Leftovers from an earlier era.


Though originally the idea of a bookmark was a logical metaphor for the process of earmarking pages to which we might want to return, there was always something highly inaccurate about the name. Bookmarks are, after all, physical markings that remind us of just where we've gotten to in a particular book. That's really not the same thing as where a particular book is located on a shelf, which, even if it's a more accurate description of what a browser bookmark does, is still a material representation which doesn't translate well into the digital world. When I bookmark a page on the web I'm well aware that I'm not really storing that page on my computer, or even making a note of where it's located in cyberspace. All I'm doing it establishing a path that will lead me to it if and when I'll want to access it again.



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