Defining digital comics: a British Library perspective

Aggleton, Jen (2019). Defining digital comics: a British Library perspective. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 10(4) pp. 393–409.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2018.1503189

Abstract

This article presents a working definition of digital comics for the specific context of the British Library. It explores formal and sociocultural characteristics of digital comics as well as the sociocultural issues surrounding comic collections at national libraries. This article argues for the value of flexible working definitions over formal definitions and explores the problematic issue of definitional authority at a national institution such as the British Library. This article defines what distinguishes a digital comic from a print comic and explores visual, functional, and sociocultural features of digital comics before presenting a flexible, composite working definition of a digital comic. This definition is presented in the spirit of an instrumental case study with the aim of helping to inform other context-specific working definitions of digital comics.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 62475
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 2150-4857
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  Collecting and Preserving Digital Comics	Not Set	ESRC

• Keywords
• Digital comics; webcomics; comic apps; comic definitions; library collections
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) > Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport > Education
  Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) > Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport
  Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS)
• Copyright Holders
• © 2018 The Authors
• Depositing User
• Jen Aggleton