Kenneth Goldsmith describes the world of academic resources to be in the midst of a stubborn transition from physical to virtual, digital. At the very end of his argument, he warns:
“Shhhh… the new radicalism is paper. Right. Publish it on a printed page and no one will ever know about it. It’s the perfect vehicle for terrorists, plagiarists, and for subversive thoughts in general. In closing, if you don’t want it to exist — and there are many reasons to want to keep things private — keep it off the web.”
My visual response is in two parts. The first and more significant one depicts the cover of a book. Usually when we look to a source of information for something in particular, we must search for it. Here I chose this search to take place within a virtual space, because web-based search engines like Google have become our first if not only attempts to look for more specific information.
The internet has become the most familiar and accessible way of researching. This mass-appeal bleeds over into the world of academia, which revolves around the abundance of well-researched documents and articles.
The second part of my response develops this point even further, showing the inside of the book as being completely useless. These familiar red X’s are often displayed in web applets/applications that attempt to display information, but have essentially failed.
