I had a conversation recently with the person responsible for Acquisitions at the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives. She wanted to buy 3 copies of Picturesque Views of the Quartier for their collection. However, when she followed the links to purchase through lulu.com, there was a screen asking her to sign up for a binding legal Membership Agreement. Not only is she reticent to sign up as an individual for this legally binding agreement on behalf of her institution, but the online ordering system conflicts with the systems of acquisitions that the institution has set up for ordering publications (primarily from traditional dealers). As print-on-demand and “creator driven” online services seems to be the direction in which many artists and small publishers are moving, it will be interesting to see whether the institutions that collect them will be able to adjust their modes of working.

While one could be tempted to attribute her reticence to a generational opposition to online practices, this would be a misleading assumption. It is not that she is opposed to ordering online due to a discomfort with technological change. She purchases regularly through sites that do not require purchasers to sign legally binding membership agreements or to provide personal data on behalf of an institution that will “retain any of your Personal Data only for so long as is reasonably required to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected.”

There is little reason why lulu.com needs to gather the personal membership information from purchasers other than for the purpose of datamining. On other sites (such as abebooks.com) membership is an option for purchasers rather than a requirement. The lulu.com model of ecommerce positions purchasing as a service, “a service to enable Users to publish, and other people to purchase, digital content in on-line,” In this way, the company capitalizes of off both ends of the transaction through hidden fees associated with it (shipping) and datamining “to conduct research, to contact you, to contact those who purchase your Content (if you have selected to use the Lulu Thank You Note program) and to improve Lulu services,” as a potential method of monetization of a “free” service.

The end result of this transaction is that I will order the books for her on my creator’s account at lulu (they already have my data, but then they are also providing me with a service of POD publishing). I will ship them to the NGC and then I will invoice them separately, likely including a premium for my time.

The end conclusion? They would rather pay the creator more money than give lulu the data in exchange for a “free” service.

Click here for the Perfect-bound paper-back book

And here for the PDF download

This book includes a critical essay on Elizabeth Simcoe by Denis Longchamps, and has been added to the list of required readings for Cynthia Hammond’s, City as Palimpsest graduate seminar at Concordia University.

I wanted to try out print on demand online publishing, as a recent iteration of democratic distribution of information, so here is the result from Lulu.com : a little pocket book that resumes my encounters in the Quarties des Spectacles in 2008. I think it looks pretty nice and the response so far has been positive. As far as the POD experience goes, overall I was pleased with how easy the Lulu interface handled my files, and it was a fairly painless process. Shipping prices to Canada are exaggerated, and although the user forums promise that this will be resolved soon, I wanted to make sure that a download was available as another shipping-free option (although I recommend the paper experience). I kept the costs as low as possible but you can still contact me if you want to make a trade for it.

Description : Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe (1762-1850) was an early tourist passing though Montréal she traveled with her husband on his way to found the city of Toronto. Felicity Tayler and Denis Longchamps study the relationship between Simcoe’s picturesque watercolours and the present-day touristic development in the heart of downtown Montréal. For more history on the project, search Simcoe or Quartier des Spectacles on the blog.

The environment as a processor of information is propaganda. Propaganda ends where dialogue begins.” — Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Massage. (Toronto : Bantam Books, 1967), 142

John Marshall and his retired donkey Huey on the last farm remaining outside of the Saint John city limits. He tells me the rural communities have slowly evolved to become suburbs for commuters. John farms beef cattle and is also the coordinator of the Continental Drift International Short Film Festival and Third Space Gallery. A busy and diversified guy committed to a progressive cultural life in a city defined by conservative history and a monopoly of industry. I was struck by his generosity of spirit – and his willingness to drive me everywhere on my short visit to the city and then all the way to Sackville. On my way out of town I left behind the painting by JC Miles in a window installation and thought it would be best that it stay in Saint John as per the historical facts. The pastoral view remains with John and his livestock.

Owens Art Gallery - Research on the Collection

I spent the week at the Tantramar Motel. Every morning I would make the bed and leave the room. When I came back little had changed. Perhaps I would have a new towel, but the bed had always been remade. Today I left the John Hammond from Saint John behind for the bed maker.

The note says:
Please accept this painting in thanks for your invisible labour this week.
It is a painting of Saint John in 1886.
I made it there last week before I came here.
Kind regards,
Felicity

Boltenhouse Museum, Sackville

Mrs. Spatz continues to be actively involved at the Owens Art Gallery and was instrumental in opening the Gallery to the greater Sackville community with the Friends of the Owens Art Gallery. Symbolically, the “town side” doors were reopened and the John McEwan sculpture was put in place. Another example of the flexible boundary that exists as an interface between the university community and the people who live in Sackville.

She told me many stories about her ancestors. She is the last in the line of a Yorkshire settler family that came over at the end of the 18th century. The Boltenhouse Museum of local history has a full room of artefacts that she has donated to them. She has no children and feels a great responsibility to honor the history of her family and of Sackville.

This morning I visited with the residents of the current farmhouse for some tea and a look at the freshwater side of the river that is dammed at the highway.

Outside the Sackville Town Hall at the main intersection.

Rob McCosh came to see me and gave me a granola bar. We also had a discussion about lobster prices which apparently are down to the price of bologna. Its a luxury food, and if people are feeling threatened by the financial crisis they stop buying lobster. The lobster stocks get stuck at the distributors because no one is buying. Distributors go out of business and the prices of lobster plummet. Rob was saying that in the past lobster used to be the poor man’s food. Bologna was what the rich kids ate because the processed meat cost more.

Chris Ricketts came by and we talked about Canadian Studies with Tom Sherman, Mount Allison was the first university to offer a program after the Centennial celebrations in the late 1960s.

Lorena LeBlanc embodies an interesting reflection on gender, labour and class within the Sackville university environment. She lives in the nearby francophone community of Shemogue and is the custodian of the Owens Art Gallery and the Fine Art building on the Mount Allison campus. I think she has been working there for twelve years. A few years ago, she got tired of being invisible to people who only recognized her custodian uniform and decided to get an art history degree. It allowed her to combine her interest in art, history and women’s issues. The degree will also make her eligible for higher paying administrative positions on campus.

Her union contract allows her to take two courses per semester with one year off to go to class full time. Although higher levels of administration encourage her, middle management offers some resistance asking what her intentions are in taking the courses. Custodial staff has been cut down significantly in the last few years (Lorena used to be in charge of cleaning only one of the two buildings) so I imagine they are concerned with who will do the cleaning while Lorena is off learning.

I lectured on relational aesthetics and public art in one of the classes Lorena is taking this semester, and later on had the good fortune to get to know her a bit better. She is incredibly kind and brought me a care package of fresh fruit and soaps to make me feel better while traveling. Also she overheard me wondering where to get supplies for a performance on Saturday night and surprised me by going to get them in anticipation of my needs. Finally, she gave me gift certificates to the Marshlands Inn, the “fancy” restaurant in town so that I could have the experience of this famed Victorian inn before I left Sackville. Thank you Lorena.