Abstract
They say we're addicted to our phones. We have pocket-sized computers with long battery lives and worldwide connectivity. Besides having all kinds of programs and games, our phones replace some of the purposes that pocket notebooks used to fulfill. From the Farmer's Almanac to ladies's date and address books, to tiny bank ledgers and blank books, the phone has replicated all the different formats of pocket notebooks and combined them into one device. Yet pocket notebooks not only persevere, they have also become boutique objects with fanatic followings. How has the pocket notebook as a paper form been affected by new pocket-sized technologies, i.e. the Palm Pilot, Blackberry, iPhone, Kindle, etc.? How is the paper pocket notebook surviving, thriving, or being used in ways that are unlike the electronic versions, and in what ways are the electronic versions replacing, supporting, or enhancing the use of paper notebooks? What about new technologies where one writes in paper notebooks and the writing is automatically uploaded? This article will consider contemporary alternatives to the pocket notebook and how digital and analog coexist.
Selected Bibliography
- Galbraith, Steven. “Chapter 4: Digital Books.” A Brief History of the Book: From Tablet to Tablet. Libraries Unlimited, 2020. ABC-CLIO, publisher.abc-clio.com/9781440869402. 115-147.
- Johnson, Ronald (host). “Exploring the Art and History of Note Taking with Jillian Hess of Noted (Substack).” The Craft of Memory Podcast. Spotify. 29 January 2004. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thecraftofmemory/episodes/Exploring-the-Art-and-History-of-Note-Taking-w-Jillian-Hess-of-Noted-Substack-e2f10d7
- Jumper, William Isaac, "Identifying barriers to data use on U.S. beef cow-calf operations and developing solutions to improve cow-calf record-keeping" (2023). Theses and Dissertations. 5827. https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/5827
Publication
This project is the conclusion of my dissertation for the Ph.D. in Book and Publishing Studies, as well as the term project for CIS 656: Contemporary and Electronic Publishing.