The philosophy of open access has an important role in the academic publishing world, as it wants to make access to scientific information less restricted to researchers. The reality of it is,...Show moreThe philosophy of open access has an important role in the academic publishing world, as it wants to make access to scientific information less restricted to researchers. The reality of it is, however, more complicated than it seems. The first step is to accept that we are not dealing with a single academic publishing field but with a number of different ones. Each field is highly influenced by the environments in which it emerged. This thesis wants to present two different approaches to the idea of open access to science, and how these approaches were influenced by their regional environments. The two regions analysed in this thesis are Latin America and the Global North. Even though open access has a global character, being part of an international establishment such as academic publishing, the two regions present a diverse development of the idea of open access. These were influenced by the different social, technological and historical environments that the two regions displayed when the ideas of open access were emerging. After presenting a general picture of how the publishing process works and the role of its agents, I analyse the reasons for the use of open access in the two regions and create two timelines portraying the main events, infrastructure, initiatives and regulations that took place and that shaped the two approaches in use today. These two approaches of open access developed at different tempos and they were driven by contrasting motivations. The relationship that the Global North and Latin America have as academic circuits is, however, responsible for the flow of interaction between the two connotations and implementations of open access. In this thesis, I argue that the uneven power dynamics between the two approaches of open access have been influenced by a historical relation between the two regions through a core-periphery perspective. This has created an asymmetrical flow of influences moving from one region to the other, and vice versa. After presenting how these convergences of interactions are experienced on a practical level by researchers and academics, I conclude by suggesting that the discussion should not be about an open access connotation prevailing over the other, but rather about initiating a dialogue and starting a conversation between the two approaches and accepting both perspectives as legitimate and valuable.Show less
Catalogues have been a staple library feature for the last several centuries, a useful finding tool for readers and organizational aid for librarians; they are also a representation of a particular...Show moreCatalogues have been a staple library feature for the last several centuries, a useful finding tool for readers and organizational aid for librarians; they are also a representation of a particular place and time. The form and content of a catalogue can provide insights into the social norms and scholarly interests of the era in which it was created. Employing a longitudinal and comparative approach, this thesis examines the published catalogues of Leiden University Library’s Hebrew manuscripts collection throughout its four centuries of existence. I compare these catalogues, mark the differences in the ways they describe Hebrew manuscripts, and illuminate the social changes or emerging scholarly fields that likely influenced their creators. Throughout this thesis, I argue that when it comes to Hebrew manuscripts, any examination of historical cataloguing trends or choices cannot be complete without also considering that era’s societal attitudes toward Jews, the original creators of the language and texts contained in said manuscripts. I conclude that there exists a direct correlation between the quality of the catalogues’ manuscript descriptions and the cataloguer’s knowledge of the Hebrew language and of Jewish literature and culture; I extrapolate the implications of this conclusion for the future of manuscript cataloguing in the digital age.Show less
This thesis establishes the Japanese otome visual novel genre of media as a new, digital type of immersive multimodal reading for women. Otome revives the bygone late 20th-century academic debate...Show moreThis thesis establishes the Japanese otome visual novel genre of media as a new, digital type of immersive multimodal reading for women. Otome revives the bygone late 20th-century academic debate on interactive fiction, as the subgenre challenges the categories of media as we understand them: the otome visual novel format combines romantically-themed prose with visual, audial, and interactive elements. Otome visual novels evoke a feeling of influence over the plot progression through interactivity, yet present walls of text as their method of story-building and therefore require a significant amount of reading, which could preclude their consideration as either literature or games per se. Because of this generic ambiguity, visual novels have long been overlooked in academia. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of otome visual novels as part of Japanese (women’s) reading habits using Espen Aarseth’s concept of ‘ergodic literature’, supported by theory from Reading Studies, Literature Studies, and Game Studies. In doing so, this thesis sheds light on the subgenre’s immense popularity in its country of origin and illuminates its unique position to bridge the academic fields of Literature Studies and Game Studies in the digital age.Show less
This thesis studies a Middle Dutch Book of Hours which was copied in 1498 and illuminated in 1499 for Aef van Bolgerien, an inhabitant of Beverwijk, and which is currently preserved in the Special...Show moreThis thesis studies a Middle Dutch Book of Hours which was copied in 1498 and illuminated in 1499 for Aef van Bolgerien, an inhabitant of Beverwijk, and which is currently preserved in the Special Collections of Leiden University Libraries under the shelfmark BPL 2747. While several aspects of this manuscript have already received scholarly attention (in particular its colophon and decoration), this thesis presents a first comprehensive study into the history and contents of the codex. It focuses in particular on the way(s) in which the book was customized for the use by Aef van Bolgerien. Books of Hours were often made to order, meaning their contents could be adjusted to the preferences of the comissioner. As a result, while Books of Hours are the most surviving type of texts from the Middle Ages, they show great variety among them. As the selection of additional prayers in particular is specific to each copy, they offer insight into both the relgious practice of the first owner and, in general, into the practice of customising Books of Hours. For this reason, the eleven additional prayers contained in BPL 2747 were chosen to be transcribed and edited as part of the thesis. In the first chapter, the historical developments surrounding the production and use of the Book of Hours are discussed, focussing on developments in lay religious culture, the Devotio Moderna, and the vernacular translation of the Hours that was created in this context. The second chapter introduces the manuscript central to the study, BPL 2747, and provides insight into elements such as the materiality, provenance and decorations of the book. The third chapter contains a transcription of the prayers separate from the Hours. The final chapter, chapter 4, adresses the dissemination of the prayers and what they may tell us about van Bolgerien’s devotional practice.Show less
This thesis is a complete edition of the MS. album amicorum of the publisher and printmaker Pieter Schenck I, in Leiden University Library Special Collections (LTK 903), together with a critical...Show moreThis thesis is a complete edition of the MS. album amicorum of the publisher and printmaker Pieter Schenck I, in Leiden University Library Special Collections (LTK 903), together with a critical introduction and apparatus.Show less
Newspapers are published fast and often, even in the eighteenth century. Setting type by hand is a rather extensive process. Do we see traces of this complicated process in newspapers? And who...Show moreNewspapers are published fast and often, even in the eighteenth century. Setting type by hand is a rather extensive process. Do we see traces of this complicated process in newspapers? And who decides on the layout and typographical features of newspapers? Did typesetters copy typesetting habits from each other? Is it possible to see right away where a newspaper has been printed or do they all look similar? To find out more about printing processes and newspapers layouts during the late eighteenth century five French newspapers from three different countries were analyzed: the Gazette de Leyde, the Gazette d’Amsterdam, the Gazette de Nice, the Courrier d’Avignon and the Gazette de Berne. First, the historical background for all three countries and all five newspapers was researched, which is presented in chapter two and the first half of chapter three, before the printing practices in the Netherlands are introduced in the second half of chapter three. By looking more extensively at the manual written by David Wardenaar, Beschrijving der boekdrukkunst [Description of book printing], the process of printing newspapers became clearer. In chapter four the analysis of the five newspapers can be found, which helped distinguish whether there were typographical features that could be found in all five newspapers and whether the newspapers followed certain ‘trends’ or habits of other newspapers which they adopted.Show less
Literacy skills are declining in The Netherlands. In preparatory vocational education (vmbo) this trend is more visible than elsewhere. Educational professionals are looking for alternative ways to...Show moreLiteracy skills are declining in The Netherlands. In preparatory vocational education (vmbo) this trend is more visible than elsewhere. Educational professionals are looking for alternative ways to stimulate reading activity, particularly the sustained reading activity that is carried out when reading long-form fiction. Reading long-form fiction has considerable cognitive and emotional effects, but many vmbo-students struggle with this type of sustained reading activity. It is currently being discussed if literacy can perhaps be improved through audiobooks. However, it is not clear if ‘reading’ through other modalities has similar intended and unintended effects on literacy as the reading of alphabetic text has. In this thesis, the properties of visual and auditory reading technologies are compared to see how different methods of reading influence the reading process, both cognitively and in terms of reading motivation. The question is explored along the attentional, cognitive, emotional, phenomenological and ergonomic dimensions. The thesis considers embodied reading, modality-specific affordances, impact of (environmental) factors and the way these affect mental interaction with the text. This demonstrates that audiobooks can be used to improve skills related to literacy, but they do not invoke every skill used when reading alphabetic text. The most significant shortcoming of audiobooks is that decoding skills and attention retention are not strengthened as they are with print reading. However, audiobooks can increase vocabulary knowledge, comprehension and reading motivation, particularly for struggling readers. For them, the underexplored option of dual channel reading can also be a worthwhile reading alternative. Existing research suggests that dual channel reading diminishes the cognitive load and working memory effort which typically interfere with the development of high order reading skills. Ultimately, the question which reading method suits best is dependent on the abilities of students and the intended effects and purposed with which is being read in school.Show less
During the 17th century, the book industry of the Dutch Republic was blooming. This business did not focus purely on the province of Holland however. In this thesis, the printing work of the...Show moreDuring the 17th century, the book industry of the Dutch Republic was blooming. This business did not focus purely on the province of Holland however. In this thesis, the printing work of the Frisian printer Samuel van Haringhouck is discussed. Van Haringhouck was active in the city of Bolsward for almost 30 years. This thesis focuses on the way Van Haringhouck combined both local, national and international influences in his work and how he tried to sell his work to an audience outside of Friesland.Show less
