The Little Database

The Little Database (University of Minnesota Press) explores the small, carefully curated digital archives that preserve and recontextualize cultural works that might otherwise be lost in the vast databases of the internet. Through curated collections such as UbuWeb and the Electronic Poetry Center, Snelson considers how the transition from physical media to digital formats can change the meaning of works by poets and artists including William Carlos Williams and Tracie Morris. He develops creative tools and flexible methods for reading cultural data, whether found online or in our own collections of TXT, JPG, MP3, and MOV files, using case studies to show how familiar objects can take on new meanings in their digital contexts. Combining literary and media analysis with experimental poetry, The Little Database offers readers a playful meditation on how we preserve and encounter the past through digital archives.