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