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Post-Digital Print – The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894
In this post-digital age, digital technology is no longer a revolutionary phenomenon but a normal part of everyday life. The mutation of music and film into bits and bytes, downloads and streams is now taken for granted. For the world of book and magazine publishing however, this transformation has only just begun.
Still, the vision of this transformation is far from new. For more than a century now, avant-garde artists, activists and technologists have been anticipating the development of networked and electronic publishing. Although in hindsight the reports of the death of paper were greatly exaggerated, electronic publishing has now certainly become a reality. How will the analog and the digital coexist in the post-digital age of publishing? How will they transition, mix and cross over?
In this book, Alessandro Ludovico re-reads the history of media technology, cultural activism and the avantgarde arts as a prehistory of cutting through the so-called
dichotomy between paper and electronics. Ludovico is the editor and publisher of Neural, a magazine for critical digital culture and media arts. For more than twenty years now, he has been working at the cutting edge (and the outer fringes) of both print publishing and politically engaged digital art.
Still, the vision of this transformation is far from new. For more than a century now, avant-garde artists, activists and technologists have been anticipating the development of networked and electronic publishing. Although in hindsight the reports of the death of paper were greatly exaggerated, electronic publishing has now certainly become a reality. How will the analog and the digital coexist in the post-digital age of publishing? How will they transition, mix and cross over?
In this book, Alessandro Ludovico re-reads the history of media technology, cultural activism and the avantgarde arts as a prehistory of cutting through the so-called
dichotomy between paper and electronics. Ludovico is the editor and publisher of Neural, a magazine for critical digital culture and media arts. For more than twenty years now, he has been working at the cutting edge (and the outer fringes) of both print publishing and politically engaged digital art.
- GenresNonfictionArtDesign
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2012
14 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 24, 2015
"Print can still be used to create something no other medium can - a precious object, something to preserve, to instinctively trust (because we can hold it in our hands), and to unhurriedly enjoy rather than rapidly consume." (p. 55)
This has to be the first time that I actually felt excited by reading a book about publishing and new media. It's not that books on this subject are generally bad, but in Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing since 1897, Alessandro Ludovico uses such a rich array of examples from alternative and artistic publishing to illustrate his thoughts that the book is simply a joy to read.
In six chapters, the author retraces evolutions in the publishing industry since the early 20th century. The starting point is the widespread assumption that print is past its peak and paper is about to die out, which Ludovico quickly refutes. Indeed, history shows that printed matter has always found ways to adapt to invasive technologies. Moreover, it often didn't even have to, because human's relationship with print is so intrinsically woven in our cultural identity that it will take more than an e-reader to make paper obsolete.
Post-Digital Print highlights alternative publishing projects that generally are not included in books with a narrower definition of what constites publishing, but it is exactly these endeavours that are valuable to look at. The Fluxus movement, punk zine publishing and artists' books can contribute greatly to our understand the plethora of changes in the media landscape that we are confronted with , and offer out-of-the-box ideas that could be translated to the publishing industry today.
This has to be the first time that I actually felt excited by reading a book about publishing and new media. It's not that books on this subject are generally bad, but in Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing since 1897, Alessandro Ludovico uses such a rich array of examples from alternative and artistic publishing to illustrate his thoughts that the book is simply a joy to read.
In six chapters, the author retraces evolutions in the publishing industry since the early 20th century. The starting point is the widespread assumption that print is past its peak and paper is about to die out, which Ludovico quickly refutes. Indeed, history shows that printed matter has always found ways to adapt to invasive technologies. Moreover, it often didn't even have to, because human's relationship with print is so intrinsically woven in our cultural identity that it will take more than an e-reader to make paper obsolete.
Post-Digital Print highlights alternative publishing projects that generally are not included in books with a narrower definition of what constites publishing, but it is exactly these endeavours that are valuable to look at. The Fluxus movement, punk zine publishing and artists' books can contribute greatly to our understand the plethora of changes in the media landscape that we are confronted with , and offer out-of-the-box ideas that could be translated to the publishing industry today.
January 9, 2020
A introdução histórica ao tema com que o livro começa fica um pouco distante da consequência que talvez pudesse ter. Senti falta de alguma contextualização, quer política e económica como social, em alguns casos.
Depois de uma série de capítulos menos interessantes – em parte pela velocidade com que os meios descritos evoluíram, desde a publicação, e a distância a que isso os coloca da sua contemporaneidade* – o tema do último, The network: transforming culture, transforming publishing, dá ao livro um bom bocado de urgência, no contexto atual da internet.
Os projetos que são introduzidos como exemplos práticos das várias teses citadas também vão sendo motivo de interesse, mas quase sempre enquanto curiosidades.
A fragmentação do conteúdo do livro foi-me bastante útil. Torna a leitura de um texto que de outra forma seria excessivamente massudo, relativamente leve e digerível.
* há aqui alguma ironia.
Depois de uma série de capítulos menos interessantes – em parte pela velocidade com que os meios descritos evoluíram, desde a publicação, e a distância a que isso os coloca da sua contemporaneidade* – o tema do último, The network: transforming culture, transforming publishing, dá ao livro um bom bocado de urgência, no contexto atual da internet.
Os projetos que são introduzidos como exemplos práticos das várias teses citadas também vão sendo motivo de interesse, mas quase sempre enquanto curiosidades.
A fragmentação do conteúdo do livro foi-me bastante útil. Torna a leitura de um texto que de outra forma seria excessivamente massudo, relativamente leve e digerível.
* há aqui alguma ironia.
September 2, 2017
From pamphlets to blogs, Gutenberg's Printing Press to Print on Demand technology, Post-Digital Print exposes the truth and process behind the inevitable: humanity's need and desire for the written word. Be it by the law or by the means of underground distribution, the physical and/or the electronic book will show its face. The original art form of expression has yet to slow, and undoubtedly never will.
February 1, 2019
2.5*
Although an interesting compilation — it felt more a flurried archive of artworks, historical happenings and loose predictions. It may have been my expectations, but I was hoping for a bit more speculation and story-driven commentary.
#1 non-fiction of 2019.
Although an interesting compilation — it felt more a flurried archive of artworks, historical happenings and loose predictions. It may have been my expectations, but I was hoping for a bit more speculation and story-driven commentary.
#1 non-fiction of 2019.
December 23, 2024
Top pile poil ce qu'il me fallait pour mon article
February 23, 2025
Absolutely magnificent and perfectly related to multiple projects of mine I need a copy of this for myself to refer to in future.
August 12, 2025
explícate en el futuro por qué no son cinco estrellas aunque eso puede q cambie
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews