Though many would view accessibility as as clearly positive aspect of digitization, Shillingburg (in this case, via Price) argues that digitization threatens to separate “‘the archive user from insights into the critical significance of textual histories'” and notes “information overload” as a potential issue in digital scholarship. Price, however, reminds us that it is not the form that causes this feature, but rather the creators and their values. I do not necessarily agree with Price’s assertion that English academics are better suited for digital humanities work than librarians and system engineers. However, I feel quite differently about the English academic’s place in the field of so-called “material “objects, which does point us toward an intrinsic difference between the two media, even though I struggle to articulate that difference.
Cohen illuminates a similar point in his article, as he laments the possibility of those untrained in the theory of editing gaining access to its resources without recognizing its power. I find Cohen’s assertion that digitized items require maintenance interesting, since “material” objects clearly require maintaining as well. In fact, the maintenance level of digitized archives are less dramatically necessary than that of non-digitized archives: copies can be produced and stored for digital archives, yet you can never have two originals. (And in the case of digitized forms, as Gitelman argues, “the original as such does not exist”, pointing out an important distinction between the two forms.) Because of this, what is lost in the experience of digitization is the affect which comes with holding a page that your favorite author touched. This tactile experience cannot be replicated with our current technology. (Could it ever?) To level the playing field of this discussion, I believe a discussion of digitized and non-digitized copies needs examination. Is anything lost or gained between viewing a digitized copy of a letter and viewing a printed copy of a letter? Well, to view the printed copy, I presumably had to leave the comfort of my home, which brings us back to accessibility, and its various pros and cons….
