It's that chicken or egg thing again.
This isn't the first (nor the second) time that I've found an opportunity to note
that there's no before or after in cyberspace.
This time it's because I'm honestly not at all sure how it is that I encountered
that particular blog. After all, it links to the
Udell article that I refer to elsewhere in this column, so it perhaps makes
sense that I was searching for material on marginalia and through that search
got to the medieval reference which in turn brought me to the digital one. It's
clear that the Udell piece doesn't mention the blog, so that direction of discovery
can be ruled out. On the other hand, I may well have been searching for "digital
marginalia" or something similar and found the Udell piece, and then while
on another quest found that the blog not only has something to say about the history
of marginalia, but also about its digital counterparts. Does that mean that in
addition to no before or after, in cyberspace all roads lead to Rome?
Go to: Is there marginalia for sale on e-bay?, or
Go to: In the margins of cyberspace.