The method of physically cutting words out of the book is telling metaphor for our contemporary treatment of written language (think cut and paste word processing).  Foer’s is an example of data extraction and parsing which is a method we might take to cut through the redundancy of written information in contemporary culture.  Regardless of metaphor, this composition is both literary and spatial, which is why it might be helpful for architects in considering future alternatives to digital media and how buildings might function to display them.

As a final thought, I find it interesting that media designers are looking at literature as visual data because it gives literature a second life (or multiple lives).  In other words, digital technology has encouraged us to explore literature beyond its original intend, to look at it structurally and spatially, and to apply to it new frameworks of organization and enjoyment.  Projects like these and the previously noted “Illuminated Manuscript” hint that libraries have potential to be optimized as centers for sifting, restructuring, and displaying literature in novel ways.