#Author

Michael Croghan

#Language | #Photobook | #Sequence | #Author | #Content_curation

A search engine can be a literal search, and be literal and sometimes and maybe correct when it comes to a word, or a term. Of an ambiguous subject, where a whole industry that you are in, you can be many things. As with photographers making photo books, designers, photographers, artist, but as said here, ‘’...search engine managed to disregard categories and to look directly at what I was producing, whereas contemporary art discourse, despite its stated openness, still struggles to include the book-author creating book-work as an artist practice in and of itself.’’ (Degiorgis, p241). The photography industry sees a photobook as a thing just to do and not in itself an artistic merited project. It's a whole process from beginning to the end of it as a photobook, the whole book itself is readable form, everything about it in it and all within. Plus in a space that it would be in like that of an exhibition, the value of its aesthetic could be enhanced also.

Explaining photography further in relative terms, keywords, and it's worded place, in the space of a book, which had a different meaning in a 19th century, but the term language, has continued on as pointed out here, ‘’In the nineteenth century, the term ‘’photobook’’ was barely used, while ‘’photographic literature’’ was a much more common descriptor. Since the term ‘’literature’’ means written works, ‘’photographic literature’’ does not merely define photography as a language.’’ (Degiorgis, p241).

Graphical and formal uniformity among my books also pushes me to focus on conceptual elements - Degiorgis

Photobooks basic premise of an idea can be enlightened by simplicity of a layout, the understanding being in the run of imagery, not one that can go either way, but the simplicity of the book with same pages same design, across all pages, sames sizes, can enlighten the language and explain the photographic meaning. Does not have to be exact, it can have something different in layout depending on artistic merit. Books themselves are language, where it is now easier for designers to control that space of a book as they see fit, as explained here ‘’Graphical and formal uniformity among my books also pushes me to focus on conceptual elements.’’ (Degiorgis, p242). Photobooks can be done by knowing what material you have, what paper to use that would suit that, the layout and important sequencing of images, even the binding, what to use that would suit the overall feel, and look, everything is meaningful. Thinking about a lone reader and making it a real meaningful experience, making full use of the space as would be done in an exhibition gallery, everything is for a reason. Once it is made it can become a rare item over time, a private item that can last a lifetime compared to an exhibition. In general terms, how much is it, is it costly, is it affordable, anyone that buys a copy, then becomes a curator that shows within his or her own space as they see fit.

The internet and the screen we look at is a changeable interface with multifaceted interfaces, unlike a book that is made already, the screen is more fluid and free form.

With interfaces everything is changeable and everything changes, everything that changes has its own paradoxical meaning, and so on and so on, that also plays on our understanding or lack of understanding, as further explained here ‘’.....the ways our bodies engage with these distinct at the level of manipulation and cognitive processing of the experience.’’ (Drucker (2014) p153).

What is that space the web pages and viewer reading of an interface that has no framing of a convention viewing item, painting movie on tv, compared to the free form frameless thing that is the web view. One page site, might have a filing cabinet sense about it, everything contained on one page view site. In general they are multipictious, (an image that is relative to an individual's tracing of his activity online the vastness, image of scale well thought out) a plethora of things that go on and on and on, there is no synthesis, unless you contain the whole web.

The integration of these into a comprehensive experience seems to have emerged intuitively, since the frames within frames of the web interface provide sufficient cues to signal the necessary shifts of reading modes - Drucker

It revolves around our ability of understanding and attributing meaning and constructing from what we read, the common-denominator of ‘’on screen’’ interface viewing. It transforms with the knowledge we afford, it reconstructs on a shared basis, constantly evolving of affordances. The power or provocations is the evolving new experiences and shared thoughts that are, explained here ‘’The integration of these into a comprehensive experience seems to have emerged intuitively, since the frames within frames of the web interface provide sufficient cues to signal the necessary shifts of reading modes.’’ (Drucker, (2014). p155). There are so many possibilities and so many things to consider when visiting a site, more so in the relation of the viewer and the viewers priori to visiting a site, is as much the issue.

You can understand basic elements of reading in a couple of ways, the type of website you visit and what are its inclinations, are you meaningfully involved. Framing with mobile technology the framework is one of symbols, or called chunking, a term for minimizing things to a single chunk or symbols. when symbols are clicked your sent through a gateway depends on symbols you choose, click this feature to go to this section. One simple example, say a sports symbol,depending on your demographic country american or european football etc, say it is represented via a football, following on from the initiation link to football orientated things, when you leave these you come back to your launching framework, it's a containing organiser.

Theory of constructivist processes that constitute the interface as a site of such cognitive relations - Drucker

Seemingly, as when you go to these frames, there are certainly more frames upon frames, various meanings upon meanings. What might be fixed in a book as the main body of a text and paratext ebing a fixed thing, on an interface that fixed idea is a lot more loose, you could prioritize paratext and links to other text that is another idea of another main text and so on and so forth, it is a user understanding framework, as explained further here, ‘’This put us on the threshold of interface and a theory of constructivist processes that constitute the interface as a site of such cognitive relations. ‘’(Drucker, (2014) p157). Summed up here eloquently, ‘’ ….to a realization that the graphical organization only provides the provocation to cognition.’’ (Drucker, (2014) p158). That can loosely frame the same meaning but not altogether, because not everyone is of the same thought, and learning and upbringing, the order is what the meaning means to an individual user how he or she extends that.

Citation

Croghan, M. (2020) 'Book space' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/michael-croghan

References

Colberg, J. (2011). Presenting Photo Opportunities by Corinne Vionnet. [Online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-QRNZBKIKY [29/3/2020]

Degiorgis, N. (2018). Nicolo Degirogis, Books as Spaces within Spaces (Illustrated by Five Cases). In: Rastenberger, A, K. Sikking, I. Time Is a Luxury: Space of Flows in the Space of Places, Why Exhibit? Positions on Exhibiting Photographies. London: Fw:Books & The Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. pp 239-243.

Drucker, J. (2014). Reading Interface. In: N.D Graphesis, Visual Forms of Knowledge Production . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp 152-158.

Images

Fig 1. Myle, D, S, (1570). Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat, Painting [Online]. Available at: http://www.nicolodegiorgis.com/hamatli-patriae [Accessed 28 March 2020].

Fig 2 Turi, L, (1991). The arrival of the Vlora ship in the harbour of Bari in 1991. Overflowing expanse of people on harbour and ship. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nicolodegiorgis.com/hamatli-patriae [Accessed 28 March 2020].

Fig 3 Lyon, B, (2003). Digital print form photofile, mapping of internet activity via nodes and looks like a digital version of a nervous system. [Online]. Available at:https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/barrett-lyon-the-opte-project-mapping-the-internet-2003/ [Accessed 28 March 2020].