Hansel and Gretel

Vampires vs. Clumber Spaniel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxsS6yih2ZU

How Internet Authorship is Changing Literature

How Internet Authorship is Changing Literature


Web literature has become increasingly important in today’s constantly changing, technology-based world. It is used in the classroom, in the home, and for recreation. The early web writers paved the way with simple tools such as setting up links within their work, and adding graphics and music to enhance the reader’s responses. One such writer is Don Wrege, who was one of the first web article authors. Wrege did an interview with a journalist named Carl Cohen in 1997, and in this interview he discussed how internet authorship would change literature and reading. While Wrege did not work with fiction, he was one of the first web authors to give readers the opportunity to go from a link in his work to a site where they could get specific information dealing with his writings. This simple step created new ways for writers and authors to communicate with their audiences. It also helped to create new styles of authorship that could be used by writers of fiction and nonfiction to validate their work in the audience’s eyes. Because readers could go to different sites to see information dealing explicitly with what they were reading, they were able to have a better, and more personal, understanding of what it was the author was trying to say. These small steps are what created the new genre of writing that has come to be known as “digital modernism”.

“Digital modernism” is a new style of writing; "the appropriation and adaptation of literary modernism" is how Jessica Pressman explains the genre in her article The Strategy of Digital Modernism: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’s Dakota. Simply stated, this means that authors take a work, recreate it so that it will fit into the digital world, and put it out on the Internet so that it can be read or watched by anyone with access.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’s, or YHCHI’s, Dakota is a perfect example of this genre. It is based on Ezra Pound’s Cantos, parts 1 and 2, and is adapted to be viewed, and not necessarily read all the way through. It is easier to simply watch this story unfold, rather than try to read it in its entirety because the words change speed as they flash across the screen and the music in the background adds to the intentional chaos. This is important, because in web-based literature it is not always necessary to see and read every aspect of work in order to understand the meaning behind it that the author is trying to convey.

Another site full of web-based literature from authors who use a few of the same tools that YHCHI uses, and a few that YHCHI does not, is the Electronic Literature Collection. The Electronic Literature Collection has many different types of stories; some of them are original, and some of them have been adapted as Dakota was adapted. One author who uses her own original writing, but uses other forms of art that she has found is J. R. Carpenter. In her story, The Cape, the writing is her own but she uses photographs and other images that she did not create to give her story more substance. This could also be categorized as “digital modernism” because Carpenter is writing her own work, but she is adapting other forms of art and including it in her stories. She is still, as Pressman said, appropriating and adapting, she is just doing it with images instead of words.

Another interesting work on the Electronic Literature Collection is Donna Leishman’s RedRidingHood. This work uses music and images, but there are no words except when the reader has an option about which direction they want the story to take. Now, because no words are used to tell the story, it could be argued that this is not literature at all, but it fits in nicely with the definition of “digital modernism”. Leishman recreated a universally known fairy tale, and put it on the Internet to be viewed, which is similar and different to what YHCHI and Carpenter do with their literature.

The similarities between these three works is obvious; all three web authors use some of the same tools and techniques to complete their works. YHCHI uses music, word speed, and occasionally color to tell a story. The speed of the words flashing across the screen, along with the music, creates reactions to the work that are hard to create when they are just writing. Even though the reader does not always know exactly what flashed across the screen, the format of the story helps the reader to understand what is happening. This is similar to Carpenter’s work. The words do not flash across the screen rapidly; in fact, it is sometimes challenging to understand what exactly Carpenter is trying to say in her story. The words do not move, the photos and images in The Cape change to give the reader a better understanding of what it is that Carpenter is trying to say. This factor, along with the fact that the reader can decide what they want to read first or what they might want to skip over creates a very personal interpretation of the story. Leishman’s RedRidingHood uses many of these same tools. The music in the background helps to create the mood; it is the soundtrack that takes the place of the writing. The recreation of the fairy tale into a digital format creates similarities to YHCHI and Carpenter. Also, the fact that the reader has a choice about how to continue the story creates similarities between Leishman and Carpenter. All three of these stories have the similarity of not being clear about what it is that they are trying to say with their work, but use the uncertainty that they create to help the reader make their own interpretations about the meaning behind the sounds, images, and words.

Aside from these similarities, there are many differences between these styles of web based literature. YHCHI does not stray from the format that it has created. Even though it is hard to understand exactly what they are trying to say, the flashing words and background music are always there. There are never any images to go along with the story, and there is rarely any color against the stark white or completely black background. In contrast, Carpenter uses images and colors to go with her work. It is, in fact, necessary that there be some kind of guide through her stories because the words are so unclear. RedRidingHood is very different from both of these styles because Leishman uses no words to tell the story, but allows it to unfold up to a certain point, and then it is the viewer’s choice about how to continue. Because there are no words, having music and clear characters and images is more of a necessity in this form of storytelling than in either Carpenter’s or YHCHI’s.

Although these types of storytelling are very common on the Internet, there are other, more reader oriented, forms of storytelling. Many readers can have the opportunity to give their thoughts on certain subjects, if they want to, on sodahead.com, or create their own art and post it on centripetalnotion.com. These two sites are examples of sites where web-based literature is commonly used, but not always with the same tools that are used on the other sites.
Sodahead.com does not actually use any of the glamorous tools that YHCHI or Carpenter use. This site is more focused on reader/viewer responses, and is set up specifically so that readers can become writers on the subjects they find most appealing. A common sodahead.com reader can post opinions about religion, politics, or entertainment, and any of the many different topics can, and sometimes do, branch out into different areas of conversation. Readers can also respond to something that another person has written, whether it is a question about the President or a comment about the new Harry Potter movie. This is an important factor because it allows the everyday reader to become a contributing writer on the site. Everything that is written about comes from some idea or inspiration already on the Internet, and the reader can interpret and adapt that idea to suit what they are trying to say. Due to the fact that the work can be adapted, it would seem logical that this could be called “digital modernism” as well.
Centripetalnotion.com has many different forms of creativity, but the section devoted to literature is interesting because it is so different from works by YHCHI, Carpenter, and even works on sodahead.com. Very few of the writings on that site incorporate any of the tools already discussed; there is no use of flashing words, loud background music, or moving pictures. Also, people cannot respond to the writings so much as they can comment on what was written. What people write as comments about the work on this site is not included underneath in a conversation style, but kept on a separate page. Aside from these differences, it is clear that the writing done on this site could also be considered “digital modernism”. Writers are still taking works and adapting them to suit their purposes; for example five writers decided to do an article about the things that Kurt Vonnegut has said and how well he said it. These writers took pieces of Vonneguts work and put them together to make one large article. That is clearly within the realms of “appropriation and adaptation”. Also, even though the comments that people write in response to the work is not automatically seen, they are still responses and that is very similar to sodahead.com.

All of these sites have differences and similarities; some more obvious than others. At first glance, one could come to the conclusion that all of these examples of web-based literature have nothing in common, and it would be easy to argue for that conclusion. None of these styles use all of the same techniques. Unlike traditional genres of literature, such as novels, poems, and plays, there is no format that is the accepted for all works. YHCHI uses no graphics, but at the same time, makes it necessary for the reader to simply watch the screen instead of reading the words flashing across the screen. It is too hard to understand all of the words, and it is easier to follow the story if the reader stops trying to catch every single word. This is also true for Carpenter, who uses many tools that YHCHI does not. Carpenter uses photos and graphics to help her tell the story, and that is exactly what they do. Without the pictures is would be too hard to understand what she was talking about, so it becomes necessary to watch and read in order to catch everything. Because everything is so vague in Carpenter’s work it is unnecessary to read in the order that the story is laid out in, and interesting to skip certain parts.
This is also a factor in Leishman’s RedRidingHood. The reader has many options about how to view the story, and what direction the story will take. Along with that, it can only be watched, but is still considered literature because of the medium Leishman chose to use. Choosing the direction of the story is a tool that sodahead.com chooses to use as well. In this site the reader can enter a conversation, and with one simple response, branch the conversation in many different ways. Also, the fact that the reader can become the writer can add a lot of inspiration to a reader who has opinions on a subject. Voicing opinions and being heard is also an important factor on centripetalnotion.com as well. Because the reader wants to voice an opinion or tell a story is why they choose to use the site; just because they do not make all of the flashy choices that other web authors do does not mean that they cannot be included within the genre.
The choices that these web authors make are the very factors that are changing the way people read and understand literature. Web authors are broadening the definition of literature, and they are doing so by utilizing styles and tools that would have seemed outlandish and crazy only twenty years ago. It has now become an accepted fact that literature can be viewed as well as read, as proven by YHCHI, Carpenter, and Leishman. Also, it is not just critics that can have their opinions on subjects heard, but any person who wants to write an opinion about something can do so without any real challenges.

The fact that there can be so many different ways of writing is changing how people choose to tell their stories, and that affects the response of the reader. If the reader has options about where the story will go then the response to the story will be affected. If the reader has to stop and become more of a viewer, and does not catch every part of the story, then the response to the story will be different than if the reader could go at their own pace. The very unpredictability of the new genre is what makes it so different from “traditional” writing. There are no real guidelines about how to change a work because there are so many different ways to do so on the Internet. In the future people might come up with differing titles for different styles, indeed there are already quite a few, but for now it could be argued that they all fit nicely within the definition of “digital modernism”.














Bibliography

Pressman, Jessica. The Strategy of Digital Modernism: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’s
Dakota. Project Muse. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v054/54.2.pressman.html

Carpenter, J.R. The Cape. Electronic Literature Collection 1.
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/carpenter_the_cape.html

Leishman, Donna. RedRidingHood. Electronic Literature Collection 1.
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/leishman__redridinghood.html

Sodahead. http://www.sodahead.com/

Gordon, Scott, Josh Modell, Noel Murray, Tasha Robinson, Kyle Ryan.
15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Ever Has Or Will.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/15-things-kurt-vonnegut-said-better-than-anyone-el,1858/

Wrege, Don, Robert Carl Cohen. Robert Carl Cohen Interviews Don Wrege Internet Author.
Google videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCxQN1=zR6I

Creative Gallery Response

After last Thursday and creating that short forking story and google map I have a better idea of what I want to accomplish. I want to "write" a story, but because I will be working with a legend or fairy tale of some kind I know that the writing won't actually be mine so much as the changes in the writing. I'm thinking of working on a short fairy tale like Hansel and Gretel, or shortening a story like Sleeping Beauty. I do want to use google maps because I think that it would be really interesting in a fairy tale to show a map, and where the characters are going. It would be nice if I could create something as visually stimulating as YHCHI, but as forking as Carpenter. I am aware of the fact that it might not be possible for me to do something that complicated, so I am going to focus on creating something more similar to Carpenter's work.

Google Map and Story

View Jenna's Story Map in a larger map

The Forking Story

http://forkingstory.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-person.html

Response to Topic

It would be interesting to try something with sound and movement and visual stimulation. I would like to write some sort of story in the same style of YHCHI, but use other options as well. It would be nice to incorporate some different choices into the reading, and have it slow down a bit. Also, I would like to have different graphics to go along with the options so that the reader can understand what the choices mean. I would probably use some sort of known story such as a legend or a fable because they are so well-known and easy to interpret in different ways. I wouldn't want it to be too heavy on the graphics but it would be nice to have a few.

How Internet Authorship is Changing Literature

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AeKGSOF09lTPZGhqMmg2N2JfMTljOGJoeGRndw&hl=en

Diagram of Possible Organization

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AeKGSOF09lTPZGhqMmg2N2JfMTZkOGYzd3Bkdw&hl=en

Thoughts on the Essay

As far as the essay is concerned I think that I am well prepared. My powerpoint, the starting line for the essay needs a little work, but I am confident that my information will be helpful in the group project and the essay. The research has been done, now all I need to do is organize the information.

In regards to what needs more work on the essay, my theory and explanations could use some attention. My theory seems clear to me, but from the comments I have received, it is still a little vague and could use some detail. The same goes for my examples. The examples could use a little more information regarding how they relate to my topic, and how they affect my theory. It is easy to say that literature is changing, it is much harder to explain what aspects of the internet are creating those changes. With a little more attention paid to the details I think that I can come out with a very good project.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AeKGSOF09lTPZGhqMmg2N2JfMTV3em44dDVmZw&hl=en

Internet Authorship

Internet Authorship

My Topic So Far

So far my topic is still a little rough around the edges. Some areas need a little tweaking to make them more clear, and a little attention needs to be paid to the details of the topic.

Other than that I think that the research is going quite well, and the topic is proving to be very interesting. It has gotten to the point of having more information than I really want, but that is not really a problem. I am definitely going to change some of the examples in the Powerpoint, which will change some of the content, but not the topic as a whole. A little reorganization of some of the points couldn't hurt either.

The topic is proving to be far more complex than I expected when I chose it. I won't be able to address all of the aspects of web-based literature and internet authorship, but there are so many, it won't matter. Overall, the research is going well, and there should be a lot more interesting information to work with once all the gathering and bookmarking on diigo is complete.

Internet Authorship

What is a Multimedia Author

According to Foucault, an author is someone who writes something of his own. Foucault uses different wording, but the message he sends is that an author is someone who writes something from his own creativity, if that is still possible. A multimedia author is someone who can write with the new technology available to him. That is to say that, through his own creativity, a multimedia author can take something that has already been said, or something original, and create a new form of writing from it.

Project Proposal

When a person creates a piece of art for the internet, whether it is an image, story, or song, where does the inspiration come from? There are so few original ideas in this day and age that it is hard to believe that the artist got the inspiration solely from inside himself. If we continue with this generalization that most web-based art is, in some form, taken from another work of art how are we to know where it came from. Art on the internet can be so broad and open-ended; left much more to reader/viewer interpretation than many other medias that it is hard to see the originating idea. Therefore, it would be interesting to know what the artist has seen or read in order to begin work, how they change or use the work to suit their purposes, and how technology is used to further their goals.

Sites similar to PostSecret are sites where the reader will never know who wrote the text because the people, by the title, are kept secret. Such sites will always intrigue us, but we will never know what inspired them to send in their secrets, outside of seeing their secrets on the internet. Sites concerning fanfiction are also interesting because the reader can always know what inspired the text. In this form of web-literature the author is incredibly important, but their unknown desires for their characters and plots are irrelevant. In this way, the originator of the work becomes an outsider, just like the reader.

While those sites are interesting, what is more interesting is looking into sites and literature that can change the original work so much that it is unrecognizable. One such style of literature is done by YHCHI at http://www.yhchang.com/. This author can take a piece of literature and so drastically change the way in which the reader internalizes it that, unless the reader knows the piece of work very well, he will never know. Another example is a piece of work by Lance Olsen and Tim Guthrie titled 10:01, which is based on a novel, albeit loosely. If I had not read that it was based on a novel I never would have known. On the same web-site as 10:01 there are many other writers who use obvious inspirations, and not-so-obvious inspirations, but the point is that they are getting their information from somewhere outside the internet.

These examples provide insight into the purpose of this project. Where are these ideas coming from, how are they being changed, and in what way is technology being used to further these goals. It would appear that many of these artists are getting their ideas from works outside the internet, even if it is on the internet now. There are innumerable ways that they have been changed, as well as innumerable ways in which technology is being used to change and create for them.

Chang, Young-hae. Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries. http://www.yhchang.com/. 9/15/09

http://collection.eliterature.org/1/

Carpenter, J.R. The Cape.http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/carpenter__the_cape.html. 9/15/09

Pressman, Jessica. The Strategy of Digital Modernism: Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries' Dakota. Project Muse. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/summary/v054/54.2.pressman.html.
9/15/09

Project Draft

This project will focus on the person who writes the web information, and where it can be accessed from there. This generalization of the project was reached after reading the other ideas that people in group 3 had. Going outward from this idea, it would be interesting to research where the inspiration for web-based art comes from. Also, it would interesting to look into how the web is used to translate ideas into art forms that affect the viewer in similar ways to novels, movies, paintings or photographs. What has the artist seen or read to begin work, how do they change or use the work to suit their purposes, and how is technology used to further their goals?

The sort of information an author uses is very important in this project. Fanfiction is a perfect example; the author takes a movie or story that he likes and adds on to it according to how he thinks is should continue. Another example is www.yhchang.com, or YHCHI. YHCHI is an online author who takes information, and doesn’t add on to it, but changes the style so the story is changed and fits the media type. While fanfiction adds on to the story, YHCHI can alter the story so much that, if the reader does not know the original work by heart, he could very well never know where the idea came from. In these instances it becomes hard to pinpoint an original author.

These are just two examples of what is out there concerning web-based art, and the affect it can have on both original pieces or work and fans. It would be wrong to assume that all art on the internet is purposely based on outside work, but there can be no doubt that more is out there. In this new art style it almost seems that the original author has become obsolete, but these styles would not exist without an originating source. So, where is the source, how does it change, and how is it used to affect the readers/viewers?

http://www.yhchang.com/
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v054/54.2.pressman.html
http://www.tattoodesign.com/tattoo_pictures_gallery/index.html
http://media.www.carolinianonline.com/media/storage/paper301/news/2006/03/28/Life/Web-Junkie.Postsecret.Art.Or.Therapy-1750628.shtml

Tuesdays Blog

These readings have helped me to look at the class research project in a new way. The purpose of the essay will not be to prove anything as in science or math, but to make a point. We as a class will be putting in our ideas, which have been enhanced by internet sites and web pages, and coming up with an essay.

It seems safe to assume that, as a class, the fact that there is nothing new on the internet has been accepted, but interesting ideas can still come from it. It will be interesting to see the different directions that people go in, and how that affects the work that we do.

Technology in my Childhood

Throughout my childhood there was a computer in my home, and at the elementary school I attended there was a class on computer use, but I did not use the internet until I was in high school. The internet was used mainly for research, and downloading music in my house. There was very little surfing the net, or just idly playing around on the computer. Everyone in the house used the internet just some more than others.

My earliest memory of the web was downloading music to a free program off the web and feeling really excited about the whole process. I was around 10 years old and thought that it was incredible that the internet could be used to find and get music for free.

I use the web mainly for keeping in contact with friends and family, but I also use it to look up information, or to just see interesting things. I enjoy the web but I would not say that I love it.

I have facebook and myspace and I use them everyday. On an average day I will spend about 2-3 hours all together looking around, and about 1/2 of that is spent typing messages or emails or something along those lines.