Adriaan van der Weel | Universiteit Leiden (original) (raw)
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Papers by Adriaan van der Weel
International Journal of Educational Research, 2022
Literary and Linguistic Computing, 2011
In fourteen thoughtful essays this book reports and reflects on the many changes that a digital w... more In fourteen thoughtful essays this book reports and reflects on the many changes that a digital workflow brings to the world of original texts and textual scholarship, and the effect on scholarly communication practices. The spread of digital technology across philology, linguistics and literary studies suggests that text scholarship is taking on a more laboratory-like image. The ability to sort, quantify, reproduce and report text through computation would seem to facilitate the exploration of text as another type of quantitative scientific data. However, developing this potential also highlights text analysis and text interpretation as two increasingly separated sub-tasks in the study of texts. The implied dual nature of interpretation as the traditional, valued mode of scholarly text comparison, combined with an increasingly widespread reliance on digital text analysis as scientific mode of inquiry raises the question as to whether the reflexive concepts that are central to interpretation - individualism, subjectivity - are affected by the anonymised, normative assumptions implied by formal categorisations of text as digital data.
Zeitschrift Fur Bibliothekswesen Und Bibliographie, Jun 15, 2023
A Companion to the History of the Book
Open Book Publishers, 2020
Funded in the frame of the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013. Co-organizers: Dipartimento di Musica ... more Funded in the frame of the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013. Co-organizers: Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo, Universit\ue0 di Bologna; Facult\ue9 de Lettres, Universit\ue9 de Limoges; Facult\ue9 de Philosophie et Lettres, Universit\ue9 Catholique de Louvain; Pallas, Universiteit Leiden; Assessorato alla cultura della Provincia di Pescara. The EPOP project deals with an object that has received a growing attention in the last few decades, both inside and outside academic studies: the fictional texts (both written and visual) serially produced by European culture industries between mid-XIXth century and early XXth century. The project aims to contribute to the rediscovery and diffusion of an important heritage for the definition of European cultural identity, through international research and the organization of events in the involved countries. Considering that media culture is often analyzed only with reference to American productions, the identification and appraisal of a specifically European tradition in this field can help promote the acknowledgment of a common cultural heritage among EU citizens. Film and comics communicate through the universal language of images: when they become interlaced, they often produce texts in which the audiences can recognize instinctively their cultural tradition, rediscovering and renewing the myths and the narrative memory of the popular literature that preceded them. The ability of connecting tradition and modernity has allowed these languages to accept innovation without losing contact with the past, creating a new image of popular culture for European audiences. Cinema, comic books and serial literature represent a cultural meeting point for European citizens: thanks to the richness of this heritage, the project aims to produce research, innovative teaching tools, and public events, involving at the same time the academic world and high school teachers and students, tracing lines of continuity between different disciplines and cultural fields, promoting the study and the knowledge of both the topoi of European collective memory and the authors and artists who contributed to shape the shared languages of media culture throughout the Continent. Though the transnational dimension of this phenomenon has been widely acknowledged, communication among cultural institutions variously concerned with research in this domain still remains flawed. EPOP aims to surpass the cultural and linguistic boundaries that have prevented until now a true appraisal of such continental dimension by establishing a transnational network of researchers and institutions working to promote a better knowledge of this particular cultural heritage among EU citizens. Seven countries are involved in the project. The cooperation among a wide range of cultural institutions in different countries aims to produce a connection of research, didactics and popularization activities. Several actions have been planned: Creation of a database of archival materials; Publication of a collection of essays (in English and French); Education/Information seminars addressed to students and teachers; Publication of a multilingual CD-Rom (in English, French and Italian) with teaching resources aimed to introduce the younger generation to the history of European popular culture; An exhibition of archival materials; Production of a newsletter whose function will be to circulate information on research and events concerning the history of European popular culture. The networking activity will continue throughout the whole duration of the project and constitutes in fact one of its main objectives. These are the tools through which EPOP is hoping to contribute to the promotion of a better awareness of the history of European popular culture and the necessity of its preservation
In this brief essay I would like to pursue the notion that in the world of books we may be able t... more In this brief essay I would like to pursue the notion that in the world of books we may be able to observe the clash between publishers catering to conventional reading and buying habits, and the expectations of readers who don’t consider themselves bound by the traditions and customs of the field. If asked, these readers might confess to regarding the traditions and customs of the book trade as antiquated, and no longer relevant in today’s world of instant and constant access to information, and certainly not applicable to them. Publishers have had to adjust their practices to the unfamiliar expectations of a new reading public many times in the history of the book. These changing expectations have concerned both the content (the ‘what’) and the form (the ‘how’) of reading. The mentality in the publishing industry is obviously going to have to reflect all the various mentalities that consumers display, including this pervasive but elusive online mentality. If the analysis I present...
Societies
This paper introduces Reading Health as a concept to help chart the collective reading habits of ... more This paper introduces Reading Health as a concept to help chart the collective reading habits of the individuals that make up a society—at any aggregate level. Now that the digital medium is transforming reading practices, and particularly the position of paper books and longform reading in society, the authors suggest a thorough examination of prevalent assumptions about reading and a fresh formulation of explicit reading aims for the future. The concept of Reading Health (RH) is paired with a corresponding Reading Health Index (RHI), an instrument to benchmark and keep track of changes in a society’s Reading Health over time.
The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship, 2019
Digital textuality will be defining the nature and uses of literacy to the same degree as printin... more Digital textuality will be defining the nature and uses of literacy to the same degree as printing has done since Gutenberg's invention. The article explores the implications of one of the fundamental differences between the screen and paper substrates: digital fluidity versus the fixity of paper. La textualite numerique definira la nature et les usages de la culture dans la meme mesure que le fait l'imprimerie depuis l'invention de Gutenberg. L'article explore les implications de l'une des differences fondamentales entre les supports ecran et papier: le caractere fluide du numerique par rapport au caractere fixe du papier.
International Journal of Educational Research, 2022
Literary and Linguistic Computing, 2011
In fourteen thoughtful essays this book reports and reflects on the many changes that a digital w... more In fourteen thoughtful essays this book reports and reflects on the many changes that a digital workflow brings to the world of original texts and textual scholarship, and the effect on scholarly communication practices. The spread of digital technology across philology, linguistics and literary studies suggests that text scholarship is taking on a more laboratory-like image. The ability to sort, quantify, reproduce and report text through computation would seem to facilitate the exploration of text as another type of quantitative scientific data. However, developing this potential also highlights text analysis and text interpretation as two increasingly separated sub-tasks in the study of texts. The implied dual nature of interpretation as the traditional, valued mode of scholarly text comparison, combined with an increasingly widespread reliance on digital text analysis as scientific mode of inquiry raises the question as to whether the reflexive concepts that are central to interpretation - individualism, subjectivity - are affected by the anonymised, normative assumptions implied by formal categorisations of text as digital data.
Zeitschrift Fur Bibliothekswesen Und Bibliographie, Jun 15, 2023
A Companion to the History of the Book
Open Book Publishers, 2020
Funded in the frame of the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013. Co-organizers: Dipartimento di Musica ... more Funded in the frame of the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013. Co-organizers: Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo, Universit\ue0 di Bologna; Facult\ue9 de Lettres, Universit\ue9 de Limoges; Facult\ue9 de Philosophie et Lettres, Universit\ue9 Catholique de Louvain; Pallas, Universiteit Leiden; Assessorato alla cultura della Provincia di Pescara. The EPOP project deals with an object that has received a growing attention in the last few decades, both inside and outside academic studies: the fictional texts (both written and visual) serially produced by European culture industries between mid-XIXth century and early XXth century. The project aims to contribute to the rediscovery and diffusion of an important heritage for the definition of European cultural identity, through international research and the organization of events in the involved countries. Considering that media culture is often analyzed only with reference to American productions, the identification and appraisal of a specifically European tradition in this field can help promote the acknowledgment of a common cultural heritage among EU citizens. Film and comics communicate through the universal language of images: when they become interlaced, they often produce texts in which the audiences can recognize instinctively their cultural tradition, rediscovering and renewing the myths and the narrative memory of the popular literature that preceded them. The ability of connecting tradition and modernity has allowed these languages to accept innovation without losing contact with the past, creating a new image of popular culture for European audiences. Cinema, comic books and serial literature represent a cultural meeting point for European citizens: thanks to the richness of this heritage, the project aims to produce research, innovative teaching tools, and public events, involving at the same time the academic world and high school teachers and students, tracing lines of continuity between different disciplines and cultural fields, promoting the study and the knowledge of both the topoi of European collective memory and the authors and artists who contributed to shape the shared languages of media culture throughout the Continent. Though the transnational dimension of this phenomenon has been widely acknowledged, communication among cultural institutions variously concerned with research in this domain still remains flawed. EPOP aims to surpass the cultural and linguistic boundaries that have prevented until now a true appraisal of such continental dimension by establishing a transnational network of researchers and institutions working to promote a better knowledge of this particular cultural heritage among EU citizens. Seven countries are involved in the project. The cooperation among a wide range of cultural institutions in different countries aims to produce a connection of research, didactics and popularization activities. Several actions have been planned: Creation of a database of archival materials; Publication of a collection of essays (in English and French); Education/Information seminars addressed to students and teachers; Publication of a multilingual CD-Rom (in English, French and Italian) with teaching resources aimed to introduce the younger generation to the history of European popular culture; An exhibition of archival materials; Production of a newsletter whose function will be to circulate information on research and events concerning the history of European popular culture. The networking activity will continue throughout the whole duration of the project and constitutes in fact one of its main objectives. These are the tools through which EPOP is hoping to contribute to the promotion of a better awareness of the history of European popular culture and the necessity of its preservation
In this brief essay I would like to pursue the notion that in the world of books we may be able t... more In this brief essay I would like to pursue the notion that in the world of books we may be able to observe the clash between publishers catering to conventional reading and buying habits, and the expectations of readers who don’t consider themselves bound by the traditions and customs of the field. If asked, these readers might confess to regarding the traditions and customs of the book trade as antiquated, and no longer relevant in today’s world of instant and constant access to information, and certainly not applicable to them. Publishers have had to adjust their practices to the unfamiliar expectations of a new reading public many times in the history of the book. These changing expectations have concerned both the content (the ‘what’) and the form (the ‘how’) of reading. The mentality in the publishing industry is obviously going to have to reflect all the various mentalities that consumers display, including this pervasive but elusive online mentality. If the analysis I present...
Societies
This paper introduces Reading Health as a concept to help chart the collective reading habits of ... more This paper introduces Reading Health as a concept to help chart the collective reading habits of the individuals that make up a society—at any aggregate level. Now that the digital medium is transforming reading practices, and particularly the position of paper books and longform reading in society, the authors suggest a thorough examination of prevalent assumptions about reading and a fresh formulation of explicit reading aims for the future. The concept of Reading Health (RH) is paired with a corresponding Reading Health Index (RHI), an instrument to benchmark and keep track of changes in a society’s Reading Health over time.
The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship, 2019
Digital textuality will be defining the nature and uses of literacy to the same degree as printin... more Digital textuality will be defining the nature and uses of literacy to the same degree as printing has done since Gutenberg's invention. The article explores the implications of one of the fundamental differences between the screen and paper substrates: digital fluidity versus the fixity of paper. La textualite numerique definira la nature et les usages de la culture dans la meme mesure que le fait l'imprimerie depuis l'invention de Gutenberg. L'article explore les implications de l'une des differences fondamentales entre les supports ecran et papier: le caractere fluide du numerique par rapport au caractere fixe du papier.