Summary: 

"Near Print and Beyond Paper" discusses the PDF as a nonliving medium that provides both a page and window to its readers. Gitelman discusses that the PDF as image and print due to its permanent nature and textual format. She goes on to describe how PDFs method of delivery resembles the delivery of the scroll, in its ability to provide all the information in its entirety. 

Gitleman describes the PDF as a nonliving document in reference to the medium's unalterable format.  The text places a lot of focus on the intentionality of the text technology. PDF's are explained as being documents that can look the same on both screen and page. She also describes PDF's as an indefinite medium because unlike word processing documents; this medium cannot be edited or altered easily. She explains that the only way these texts can be altered is with the use of image editing softwares such as PhotoShop. This is interesting because it further illustrates how the PDF serves as both image and text.

Gitleman describes that PDF's are unique in their function and authorship. PDF's are usually used by corporations to provide contracts, forms, or manuals. The text explains that PDF's such as a cellphone manual; do not recognize the individuals who wrote the material as authors, but recognize the corporation itself as being the author. 

PDF's are also significant by their ability to perform similar functions as the fax machine. The uniformity, easy accessibility, a little room for human error this medium provides allows this text technology to outperform the fax machine. The article concludes by describing the searchable text features of PDF's provided by OCR software. This is significant because it allows for the image like document to possess the search ability of a word processing document while still remaining a unchangeable text document. 

Comment: I found this article interesting. Previously, I had never viewed a PDF as being a fusion of both text and image. I feel the permanent nature of images however is declining due to the rapid progression of image editing softwares and their capabilities in image manipulation. However no matter how well these softwares advance; the PDF's image-like format will unarguably always be significantly more difficult to manipulate than word processing text documents. The authors illustration of the medium as a non-living text really illustrates how this text technology allows the characteristics of the printed word to exist in the digital mediums. 

Question: The text describes that PDF's can be searchable by OCR technologies. How does this technology change the PDF's functionality? Does this technology allow for PDF's to become similar or dissimilar to images? 

Near Print and Beyond Paper

The question that got my mind going was "Can a web page unnoticed by Google or other search engines be said to exist in public?" I was like "WHAT? That can happen? A web page can really go unnoticed by the all-knowing Google"The question that followed after though, about the privacy of the files on my laptop really blew my mind though. I always feel like I'm on Big Brother and everything I type is subject for future investigation. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

I think the text does a great job of capturing my daily woes of paranoia, and introduces the PDF in an informative way. I'm not certain that I can agree that the PDF is not a "living document". I understand the point that the writer is trying to make but I don't think a PDF is as permanent as Gitelman makes it seem. And comparing it to a printed work just completely loses me. Can anyone convince me that a printed work is more living than a PDF?

On a nerdy note, I am loving all of the technical language. From the portion about The Intrex (How neat is that?!) to an explantion of CAD that actually made sense, I'm appreciative of how much information is put into the digital text, that is comparable to what was displayed for the earlier forms of texts.

The paperless office is an idea that constantly travels my mind. I cringe everytime someone prints someone sends something to the printer or prints an email for me instead of forwarding it. Some of my older coworkers have been conditioned to mark up things with pencil and that's the only way they will do it. With the upcoming generation moving into things like tablets over textbooks, do you think the paperless office will fully be accepted, as the older generation begins to leave the workforce?

Near Print Beyond Paper

-PDFs were created to replace faxes as a means of sending and viewing information. Faxes were unreliable and could not efficiently transmit documents. PDFs were more convenient because they were a way to digitally send full documents and graphics. They are "easy to send, quick to download, cheap to store, and a snap to open"  (pg 125 of reading).

-PDFs are a great way to digitally contain online archives and would foster online libraries. Before PDFs really kicked off, Adobe published a promotional book that described how frustrating the world of offices dependent on paper was. They helped readers to imagine an efficient world without fax jams and colossal paper waste.

-The article also expresses the frustration users encounter with the inability to control a PDF. You cannot edit, excerpt, or annotate. You may only use a hand icon to scroll around the document and read. Users describe being unable to copy text and paste it into a word document (an essential task for anyone who reads and interacts with information). It is also frustrating to have to open every PDF separately and the text is very clunky.

Comment: I have a lot of problems with PDF in my personal life because of how awkward the format is, it's hard to navigate, and inconvenient to use on your phone or inside of a web browser. However, in the workplace PDF is an essential tool and makes things a LOT easier. I worked for a company that considered themselves to be "paperless" and every document that came into the office was scanned and turned into a PDF and then recycled. We had a digital archive of our client's information that made retrieving information and printing it out really simple.

Question: Does PDF need to be changed or updated? It really is meant to only be a picture form of a document and has succeeded as such. Do we need to be able to interact more and navigate PDFs easier when we have the ability to do this through other programs like Word Processors?

Near Print & Beyond Paper

Summaries
- The PDF (Portable Document Format) represents a collision of old media and new media, as it provides "page images" that resemble printed text from a book, with the same format, just easily transferable in an online setting. PDFs appeal to the fixity of print

- PDFs have become extremely commonplace among various settings, particularly in the workplace because of the uniformity, accessibility, and the simplicity, considering the other materials such as paper, ink, etc. that are therefore avoided. The format became exceedingly desirable within the context of personal computing in the 1980s.

- Beyond Paper: The Official Guide to Adobe Acrobat was published in 1993 by Patrick Ames, that elaborated on all of the "problems" that were to be solved with Adobe Acrobat and the transition from paper to PDF. It insinuated that secretaries were no longer needed, and that paper, copiers, fax machines, as well as labor costs would be reduced but not replaced. Although there have been many positives to the introduction of PDFs, there are various shortcomings that people find, such as the inability to edit the text, proving that PDF encourage "reading without writing" and the format can be very jarring.

Comment:
Seeing as I'm not a big fan of PDF, I thought this was an interesting article. I prefer texts that I can annotate and search and actually feel like I'm connected to, whereas PDFs, at least to me, give off a very rigid feeling. I can appreciate however the fact that PDFs are essentially available to a wide range of people, in regards to different formats and such, but I don't think a "paperless" office could ever truly function.

Question:
What are some of the limitations associated with PDFs as a form of textual production and how might that affect future textual forms to come? Will PDFs actually be able to completely replace paper, and if so what modifications would need to be considered?

For a brief history of interfaces and the web

see Datacloud.

It's available in the library: http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/fs.jsp?st=Datacloud&ix=kw&fl=bo&V=D&S=2281405645129817&I=0#top

Here's a blog post highlighting key points in the book: http://www.rachaelshapiro.net/backup/?p=702

You might also look here for a broader, less dense, and more personal history of text technologies: http://www.rhetcomp.gsu.edu/~bgu/8121/Reading-Porter.pdf

The New Textual Technologies (Powers)

This chapter begins with detailing the birth of the modern digital theory that took place in 1945 with the publication of "As We may Think" by Dr. Vannevar Bush. The article detailed the possibility of a future technological database system linked together from different locations. This theory inspired many computer scientists to delve into different methods of information preservation and distribution. The outpouring of scientific research from NASA acted as another catalyst for this revolution, as existing information technologies of the time were inadequate. In the 60's, ARPANET--a program linking four university computers--was introduced. This became the internet in the 70's when a protocol labeled TCP/IP enabled linkage of computers with different software.

The invention of the CD-ROM further solidified scientists' dreams that large amounts of information could be compressed and made portable. This also influenced the publishing industry; books, journals, and other publications were made available on CD-ROM's in libraries and information directories such as the Encycolpedia of Associations were made available online.

Web 2.0 allows for a constant circulation of publications/information between publishers, writers, and readers. It focuses on the constant development of services.The demand for speed and efficiency is what drives technological progression.

Comment: I found it interesting that much of the reason for the internet's function as a safe, durable, reliable database of information lies in the roots of atomic bomb threats that the country was experiencing in the 60's.

Question: Considering there is an omnipresent demand for new, more efficient ways of accessing information/entertainment, do you feel that, at some point, the term "research" as we know it will have a drastically different meaning?

The New Text Technologies

Microfilm:

Microfiche:

Databases:

Database Tables:


HTTP:

HTML: