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μεταdata 20 May 2010

you can tell we no longer
know our classics
a postmodern breakfast
of
Greek and Latin
μετα− meta-: Greek preposition meaning
with or after
data: plural of datum
(past participle of the verb dare to give)
Latin for a thing given or granted,
something known or assumed as fact,
and made the basis of reasoning or calculation

μεταdata is definitely after: after the date
of my dictionary, printed in 1977
metadata is the data that comes with or after the book

a whole world of information and facts
attached to an eBook with ones and zeros

a spreadsheet of working days
column after column after column after column after

six columns of ISBNs
two ways of listing the title
long blurbs and short
subject matter and keywords
prices in different currencies
dimensions in metric and imperial
an excerpt and its source
a review and its source
and more …

and everyone wants something different
I’m after
and after
I’m over it

Associated Author: Susan Hawthorne

Comments
I cannot relate to eBooks at all, and I do not see that as a failing. I worry for creators receiving even less of an income because of it.
I have just purchased Susan's [print format] 'Bird', and it has me skippng around the house and missing heartbeats. I am a dyke with TLE, who has struggled a bit within the dyke community with issues around that. My overwheming delight with Bird is Susan's tongue, how it seems to lick each page, an everpresent reminder (even after the fact) of epilepsy. Auras are an almost constant and distressing companion, they bring me an 'other' understanding and view of my worlds. I have come ten years late to Bird, but maybe not too late.
Could you please pass on my sincere thanks to the author?
Posted by Denise | 21 May 2010
Thank you Denise for your comments - Susan here and responding - it thrills me that Bird has you skipping and am delighted that the tongue works so well. Much appreciated. Earlier this year I participated in an event called Tonge-atorium which included musicians, artists and poets brainstorming around the notion of tongue. I realised then that it was such a central image in Bird (I had forgotten how central).

On eBooks - it's too soon to know about this - my hope is that it brings additional income for authors because new readers find books that are no longer in bookshops - somehow you found Bird in spite of that!
Posted by Susan_Hawthorne | 22 May 2010

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