Marshall McLuhan: Medium or Messenger?

Media theorist Marshall McLuhan [1911-1980] would have turned 100 today, July 21, 2011. Known for such provocative formulations as the medium is the message, McLuhan's work on communications and information technology anticipated much that is now commonplace in today's global village, another of his terms. The video here contains a dialogue between McLuhan and Norman Mailer, and was originally shown in 1968 as an episode of "The Summer Way" by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The CBC's Digital Archives features McLuhan in a number of other television and radio clips that may also be of interest.

Amnesty International at Fifty

The impetus for the founding of the human rights organization, Amnesty International, was an article in the Observer in 1961 by English lawyer Peter Benenson entitled, "The Forgotten Prisoners." It concerned two Portuguese students who had been imprisoned for toasting freedom, and a worldwide campaign, "Appeal for Amnesty 1961," was subsequently launched. The first international meeting was held in July 1961, with delegates from several countries agreeing to establish "a permanent international movement in defence of freedom of opinion and religion."

The organization's many causes and accomplishments over the decades can be traced through an online history and timeline. On July 15, 2011, Amnesty International will be starting Amnesty TV, a YouTube channel that will feature multimedia content on human rights issues. The brief trailer above introduces the new intiative, which is described as ". . . our new video magazine show that mixes satirical comedy, campaign stunts, short documentaries, outspoken opinion and real news."

Third Annual Iowa City Book Festival

The Iowa City Book Festival will celebrate books, reading, and writing, July 15-17, 2011. Sponsored by the University of Iowa Libraries, the three-day festival will begin Friday with an author dinner in the Main Library. Saturday will feature booksellers, music, children's activities, food vendors, book arts demonstrations, readings and panel discussions in Gibson Square, and Sunday will be "A Day in the City of Literature."

Among the many events for this year's festival will be Novel Iowa City, an attempt to produce a communal Twitter novel, a genre that is yet in its infancy. Nonetheless, for those interested in joining the experiment, the ground rules are as follows:

Beginning at noon on Friday, July 15 and continuing through 5 pm, Sunday, July 17, commissioned authors and interested community members will contribute tweets to create a text that can be read in real time, as it is written, via the Internet.

Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to contribute to the project, and can do so by using the hash tag #icbfn in their tweets. There are no strict guidelines for the content of contributions, other than the 140-character limit of tweets.

In 2008, Iowa City was designated as a UNESCO City of Literature, one of just four such cities worldwide, the others being Edinburgh, Scotland (2004), Melbourne, Australia (2008), and Dublin, Ireland (2010). The long literary tradition fostered by the University of Iowa's creative writing programs was a major factor in attaining UNESCO recognition. Beginning in 1922, Iowa was the first university to grant advanced degrees for creative works in artistic disciplines, including poetry, fiction, music, and art. The Iowa Writers' Workshop is the oldest such program in the country, and is this year celebrating its 75th anniversary. A key element supporting the practice and study of the book arts is Iowa's Center for the Book, which will begin its own M.F.A. degree program this fall. Other noteworthy programs include the International Writing Program, and the constellation of programs affiliated with The Writing University.

As a side note, the Common Curator earned an M.F.A. from Iowa's Translation Workshop, then based in the Department of Comparative Literature (now Cinema & Comparative Literature), and also served as assistant editor and designer for the first several years of the multilingual publication, Exchanges: A Journal of Translation. The journal presented en face the original language of all translations, and contained translator commentaries, along with scholarly articles on the art and practice of literary translation. Exchanges is still being produced, though in recent years has only been available online; after a one-year hiatus, submissions are being solicited for fall/winter 2011.

First Annual Ladies of Letterpress Conference

Ladies of Letterpress (LoLP), a trade organization for letterpress printers and aficionados of fine printing everywhere, will be holding its inaugural conference August 5-7, 2011 in Asheville, North Carolina. The schedule is loaded with events, including:

Panel Discussions:

--Letterpress As a Business
--Running and Starting a Community Print Shop
--Artist Books + Fine Press
--The Future of Letterpress!
--Teaching Letterpress in a University Settting
--Printing Collaborations for Community
--Lead Tweets: Or, How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

Demonstrations:

--The World of Handmade Paper
--Vandercook Care and Maintenance
--Making the Dead Feminist Broadside Series
--Getting to Know Your Tabletop Press
--Wood Engraving
--Catherine Realce of visualchemist

Speakers and demonstrators from leading small presses around the country will be on hand, with the keynote presentation to be delivered by Judith Berliner of Full Circle Press. In addition, a Printer's Fair and Trade Fair will run during the conference. A reduced rate for registration will be available through July 12, 2011.

The co-founders of Ladies of Letterpress are Jessica White, of Heroes and Criminals Press, and Kseniya Thomas, of Thomas-Printers. Further information about the organization and the conference can be found on the LoLP and conference web sites. (Note: The shirt pictured above was designed by Todd Thyberg of Angel Bomb Design, and can be ordered online.)

Mark Twain's Independence Day Peroration

While attending a family reunion in Keokuk, Iowa, in July 1886, Mark Twain was enlisted for some Independence Day speechifying. The festivities actually took place on July 3rd, and Twain's remarks were duly reported in the Keokuk Weekly Constitution (July 7, 1886):

"Ladies and gentlemen: I little thought that when the boys woke me with their noise this morning that I should be called upon to add to their noise. But I promise not to keep you long. You have heard all there is to hear on the subject, the evidence is all in and all I have to do is to sum up the evidence and deliver the verdict. You have heard the Declaration of Independence with its majestic ending, which is worthy to live forever, which has been hurled at the bones of a fossilized monarch, old King George the III, who has been dead these many years, and which will continue to be hurled at him annually as long as this republic lives. You have heard the history of the nation from the first to the last--from the beginning of the revolutionary was, past the days of its great general, Grant, told in eloquent language by the orator of the day. All I have to do is to add the verdict, which is all that can be added, and that is, 'It is a successful day.' I thank the officers of the day that I am enabled to once more stand face to face with the citizens that I met thirty years ago, when I was a citizen of Iowa, and also those of a later generation. In the address to-day, I have not heard much mention made of the progress of these last few years--of the telegraph, telephone, phonograph, and other great inventions. A poet has said, 'Better fifty years of England than all the cycles of Cathay,' but I say 'Better this decade than the 900 years of Methuselah.' There is more done in one year now than Methuselah ever saw in all his life. He was probably asleep all those 900 years. When I was here thirty years ago there were 3,000 people here and they drank 3,000 barrels of whisky a day, and they drank it in public then. I know that the man who makes the last speech on an occasion like this has the best of the other speakers, as he has the last word to say, which falls like a balm on the audience--though this audience has not been bored to-day--and though I can't say that last word, I will do the next best thing I can, and that is to sit down."

Some thirty years prior, in 1856-7, Twain had contributed several travel dispatches to the Keokuk Post under the name Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass. These were notable for Twain's early experimentation with writing in the vernacular. TwainQuotes.com, the source of the above passage, contains an abundance of interesting Twainiana.

To supply the requisite noise that Twain alludes to at the beginning of his speech, the following video by Jeremiah Warren depicts the launches of several celebratory rockets that have been affixed with a wide-angle camera. Twain himself was an early adopter of new technologies, notably the typewriter, and refers in the speech to the progress made possible by several major inventions of the day--the telephone, telegraph, and phonograph.

The Artifice of the Artist's Statement

Charlotte Young is an artist, author, and comedian. She maintains the Today I Made Nothing blog and is available for hire.

The Privatization of Public Libraries

The American Library Association (ALA) has recently announced a new document intended to assist public libraries in ensuring that management control remains in the public domain. While efforts to privatize federal libraries have been underway since the 1980s, the ALA observes that only in recent years have pressures mounted to privatize city and county public libraries. In response to such forces, the ALA Council in 2001 adopted the following policy statement:

ALA affirms that publicly funded libraries should remain directly accountable to the
public they serve. Therefore, the ALA opposes the shifting of policymaking and management oversight of library services for the public to the private for-profit sector.

Among the many issues involved in privatization, the ALA enumerates several key areas of concern:

--Quality of library services
--Loss of local community control
--Governance
--Loss of control of tax dollars
--Intellectual freedom
--Collection development
--Loss of community involvement with foundations, nonprofits, and Friends groups

Additional information on the privatization and outsourcing of public libraries can be found on the ALA web site. Keeping Public Libraries Public (June 2011) is also available online.

Moveable Type: Cross-Country Adventures in Printing

Kyle Durrie, the proprietor of Power and Light Press (Portland, Oregon), has just hit the road with her Moveable Type project. Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Durrie has transformed a 1982 Chevy step van into a mobile letterpress studio and will be touring the United States, offering workshops and demonstrations while serving as ambassador at large for the craft of printing.

While many tour dates have already been booked around the country, it is still possible to arrange a visit. To keep abreast of what are sure to be many exciting letterpress adventures, follow the Moveable Type blog or Twitter posts.

Appyhay Oomsdayblay!

Happy Bloomsday! With wordplay a hallmark of James Joyce's work, he surely would not object to the use of a little Pig Latin to acknowledge the only international holiday commemorating a work of art, namely, his masterwork, Ulysses. Set in Dublin in 1904 with Leopold Bloom as its protagonist, the novel's action transpires entirely on June 16th.

First observed in 1954, on the fiftieth anniversary of the events in the book, Bloomsday is now widely celebrated around the world. If one is lucky enough to be in Dublin, the James Joyce Centre offers a very full program. The Centre also provides a lengthy list of activities in many countries.

In Philadelphia, the Rosenbach Museum and Library is staging an all-day reading of Ulysses and many other events. The Rosenbach also possess a very strong Joyce collection, the centerpiece of which is Joyce's manuscript for Ulysses (the image shown here is from the Circe episode).

Joyce's work has inspired countless readers--and artists--over the years. Had he been writing in another era, however, things might have been different. McSweeney's Internet Tendency offers a glimpse at one possible scenario today: Feedback From James Joyce’s Submission of Ulysses to His Creative Writing Workshop . . . no I said no I won't No!

The Gateway To Knowledge: Follow the Torch!

The Library of Congress' rolling exhibition, "Gateway To Knowledge," recently came to town, featuring various highlights (in facsimile) from America's greatest library. Housed in a specially designed 18-wheeler, the mobile exhibition began last September at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The tour will stop at about 60 sites, mostly in the East and Midwest (see full itinerary here).

On April 27, 2011, the Common Curator visited the exhibition, met one of its two docents, Josh Van Gelder, and photographed the images shown here while the vehicle was stationed at University Mall in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There was a steady flow of interested visitors, including children, who seemed quite intrigued by the materials on display, which included information about Thomas Jefferson's library, hyperspectral imaging of the Declaration of Independence, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Spider Man, among much else.

Further details about the tour are available at the Gateway To Knowledge web site, and via the tour's guest posts to the Library of Congress blog; Abigail Van Gelder's post covering the stops in North Carolina is available here. The exhibition and national tour were made possible through the support of the Abby and Emily Rapoport Foundation.

Note: Additional exhibition photos can be viewed online at Flickr.

The Internet Archive Builds a Physical Archive

As a complement to its online digital library, the Internet Archive is developing "a physical archive for the long term preservation of one copy of every book, record, and movie" that it can acquire, with a goal of obtaining ten million items. Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive's digital collections encompass millions of items, including texts, moving images, audio, software, and archived web pages. But as its founder Brewster Kahle noted in a recent blog post: "Books are being thrown away, or sometimes packed away, as digitized versions become more available. This is an important time to plan carefully for there is much at stake." He observed further that: "A library that would prefer to not be named was found to be thinning their collections and throwing out books based on what had been digitized by Google. While we understand the need to manage physical holdings, we believe this should be done thoughtfully and well."

In development since January 2009, the Internet Archive's first physical storage facility will be launched this month in Richmond, California (the image above depicts modified shipping containers that are utilized as environmentally controlled storage units). Further information on this initiative can be found in Kahle's blog post.

On a related note, the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is available online via the Internet Archive (The Common Curator was the principal investigator and project director for this grant-funded digitization project).

Gathering: Memoir of a Seed Saver

Diane Ott Whealy, co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), has recently published Gathering: Memoir of a Seed Saver, which chronicles the history and development of the organization that now counts over 13,000 members worldwide. The book can be obtained from the SSE website or via Facebook.

Headquartered at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, Seed Savers Exchange is the premier organization devoted to the cultivation and preservation of the collective heirloom seed legacy in the United States. Supported by its members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is:

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout, which this year will take place July 15-17, 2011.

To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange, visit its website, and download its 2011 Catalog for this year's gardening. Below is a brief video of Diane Ott Whealy discussing her new book.

Where Is Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei?

Scarabocchio Art Museum Reopening

The Scarabocchio Art Museum (SAM), a joint venture of the University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point (UWSP) and the City of Stevens Point, is reopening May 31, 2011. Located in downtown Stevens Point, the gallery's reopening will coincide with the reception for Monoprint 2011: A Gathering of Artists, a weeklong workshop featuring 12 printmakers from the U.S. and abroad in residence at the University.

SAM was founded by Dr. David Smith, an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Art & Design at UWSP, and the reopening will have on display a retrospective of Smith's scarabocchio-style originals dating from 1973 to 2009. The Museum's current mission is to continue to serve as a venue for Smith's work, while providing opportunities for performing and fine arts activities and art-related education and programming through collaborative efforts. SAM hopes to provide a setting for events that enhance the cultural and intellectual growth of the community. The Curator of SAM is Brian Borchardt.

Note: Scarabocchio is Italian for scribble or doodle, and the term has been used by Professor Smith to describe his style of drawings, as shown in the image above, executed in 2009.

The Digital Public Library of America Announces "Beta Sprint"

The Steering Committee of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has announced a Beta Sprint to solicit ideas, recommendations, models, and so forth to inform the development of a large-scale digital library. The DPLA planning initiative is the outgrowth of a meeting in October 2010 at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, where representatives from numerous constituencies convened to discuss the creation of a national digital library. John Palfrey, chair of the DPLA Steering Committee, has stated:

As the DPLA planning initiative moves forward, we are optimistic that the DPLA community and public can help us think about what a DPLA might look like, in practical – and perhaps unexpected – ways, as platform, architecture, interface, and beyond. We hope geeks and librarians, especially, will join forces to develop beta submissions in support of this initiative.

Statements of Interest for the Beta Sprint are due by June 15, 2011, with final submissions due September 1, 2011. The DPLA Secretariat is located at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and further information on the DPLA can be found on the Berkman Center web site. The DPLA also maintains a planning initiative wiki and a listserv for public discussion.