Hark! A Vagrant
At first glance, it appears Hark! A Vagrant might actually have been converted the other way, from print to digital. It appears almost completely agnostic of its digital hosting, going without the use of alt-text, hidden comics, an infinite canvas, or any of the other digital affordances. The truth, however, is that it uses much more digital affordances than meet the eye. When one inspects its creation, the use of digital affordances becomes much more clear. In the artifact above, when comparing the popularity of search for Beaton herself or for her first book, we see that she was already quite popular before publishing her first book. Though some of the popularity Google attributes to the book comes from people looking for the online comic, Kate Beaton's popularity long preceeds the release of the book. With the difficulty of publishing a work, particularly if it serves a niche audience [1], it makes sense that such a creation could only go through an editiors hands after the author is an established enitity. However, with the advent of digital it is possible to share on a much smaller scale with many more people, making it less risky. Then after it is proven successful, as Beaton did with her skyrocketing user views, a company will be more likely to offer the audience a chance. It is with this union of the author and the publisher [2] that so many of the most important digital affordances come out. This combination allows for much easier publishing and more diversity since only one person must be pleased. Additionally, the use of instant feedback from the blog-like website for Hark! A Vagrant [3] allows for reader interactivity which was key for Beaton as she started creating her comics early on. Just because a comic doesn’t seem to need the web does not mean it would have still been created without the web. The web provides critical support for creators looking to make it big.
1. Moulin, Claudine, and Julianne Nyhan. "The Dynamics of Digital Publications: An Exploration of Digital Lexicography." In New Publication Cultures in the Humanities: Exploring the Paradigm Shift, edited by Dávidházi Péter, 47-62. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt12877w9.6.
2. Ghosh, Arjun. "Censorship through Copyright: From Print to Digital Media." Social Scientist 41, no. 1/2 (2013): 51-68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23611080.
3. Ranker, Jason. "The Affordances of Blogs and Digital Video: NEW POTENTIALS FOR EXPLORING TOPICS AND REPRESENTING MEANING." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 58, no. 7 (2015): 568-78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44011181.