Codex simulations

Summary, in English

By "codex simulations" or codex simulaters" I intend the various hard- and software products that imitate the form of the codex and /or simulate the function of it. They can be designed with the main purpose either to transfer literary work, as with "ordinary" electronic books, or to communicate the looks of a specific original artefact, as with those simulaters used by libraries for displaying digital fac simil manuscripts electronically. As phenomena, codex simulaters generate a number of questions about the meaning of the relation between form and content, the implication of form to human understanding, historically coded knowledge perception etc. It also illuminate problems related to technical transition; why should a new technique such as electronic and digital media imitate old forms like the codex? This, however, has happened before – e.g. the earliest printed books imitated manuscripts. Other interesting issues brought about by this phenomena is its affiliation to simulation techniques used in areas such as entertainment and medicin. Is it possible to find causes and intentions that these different areas have in common? One such issue would be security – displaying a simulated manuscript instead of the original item is a matter both of making available and of security. So is much of the use of simulaters in medicin, for example the use of simulater patients for training students and hospital teams. From this point of view its important to consider epistemological as well as empirical aspects of possible differences between "the real thing" and simulations.



Main question: How can an analysis of codex simulations/codex simulaters contribute to our understanding of the impact of the codex as form, cultural symbol and technical tool and to what degree is it symptomatical of todays socio-culture where technical possibilities generate new concepts and where the conflict between availability and security constantly has to be adressed?

• Author: Kristina Lundblad
• Department/s: Division of Book History
• Publishing year: 2006
• Language: English
• Document type: Conference paper
• Topic: Cultural Studies
• Conference name: Trading Books – Trading Ideas : the fourteenth annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP)
• Conference date: 2006-07-11 - 2006-07-14
• Status: Published