Tracked

Abstract

How do technologies track our reading? Digital devices today can monitor not only what you read electronically, but when, where, and for how long. From an artist’s book by Heather Weston and eighteenth-century commonplacing techniques to Kindle Highlights and social reading sites like GoodReads, this chapter takes a wide-ranging, playful look at the ways both humans and machines have used various platforms to track their reading over time. By critically examining the deep history of social reading practices, this chapter aims to bring into relief what is new or different about emerging digital technologies and the forms of reading they foster.