How does timestamping shape the preservation and curation of literary sound? This roundtable episode brings together four SpokenWeb researchers––Jason Camlot, Tanya Clement, and Mike O’Driscoll in conversation with moderator Michael MacKenzie––to explore this deceptively simple yet profoundly complex question. What emerges is a layered, multidisciplinary view of timestamping, not just as a technical task, but as an archival, aesthetic, and philosophical practice.

In Part One, the conversation begins by situating timestamping in broader historical and intellectual contexts. Panelists reflect on the epistemology of time, from ancient timekeeping and annalistic history to modern digital temporality. What does it mean to mark time, and how does a timestamp compare to a page number, an index, or a narrative structure?

Part Two asks what it means to think critically about timestamping. Here, the guests draw on their scholarly practices to examine the subjectivity of timestamps, the tension between precision and ambiguity, and the role of annotation. The discussion turns to digital media’s microtemporalities and how timestamps carry expressive, affective weight beyond their data function.

In Part Three, the panel listens to an experimental performance by Jackson Mac Low and considers the challenge of timestamping layered or deliberately disorienting sound. What responsibilities do timestampers have in maintaining a balance between accessibility and artistic intention? Can timestamping illuminate without flattening?

Part Four focuses on vocabulary. Why does it matter if we tag something as a “reading” versus a “performance”? How do controlled vocabularies shape what we can learn from large-scale literary audio corpora? This final section explores how even the smallest metadata decisions reflect theoretical commitments and institutional values.

Ultimately, this episode makes one thing clear: timestamping is never neutral. It is an interpretive act, grounded in choices about meaning, representation, and access. From poetic performance to archival platforms, timestamping remains central to how we listen to—and understand—literary sound.

Show Notes and Resources:

Abel, Jordan. Nishga. McClelland & Stewart, 2021. pp.243-73

Bernstein, Charles. “‘1–100’ (1969) .” Jacket2, jacket2.org/commentary/1%E2%80%93100-1969. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

Though cut from the episode, this appeared as an example from O’Driscoll during the uncut roundtable and stands alone as a fascinating example of marking time. You can access a full performance of the short poem by Bernstein hosted at the above link, at Jacket2. O’Driscoll: “The numerological is itself potentially … not a neutral medium. It is potentially an expressive medium … so that timestamps can have an aesthetic, they carry value and meaning, they can shape the way that we think about things and that they're subject to a level of performance as well too.”

“Charles Bernstein (Poet).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bernstein_(poet).

Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation. MIT Press, 2000.

One central point of departure for our research, though we had to cut our remediation questions due to time. 

“Eadweard Muybridge.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Apr. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge.

Eliot, T. S. “‘Burnt Norton’ from Four Quartets.” Four Quartets - 1 Burnt Norton, www.davidgorman.com/4quartets/1-norton.htm. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

“Gertrude Stein.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein.

“Hayden White.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_White.

“Jackson Mac Low at SGWU, 1971.” Edited by Jason Camlot and Max Stein, SpokenWeb Montréal, 17 Aug. 2015, montreal.spokenweb.ca/sgw-poetry-readings/jackson-mac-low-at-sgwu-1971/#1.

The full version of the recording shown during the episode can be found here. The portion shown during the episode begins at 1:09:35.

“Jackson Mac Low.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Mac_Low.

“Susan Stewart (Poet).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Stewart_(poet).

Though cut from the episode, Stewart’s work on the “souvenir” appeared as an example from Camlot during the uncut roundtable helping bridge the gap between timestamp and annotation. Camlot: “I would probably want to think of it as a dialectical relation between the timestamp, sort of the demarcated moment and times unfolding, and then the larger narrative account within which the timestamp has significance … like Susan Stewart's work on the souvenir … this sort of partial representation of a whole that can only be supplemented by narrative.”

“Wolfgang Ernst (Media Theorist).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Ernst_(media_theorist).

More information about our participants can be found at: 

“Jason Camlot.” Concordia University, www.concordia.ca/faculty/jason-camlot.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

“Michael O’Driscoll.” English and Film Studies, University of Alberta, apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/mo. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

“Tanya Clement.” College of Liberal Arts at UTexas, liberalarts.utexas.edu/english/faculty/tc24933. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.

Music Credits:

This podcast uses music from www.sessions.blue: 

For post-question pauses, we used Jemeneye by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

For framing the podcast itself, we used the song The Griffiths by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

For framing the roundtable and preceding questions, we used portions of the song “Town Market” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

This podcast also uses these sounds from freesound.org:

"Mechanical Keyboard Typing (Bass Version)" by stu556 ( https://freesound.org/people/stu556/sounds/450281/? ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

"Monitor hotler", by iluminati_2705 ( https://freesound.org/people/iluminati_2705/sounds/536706/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

"Monitor hotler", by tobbler ( https://freesound.org/people/tobbler/sounds/795373/ ) licensed under Attribution 4.0

“aluminum can foley-020.wav”, by CVLTIV8R ( https://freesound.org/people/CVLTIV8R/sounds/800102/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

“whoosh_fx”, by ScythicBlade ( https://freesound.org/people/CVLTIV8R/sounds/800102/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

“ignite_dry_02”, by DaUik ( https://freesound.org/people/DaUik/sounds/798712/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

“Dewalt 12 inch Chop Saw foley-049.wav”, by CVLTIV8R ( https://freesound.org/people/CVLTIV8R/sounds/802856/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

“Electronic Soap Dispenser 5”, by Geoff-Bremner-Audio ( https://freesound.org/people/Geoff-Bremner-Audio/sounds/802734/ ) licensed under Creative Commons 0

Acknowledgments:

We thank Jason Camlot, Tanya Clement, and Michael O’Driscoll for their contributions to the roundtable. Additional thanks to Michael O’Driscoll, Sean Luyk, and the SpokenWeb Podcast team for production support. Technical support was provided by the Digital Scholarship Centre, University of Alberta.