Insights

The transformation of the banned book The Dialogue into a digital exhibit can be identified as a form of new media encounter as defined by Alan Liu. The digital exhibit serves as a quick and convenient media of accessing information, where it can be viewed online and key information are analyzed and organized into categories. The audience can easily gain more insights on what the book is about, the historical context that the book was written in and impacts of the knowledge upon following centuries. On the other hand, opposing traditionalists prefer going to the rare book library and flipping through the original copy to gain the experience of obtaining and absorbing information from reading the complete text itself. The meeting of two mediums illustrates the evolution of information and interpretation of knowledge. Linking to Samuels and McGann’s idea of deformance and interpretation, during this process of reconstruction, some of the original author’s intentions are lost along the way, while new understanding and insights are established based on the exhibit’s creator’s understanding of the historical context and subjective insights towards the original piece.