When another scholar worries that if one begins with data, one can “go anywhere,” Ramsay makes it clear that going anywhere is exactly what he wants to encourage. The critical acts he values are not directed at achieving closure by arriving at a meaning; they are, he says, “ludic” and they are “distinguished … by a refusal to declare meaning in any form.” The right question to propose “is not ‘What does the text mean?’ but, rather, ‘How do we ensure that it keeps on meaning’ — how … can we ensure that our engagement with the text is deep, multifaceted, and prolonged?” (“Toward an Algorithmic Criticism,” in Literary and Linguistic Computing, vol. 18, No. 2, 2003)
The Digital Humanities and Interpretation – NYTimes.com, via Tom A. (via new-aesthetic)
Stanley Fish’s interpretation of a line in Milton in this piece really reminds me of KRS-One’s “officer/overseer” riff in “Sound Of Da Police”.
There are more useful things to say about this piece btw.
(via tomewing)