DoubleBubble, Sven Birkert's Lecture

Bikert’s lecture started off with his ideas on photographs and how he felt when he first saw them a few weeks ago, and the moved into his idea of reading and ebooks and how the history of books is going out.


Photographs, was something he mentioned. Photographs display a story, but only a story that we ourselves based on our experiences can relate to. A photo is taken, and once it is out of the hands of the photographer we are not sure the truth behind it, as one of our previous theorists had mentioned. How do we know what we think behind the photograph is what was actually occurring at that exact moment the photograph was taken? We don’t, because we only base it on our personal experiences and ideas. This is something interesting that I thought he mentioned and I thought it was unique in how it relates to our previous discussions but instead towards emotions instead of truth of events. How do we really know what those people are feeling? We don’t, so we can only base it off what we felt when we saw it and how well the photographer portrayed the message they intended to display. In a way, everyone can view a photograph differently unless it is photographed exactly how the photographer wanted it. The photographer is creating the ideas and emotions for us to develop. After listening to his lecture I thought about this idea, could we be feeling complete opposite and different emotions from two different pictures of the same event? I wonder what it would be like to do a case study with two photographers photographing the same exact thing but in their own ways, would we feel different? Or still somewhat the same?


Bikert’s then shifted to reading and how reading has transformed into a chore from a pleasure. That is how I saw the lecture because he discussed the ideas of how ebooks are making the history of books become invisible by moving everything to electronics. After he talked about this I thought about what book had importance on me, physically. It took me a while to think of something but then I realized the different outcomes I have with reading an article online versus in a book. When I read an article online, I sometimes have difficulty grasping the idea and concept because I don’t feel a connection with the article through the computer. When I read an article in an actual textbook or book I relate more to the article and the understanding of it because I feel physically attached to the book. After I thought about this, I realized that the physical attachment, or history of books is beginning to fade out. The feeling of old pages and sense of attachment will become non-existent which may result in the emotional attachment some people have with reading. You would never see a child reading a Harry Potter book off a laptop the day it came out, would you? How do you dog-ear a laptop? The emotional benefits and satisfaction of reading a book in your hands does not occur when reading online. This is the main idea and concept I grasped from Bikert’s lecture and it really made me think about how lazy and high-tech our general public is becoming. I really enjoyed this lecture and it really made me think about how much of an influence this technological change can influence our understanding and connection to readings.