New Project Examines Close Reading and Web Collaboration

On Nov. 10, Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook will be read and discussed by seven readers in a new experiment that explores “close reading” and the mechanisms of online conversation.

The project is the brainchild of Bob Stein, founder of Institute for the Future of the Book. Stein outlined the project’s goals in an email announcement:

Fundamentally this is an experiment in how the web might be used as a space for collaborative close-reading. We don’t yet understand how to model a complex conversation in the web’s two-dimensional environment and we’re hoping this experiment will help us learn what’s necessary to make this sort of collaboration work as well as possible.

The seven readers will discuss the book through margin notes and a group blog, and a public forum will be available for others to join the conversation. Further details are available through the project site.

tags: , , , , ,