The esthetics of hidden things

Scott Dexter

pp. 127-144

in: David M. Berry (ed), Understanding digital humanities, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

Katherine Hayles observes, "Along with the hierarchical nature of codes goes a dynamic of concealing and revealing that operates in ways that have no parallel in speech and writing" (2005: 54). Hayles alludes to two examples of this dynamic. The first is to the "essential practice" in software engineering of "conceal[ing] code with which one is not immediately concerned" (2005:54). The second example is, well, more revealing: "[R] evealing code when it is appropriate or desired also bestows significant advantage. The "reveal code"command in HTML documents … may illuminate the construction and intent of the work under study" (2005: 54). This essay unfolds in the space between concealing and revealing limned by these two examples.