This essay presents a revised history of the punctuation mark ["], drawn from the earliest communities who made it their own. By situating the development of ["] in its historical context, from first uses of the diple [diple] by the Greek scholar Aristarchus, it explains how it was the general applications which persisted into the sixteenth…

Constructs themes of interaction between subjects and books. States books can be considered as both artifact and index; their existence signals manifold meanings beyond the text contained within. Discusses how the creative process from conception, design, and reproduction creates an object capable of triggering recollection, inspiration, and…

Discusses a new poetic language invented in 1983 based on innovative use of the holographic medium. Defines what a holopoem is and explains the fundamental concepts of holopoetics. Introduces theoretical principles that address the new readerly experience created by the holotext. Provides a descriptive list of all holopoems created to date. (PA)

Examines the relationship of concrete poetry to "abstract" poetry (so labeled because its circular semantic play interferes with the image-forming aspect of representation). Analyzes the interrelations of these two types of poetry in the context of a poetic tradition centered in France. Asserts that both types aim to eradicate differences between…

Presents a system to refine typographic fit in digitally composed documents. Describes strategies for paragraph-fit, page-fit, chapter-fit, and one-page-fit. Concludes that these new uses of microtypography increase speed and quality of document production and make reading easier. (PA)

Examines the role of visual form in the free verse of Robert Creeley, Charles Olson, William Carlos Williams, and Louis Zukofsky. Argues that this functional approach, entailing careful attention to how visual form affects the experience of printed poems, can contribute toward developing the "theory of graphic prosody" called for by John…

States that articles dealing with documents on demand tend to presume a static digital format such as a scanned page. Discusses a flexible document format subject to user specification based on particular reading needs or habits. Argues for digitally created masters which ensure access to old, rare, and out-of-print texts. (PA)

Examines ways in which visible language works with or against an accompanying image to produce desired effects on a reader or spectator and investigates the role that fiction and myth play in life, using a book cover and comic strip illustrations as examples. (DF)

Through a bilingual reading of Beckett's "Mal vu mal dit," the illusion of painted relief for printed letters is created. Colors manifest themselves through the continual process of translation. The French translation adds color to the black and white English text. (DF)

Examines how eighteenth-century critics treated the visual format of traditional verse as a determinant in readers' appreciation of form and meaning. Explores correspondences between eighteenth-century work and modern criticism. Argues that twentieth-century appreciations of the visual format of verse are limited by their concentration upon more…

Suggests that visual signs help to define form and structure and are significant in their semantic function. Discusses a series of typographic studies that examine the relationship of designer, text and interpreter in the dialectical process of communication in which meaning is rendered and made explicit. (RS)

Proposes a new taxonomy for classifying the graphic cues commonly used in visually informative text. Subsumes spatial and mark cueing (lines such as dividers, guidelines, network links, and visual tags) under a new concept called diagraphic cueing. Surveys various forms of graphic cues. (RS)

Describes a studio project designed to help students (1) utilize the digital environment to organize typography and images that represent the socio-political context their solutions were required to identify; and (2) explore the empirical variables that help readers to access and contemplate the content presented by their text. (PA)

Uses the author's poems to illustrate the interrelationships among a poem's rhythm, lineation, and syntax. (MM)

Describes two experiments that explore the effect of line length and paging versus scrolling on reading from screen. Finds that long lines were read faster than short lines with no change in comprehension and that subject's judgment of reading ease did not correlate with performance. Concludes that further study is needed. (PA)