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MercadoLibre and the Democratization of Books: A Critical Reading of New Material Affordances and Digital Book History
Book History Pub Date : 2021-04-21
Nora C. Benedict

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • MercadoLibre and the Democratization of Books:A Critical Reading of New Material Affordances and Digital Book History
  • Nora C. Benedict (bio)

At the heart of most research related to book history is the archive, or the physical places that store historical and cultural records—whether manuscripts, books, photographs, or other forms of material (or digital) production. Most traditional archives tend to be housed in university libraries or cultural institutions, but here I will focus on a more democratic type of archive that does not rely on bureaucratic processes, unnecessary gatekeeping, or expert curators: MercadoLibre. This online marketplace, or what I deem a self-organized archive, functions as an open-access commons with equal opportunity for anyone to engage with and add to its holdings.1 Moreover, MercadoLibre, which has virtually no competitive pressure from similar sites such as eBay or Amazon, introduces new resources and perspectives for individuals who research and engage with the history of print production throughout Latin America.2 From never-before-seen publishers' catalogues and type specimen books, to entire runs of rare paperback editions from the early twentieth century, MercadoLibre provides access to materials that, more often than not, cannot be found in most library catalogues—whether national or international. In this paper I will discuss how Latin American book history in the twenty-first century is shaped by the (digital) availability of materials and online resources, specifically those available on non-Anglophone platforms such as MercadoLibre. In the process, I will reveal how the presence of rare, ephemeral materials in both a physical space and a digital, freely available space gives voice to often neglected literary traditions and marginalized global publishing histories.3

While online marketplaces might be described as databases, or places of solely monetary exchange, I would like to conceive of them as archives in the broadest sense of the term, or places where materials are stored and preserved. Since the term archive can mean any number of things in our contemporary world, I want to describe in more detail what I mean when I [End Page 177] talk about the archive—or archives—and, conversely, what I do not mean.4 In his first Rosenbach lecture, "The Transformissions of the Archive: Literary Remainders in the Late Age of Print," Matthew Kirschenbaum reminds us that "the archive is at once the site and the object of our analysis."5 It is simultaneously a physical space and a cache of material objects housed therein. For the purposes of this paper, I am most interested in the latter. Although my focus is on MercadoLibre as an online marketplace that also functions as a digital repository for rare and ephemeral materials, I am not interested in web archiving or how this particular space is maintained and preserved over time, but rather the opportunities that this site provides for bibliographical discovery and inquiry. In other words, I use the term archive to refer to the items that sellers list on MercadoLibre, as well as any and all data that these listings include.6 That is to say that I do not use the term archive to refer to MercadoLibre's overall architecture or interface.

According to Richard Pearce-Moses, former president of the Society of American Archivists, archives are defined as "materials… preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain."7 Despite the fact that materials (or archival records) can have "enduring value" in a number of respects, ranging from aesthetic to social or historical, it is important to note that someone—or some group of people—will virtually always determine what counts in an institutional setting. As Elisabeth Kaplan notes, "the archival record doesn't just happen; it is created by individuals and organizations, and used, in turn, to support their values and mission."8 In essence, the archival record is created by the few for the many.9 As a result, "the central challenge facing the archival community is to better understand our predisposition to privilege dominant cultures, which results in gaps in society's archives."10 In contrast, the concern for an object's "enduring value" and the limitations placed on who decides on what counts both disappear in...



中文翻译:

MercadoLibre和书籍民主化:对新材料的喜爱和数字书籍历史的批判性阅读

代替摘要,这里是内容的简要摘录:

  • MercadoLibre和书籍民主化:对新材料的喜爱和数字书籍历史的批判性阅读
  • 娜拉·本尼迪克(Nora C.

与书籍历史有关的大多数研究的核心是档案,或者是存储历史和文化记录的物理场所,无论是手稿,书籍,照片还是其他形式的材料(或数字)产品。大多数传统档案馆通常存放在大学图书馆或文化机构中,但是在这里,我将重点介绍一种更加民主的档案馆,这种档案馆不依赖官僚程序,不必要的看门人或专业策展人:MercadoLibre。这个在线市场,或者我认为是自组织的档案库,可以作为开放存取共享空间,任何人都有机会平等地参与并增加其资产。1个此外,MercadoLibre实际上没有来自eBay或Amazon等类似网站的竞争压力,它为研究和参与整个拉丁美洲印刷生产历史的个人介绍了新的资源和观点。2个从从未见过的出版商目录和打字本样本到二十世纪初的珍贵平装本的整本出版,MercadoLibre提供了很多资料在大多数图书馆目录中都找不到的资料,无论是国家目录还是国家目录。国际的。在本文中,我将讨论材料和在线资源(尤其是非英语平台(如MercadoLibre)上可用的)的(数字)可用性如何影响二十一世纪拉丁美洲的图书历史。在这个过程中,我将揭示物理空间和数字免费可用空间中稀有的短暂材料的存在如何为经常被忽视的文学传统和边缘化的全球出版历史发声。3

尽管可以将在线市场描述为数据库或仅是货币兑换的地方,但我想将其理解为广义上的档案馆,也可以将其视为存储保存资料的地方。由于“档案”一词在当今世界中可以指任何事物,所以我想更详细地描述当我[第177页结束]谈论档案时,我的意思,反之,我不是什么意思。4 Matthew Kirschenbaum在罗森巴赫(Rosenbach)的第一个演讲“档案的传承:印刷后期的文学残留”中提醒我们,“档案既是我们的研究对象,又是我们的分析对象”。5同时,它是一个物理空间和一个容纳在其中的物质对象的缓存。就本文而言,我对后者最感兴趣。尽管我的重点是在线市场MercadoLibre,该市场还充当稀有和临时材料的数字存储库,但我对Web归档或如何随着时间的推移维护和保留这个特定空间不感兴趣,而是对该站点提供的机会不感兴趣。用于书目发现和查询。换句话说,我使用术语“存档”来指卖方在MercadoLibre上列出的商品,以及这些清单包括的所有数据。6也就是说,我使用术语“存档”来指代MercadoLibre的整体架构或接口。

根据美国档案管理员协会前主席理查德·皮尔斯·摩西(Richard Pearce-Moses)的说法,档案被定义为“由于保存的信息中包含的持久价值而保存的材料”。7尽管资料(或档案记录)在许多方面都具有“持久价值”,从美学到社会或历史都有,但重要的是要注意,某人(或某些人)几乎总会决定什么。在机构环境中发挥作用。正如伊丽莎白·卡普兰(Elisabeth Kaplan)所说,“档案记录不只是发生了;它是由个人和组织创建的,并反过来用来支持他们的价值观和使命。” 8本质上,档案记录是由少数人创建的。结果,“档案社区面临的主要挑战是如何更好地理解我们对特权文化的特权,这导致社会档案的空白。” 10相反,对一个对象的“持久价值”的关注和对谁决定哪些计数的限制都在...中消失了。

更新日期:2021-04-21
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