The Problem of the Footnote
This week’s reading made me want to get up and yell about how much I love footnotes, especially after reading Gertrude Himmelfarb’s “Where Have All the Footnotes Gone?” I cannot think of how many times I’ve read some history book, full of references, and I have been torn between whether I should flip to read the endnote (lost somewhere at the end of the book, as I’ve never actually been smart enough to maintain a bookmark in that section) or to keep reading. Many times, I’ve been utterly disappointed after struggling to find that nugget of information and discovering (1) that it was only a variation on an “ibid” citation, which I would then have to read backwards in the footnotes to find the complete reference, or (2) that it was just a simple unannotated source reference. I love when historians comment on their sources. I feel I’ve learned so much this way. After reflecting on all the readings, and commenting on Steven’s lovely NOLA-themed blog (in “The Lost Art of Footnoting,” this is why some variation of the pop-up/lightbox would be my choice. Maybe I would even add a link to a nicely formatted “endnote” page (even though I don’t like endnotes), strictly for people to print out and use on its own. Otherwise, the pop-up allows you to quickly see if the information in the note is something you’re interested in. If it is, you can read on; if not, you can move your mouse and continue with the main text.
About the argument as to whether the footnote should be superscripted and why it should look like print, I would say that why shouldn’t it look like print? In the case of history, it seems that we’re mostly publishing items on the Internet that are also published in print (in some form or another). I agree that the Web is a new format and should explore new presentation methods, but as pointed out on Piggin.Net, there are certain visual cues that presentation provides, and to stray too far from traditional presentation methods could risk comprehension of your final product, whatever it may be.
February 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for the shout out about my Blog design, they had that in wordpress’ little gallery, I was very surprised. And to continue on your thought, I too learn a lot from the footnotes, sometimes more than I do from the text itself, especially if it is a book that only tangentially relates to my topic of interest or research. That way, when I get to a part I feel I can use in my own work, a long and elaborate footnotes is just what the doctor ordered. Now, for only a couple, thumbing to the back would not be that bad. But what if a whole chapter relates to my topic? Or even worse, several small parts in multiple chapters? Now, when I get to a point in my career where I can read books for my own use only and not for class, going to just those parts that I need will be fine. But what if that book is for class and I am supposed to read all of it (or at least a decent chunk while skimming the rest)? Then that endnotes format can really put a cramp in one’s reading style!!