This is me taking a huge leap in playing the character of Claggart -- in which I am writing his voice under the auspices of him being self-reflective enough to understand the pure polarity, yin-yang relationship he shares with Billy. Most of what the reader understands of Claggart's character and his inner motivations is presented by the narrator in a purely clinical and analytical fashion -- speculative, but not fully grasping the subjectivity within his mentality. Based on what the narrator presents us, along with the differences he shares with the titular character, I'm asserting that Claggart (as someone who is intelligent, and can understand nuance, unlike Billy) is capable of understanding his own psychological motives, and the existential dynamic he is against in his relation to Billy.

Or can add to the original text by writing new material that is also interactive.

The Library of Congress article supplied in this piece (http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2012/11/glitching-files-for-understanding-avoiding-screen-essentialism-in-three-easy-steps/) also describes screen essentialism, which is essentially, "digital objects aren’t just what they appear to be when they are rendered by a particular piece of software in a particular configuration. They are, at their core, bits of encoded information on media."

I find this concept incredibly interesting, since it understands artifacts produced by computer technology on a very reductionist level. Pretty much, at its core, a PDF is no different than an mp3 or an .mov -- all are skeletons consisting of strings of text code.

This could actually be a sound platform to explore the issue of existentialism in a "playful pedagogical" sort of way. Now the idea of a postmodern/nihilist Sims sequel is firmly planted in my brain -- the objective of the player to lead their Sims character to a meaningful life, despite the character possessing the knowledge that their life is literally just a game, and can be ended simply by "pulling the plug" (LITERALLY).

Amasa Delano describes, in A Narrative of Voyages and Travels, an almost identical situation when the rebel slaves were captured from the Tryal:

"Whilst putting them in irons, I had to exercise as much authority over the Spanish captain and his crew, as I had to use over my own men on any other occasion, to prevent them from cutting to pieces and killing these poor unfortunate beings. I observed one of the Spanish sailors had found a razor in the pocket of an old jacket of his, which one of the slaves had on; he opened it, and made a cut upon the negro's head," (Norton Critical Edition, 207).

Whilst both the real-life and Melville-drawn Delano ensured within the range of his authority that the captured slaves would not be hurt (ensuring them a trial), the real-life Delano appeared to have more sympathy and pity for the captured slaves. By contrast, Melville's Delano seemed to have an indifference towards the slaves at best (aside from ensuring they were not killed prior to trial). Perhaps this use of artistic license incorporated by Melville (certainly related to the difference in POV between the narrator and Delano) renders the moral ambiguity of his text as more effective.

It is interesting to note that Melville omits from the text details about prior deception inflicted upon Delano prior to his encounter with Cereno -- which has, by contrast to how Melville's narrator depicts Delano's demeanor, caused him to be skeptical and guarded.

Case in point is Delano's relationship to several of his crew members. As written in A Narrative of Voyages and Travels, he admits to discovering that many of his crew members were in fact criminals, and snuck onto his ship without his knowledge. In order to ensure his crew would not commit mutiny, Delano would exercise, "very strict discipline, and giving them good wholesome floggings," (Norton Critical Edition, 201). This is with Delano having knowledge of some of his crew planning to desert him with his boats, explaining why he wouldn't leave the presence of his ship, for fear of it being hijacked (202).

Ultimately, this is where the difference between the POVs of Delano and the narrator in Melville's text differ -- the narrator sees Delano as a naive and too-trusting individual, while in actual history, Delano was not so trusting. Leaving such history out of Melville's text renders Delano's naivete as more believable in the story. Otherwise, Delano should have deduced the San Dominick's slave mutiny very early on.

Amasa Delano reveals in A Narrative in Voyages and Travels that the actual name of the Spanish ship is Tryal (Norton Critical Edition, 199).

Noticeable moment of omniscience by the narrator.

Similar to the Lawyer's mode-of-thinking (pseudo-charitable, wanting to help the main character) from Bartleby. Like with the lawyer in Bartleby, Delano's naivete and trusting nature works to his disadvantage, as he is unable to act upon his suspicions later in the novella.

While apt for slave-master relationship, Babo's insistence of addressing Cereno as "master" constantly makes a suspicion of any ulterior motives palpable. He actually reminds me somewhat of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Someone who sleep-walks (Merriam-Webster).

"Relating to, infecting, or occurring in the lungs." (Merriam--Webster).

Defined as, "loosely twisted hemp or jute [strong, coarse] fiber impregnated with tar or a tar derivative." (Merriam-Webster).

This further reinforces the connection I made with Blair's analysis of note-taking to Freud's analysis of dream interpretation. The short-term notes are latent, raw/inarticulate accounts of memory, while the permanent notes are the translated/manifest content of memory.

Or rather, as an extension of memory. A transcript of it.

As Blair explains this model of rough original notes versus more articulate final notes further on, I see this dynamic similar to Freud's theory on how we interpret dreams (in which the raw dream content itself is considered latent, and the translated/articulated version of how we interpret it is the manifest content). In this logic, the original, unsorted notes are raw, unedited transcripts of memory; by contrast, the sorted and dichotomized notes are the manifest.

I think that note taking goes even beyond imitation. I see the entire initial process (eg. writing notes while listening to a lecture or writing annotations as you read a certain text) as entirely intuitive; you write notes based on how you learn the material, how it's being taught to you -- this can change from class to class, so the notetaking itself becomes fluid.

This is an excellent example of how modern technology can enhance the reading experience and turn it into a more interactive one, rather than passive. Cogent combination of the conveniences and innovations of digital technology.

See, then you're cheating yourself out of a more fulfilling reading experience. If you want some sort of auditory stimulation while performing daily activities, then music is perfect. If you're focused on such daily activities, and have an audiobook playing as background noise, how can you be even moderately engaged? If I tried to concentrate on reading Infinite Jest or Naked Lunch while cooking, I'd possibly burn my home down by accident.

If true, I feel that Edison is condescending to his audience by not giving them the faith to be fully engaged in a particular text. Blind/visually-impaired/disabled people notwithstanding, listening to someone else's interpretation of a text without actually seeing it, paired with having some other visual stimuli to focus on, dilutes the reading experience itself (if one can still consider it reading).

Web 2.0 diagram is literal embodiment of super-saturation of information in today's media. While giving everyone a voice surely democratizes the Web, for me it often probes suspicion of what I am reading, since chances are it has been reshaped/rewritten/heavily-biased.