McLuhan and Liu

Lab 1

My reflection on McLuhan and Liu in relation to Markdown

McLuhan can be found in the class zip, and Liu can be found [here] (http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/view?docId=blackwell/9781405148641/9781405148641.xml&chunk.id=ss1-3-1&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ss1-3-1&brand=9781405148641_brand)

They argue on the benefits and drawbacks (“affordances” and “limitations” respectively) of modern / modernizing technology, particularly that in relation to text

Markdown Affordances

  1. Easy blog post writing
  2. Can be used with git for basic websites
    • see the website I made last semester [here] (https://17f-money.gitlab.io/Wings/)
  3. Allows for a lot of customization with enough knowledge / skill
  4. Small file size
  5. Accepts and runs HTML
    • Can add custom functionality (for the final product) with JavaScript

Markdown Limitations

  1. Large learning curve
  2. Hard to adjust style
    • Can’t adjust spacing, font, size, etc. directly in editing
  3. Can’t be simply viewed with formatting on a vanilla machine
    • For example, if sent to a friend, they would just view the plain-text in notepad
  4. Few direct stylistic choices
  5. Very difficult to change the style in only parts of the document / final product

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