METHODOLOGY \ PRINCIPLES \ Digital dimension \312ex
1: G. Buccellati, March 2009


Chapter 10 of the Digital Monograph: Digital Thought

Digital thought in practice: Two examples

1. The application of the theory

     The principles which I consider to define the structure of digital thought (i.e., non-contiguity, dicontinuity and non-linearity) find their application in proper digital publications, which rest in turn on the notions of digital text, digital narrative and digital reading. Here I will illustrate how their embodiment in two specific cases chosen at random from our own website.

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2. Pre-configured narrative

Introduction

     A pre-configured narrative is authored following a specific theme that the writer develops. It is a self-contained argument that matches, as it unfolds, the articulation of a given line of thought. It differs from a non-digital text becaue it relies on a variety of multiple registers which are an integral part of the argument, but are not embedded in it and retain instead their own textual autonomy. Because of this "textual autonomy" they are more than what footnotes offer in a non-digital text; but they are also different from conventional excursuses, which are not generally an integral part of the core argument. In any case, it is the nature of the hyperlink, which can be instantaneously present, that allows for a real simultaneity of the parallel strands of thought. It is multilinearity made concretely possible.
     The example chosen is the stratigraphic development within unit J1 at Urkesh. This is set within the portion of the discursive presentation of that unit devoted to stratigraphy, and it calls on various aspects of the website

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Non-contiguity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Discontinuity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Non-linearity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION


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3. Self-generated narrative

Introduction

     Where the hyperlinks in the pre-configured narrative are invoked on an individual basis by the author, those in a self-generated narrative are all automatic – which accounts for their much greater quantity.

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Non-contiguity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Discontinuity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Non-linearity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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