Processing post: readings for Nov. 15

I loved Tim Sherratt’s idea that “structure matters and that links can have meaning.” It reminds me of our reading and discussion on the meaning of early hyperlinks. Sherratt goes back further, to re-suggest to us that hyperlinks can carry meaning. We use hyperlinks as placeholders or equivocations, but we do not allow space for the links to create new relationships. Sherratt’s veterans’ archive project was a particularly interesting use of this. Searching across databases is often a frustration, and allowing this and allowing users to create linkages between one person in multiple databases creates meaning in a new way. A new record is “[e]ven more exciting is that the links will not only be between the holdings of cultural institutions. The stories, memories, photographs and documents that people contribute will also be connected, providing personal annotations on the official record.” Yes, digital is wonderful and opens up new ways of searching and connecting images, text, and information, but what Sherratt gets right, is that the digital is seeking to represent the human.

In this section on databases, I’ve been constantly thinking about the 1957 movie starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Desk Set. The story goes that when Katharine met Spencer, she was wearing heels, and commented that he might be a bit short for her. “Don’t worry, I’ll knock you down to size,” he assured her. What is wonderful is that it goes both ways with them, not exactly on equal footing, but Katie could dish it out as good as she got it. Desk Set revolves around a television research library, run by a group of women. Spencer comes in, with a machine that can do their job. It can take in a search query and returns the answer (this is 1957 – a year after the Information Machine film by the Eameses). Katharine and her team push back against being replaced by the machine – advocating that no machine can do their job as well as humans. In the end, Spencer reveals that he built the machine to free up the reference staff’s time for more difficult questions. The machine is for straightforward questions (what is the weight of the earth?), leaving the staff free for more nuanced work. The machine cannot evaluate like humans can. Of course Katharine and Spencer fall in love in the end. What’s more interesting is that Spencer advocates for digital coexisting alongside human/analog. In developing new technologies, he recognizes that they cannot replace the original, but can exist alongside it.