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A Working History of Digital Zoom, Medieval to Modern
- Author(s):
- Tom White (see profile)
- Date:
- 2023
- Subject(s):
- Manuscripts, Digital humanities, Knowledge workers, User interfaces (Computer systems)
- Item Type:
- Article
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/2tfp-de60
- Abstract:
- [Article draft from 2020: very of its mid-lockdown moment, but unlikely to be revisiting this, so here it is!] This article examines one of the most familiar elements of digital interfaces: the zoom tool. By tracing the conceptual, technical, and material histories of zooming from the late Middle Ages to the present day, it demonstrates how historians of the medieval book might turn their attention to the digital tools on which we increasingly depend not just in our academic work, but in all areas of life. It also considers some of the broader ramifications of looking beneath the screens of our smart devices: the complex and often discontinuous histories of information technologies, the hollowness of powerful corporations’ claims of “innovation” and “disruption,” the various forms of extractivism on which the digital realm depends, and the modern regimes of worker “flexibility” and “knowledge work.”
- Metadata:
- xml
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 months ago
- License:
- Attribution
- Share this:
Open access, open source, open to all
working-history-of-zoom.pdf