Move Over: Learning to Read (and Write) with Novel Technology

Abstract

This article examines how novel technology affects readers’ understanding of digital objects. It begins by examining some recent scandals involving digitally manipulated photographs and argues that some of the uproar stems from the novelty of the techniques used in the manipulation, rather than the manipulation itself. It then explores some of the challenges in using novel technology to mediate the representation of historical objects in scholarly form. The article concludes with some thoughts on early experiments with the objects of the Visionary Cross project, a digital edition of a collection of objects belonging to the Anglo-Saxon “Visionary Cross” tradition.