Commentary on Uncreative Writing

In the academic world there seems to be a strongly held consensus that plagiarism, or any kind of intellectual theft, is inherently negative, and should warrant punishment.  This concept of strict ownership of ideas is challenged by the concept of Uncreative writing.  Uncreative writing can be defined as taking content from a variety of already established sources such as essays, videos, pod casts, etc., and making changes so that a new product is created.  One example of Uncreative writing is a collaborative poem written by our digital humanities tribe. This poem may seem random, and nonsensical to some, but was created with the purpose of transcribing the words of another to create a work of unique art.  This poem was created in a group chat between tribe members who were transcribing bits and pieces of YouTube videos while watching them.  The result is  a display of different words that come from the videos arranged in a poetic fashion. This work of poetry exhibits a form of dual authorship, between our tribe and the various pop culture personalities in the videos.  While the words in the poem are not our original thoughts, they are given new meaning by being placed in a poetic context.  The new form that this content takes is unique because the word order was chosen deliberately by the group, but could be considered not unique because without viewing the videos the content surely would not come to exist as it does now. While our tribes work of uncreative writing is telling, uncreative writing as a whole can be viewed from many perspectives including Kenneth Goldsmith’s, a college professor, who employs a variety of creative writing  in his teachings.

Taken from the main page for an Uncreative Writing class at The University of Pennsylvania, taught by Professor Kenneth Goldsmith, “This workshop will rise to that challenge by employing strategies of appropriation, replication, plagiarism, piracy, sampling, plundering, as compositional methods. Along the way, we'll trace the rich history of forgery, frauds, hoaxes, avatars, and impersonations spanning the arts, with a particular emphasis on how they employ language. We'll see how the modernist notions of chance, procedure, repetition, and the aesthetics of boredom dovetail with popular culture to usurp conventional notions of time, place, and identity, all as expressed linguistically.” This clearly brings up questions about ownership and authorship, one example of Uncreative Writing is when one writes down everything they hear from an interview, speech, music video etc, and using that as a piece of writing. Coming from an article from The Journal of Electronic Publishing, “Goldsmith’s perspective twists and breaks conventional notions of creativity. He discovers that even in re-enactment, a creative dimension emerges. “Even when we do something as seemingly ‘uncreative’ as retyping a few pages, we express ourselves in a variety of ways. The act of choosing and re-framing tells us as much about ourselves as our story about our mother's cancer operation. It's just that we’ve never been taught to value such choices” (9). Goldsmith’s musings on “Managing Language in the Digital Age” nudge his readers closer to valuing the choices he says we have not been taught to value.” Goldsmith is suggesting that it is an original work of art because through the act of re-purposing a whole new level of creativity has emerged, based on something that it itself is not a creative act. This is a fascinating development, that has only become possible due to the technology of the modern era, it also questions the meaning of language as well, the fact that one can take something already done and re-purpose it in a non creative manner and it then could have a completely different meaning, bringing about a fugue state and also a very elucidating revelation, implying that the meaning of things is merely an interpretation of one’s own personal experiences thus providing an outlet for more connection between individuals on an emotional level.

Reaction to E-poetry and self generating texts

The world of  technology is one that is rapidly changing at a seemingly exponential rate.  One example of this technological advancement is the increasing presence, and use of bots on the internet.  According to Wikipedia,  bots are software applications that run automated tasks that are usually simple, and repetitive.  Bots can be employed to serve a wide variety of tasks.  One particularly interesting bot is the Pentametron Twitter bot.  This bot scans all of Twitter searching for perfect lines of iambic pentameter, with rhyming couplets, to re-tweet.  In doing so the bot creates an ever-flowing poem in the spirit of the Shakespearean sonnet.  The artistic value of this particular bot is substantial for the reason that is brings together --probably unintentionally-- tweeted iambic pentameter, and creates poetry with the remarks of random individuals. Another bot that is indicative of the utility of bots is the NRA Tally.  The purpose of this bot is to make a political statement about gun violence, and the National Rifle Association’s response to this violence. This bot is used for the purpose of protesting the seemingly ever increasing amount of gun violence in the United States, by repeatedly mimicking the reports of mass shootings.  This protest bot creates a feeling of never ending violence as the bot continuously tweets about gun violence.  When pouring through the many tweets it gives the feeling of a desensitization to the repetition of mass shootings, and the predictability of  the token NRA response. Although Twitter bots can serve as art, and tools of protest there is no doubt that  bots can also serve to enhance communication.

A new era of communication brought to life by the explosion of computers.

Using computers, the use of bots has become more and more common, bots have created a whole new dimension to communication. While bots are relatively new , the use of chat bots on social media platforms such as Twitter have already began making an impact on society, this from chatbots rise and the future , “Many in the technology sector think chat-bots—interactive messaging powered by artificial intelligence (AI)—are the next big form of communication, and their prevalence is already larger than you might expect. “ This is quite the claim and a surprising one, but they are not alone, this from informationsecuritybuzz.com, “2016 is considered to be the rise of chat-bots. With every major ecommerce, service provider producing a chat-bot. Early 2016 started a race among companies to create chat-bots. Chat-bots are highly regarded as the new automated intelligence trend. These bots are created to interact with the user to provide information or to execute simple tasks.” What one can derive from these quotes is that chat-bots are breathing life into a new era of information distribution, where information is arguably the great equalizer, as the old saying goes “knowledge is power”, it does appear that we have a very exciting future ahead of us, the 21st century and the information age have just begun.

Yet another Interesting digital medium that lends itself well to artistic creation are self generating texts. These texts consist of algorithms that can be utilized to create unique combinations of words, and even poetry.  An example of a self generating poem is Camel Tail.  This work of digital self-generating poetry takes the lyrics of a Metallica and rearranges then into an original work of art.  The technology of self generating text can blur the lines of authorship, as is the case in Camel Tail, because the content is borrowed from Metallica.  Although it is worth noting that the original coding allows for the presentation of the content as it exists in a digital art format.  Overall self generating texts are useful tools for creating a unique piece of art. This art medium is only possible because of the staggering advancements in coding, and computer technology.  In the future there may be completely different styles of art that arise purely from the strides made in the field of computer technology.

Distorted Taft

E-Poetry by Cassie Lewis

Unlike the traditional poems written in ink, e-poetry is digital and interactive. This allows the readers to connect differently than they could before. This type of poetry is more interesting than conventional styles that have been taught in school. E-poetry can appear in countless different forms. A poem can be as simple as Puddle by Neil Hennessy or as complex as The Sweet Old Etcetera by Alison Clifford. With electronic literature and technology growing, e-poetry will continue to gain popularity which may lead to an overtake the classic ways of teaching poetry.

The piece that caught my attention the most was The P.o.E.M.M Cycle by Jason Edward Lewis and Bruno Nadeau. This series of poems are intended for an audience of any age and requires a mobile device. By downloading one of the poems in the series allows one to physically interact with a word or a group of words. For instance, Speak allows the reader to drag their finger along the screen creating a line of words that eventually creates a sentence which build poems. Know is another example from The P.o.E.M.M Cycle that allows the reader to enjoy poetry through an app on a mobile device. When you open the app a screen full of words appears allowing the person interacting with the poem to click on the screen making words bold. By touching different words, the viewer finds hidden messages and sentences.

The use of e-poetry utilizes the imagination and causes creativity to spread more rapidly than previously taught. Being able to envision and physically interact with what your reading brings out different dimensions of the text and also allows each reader to experience something different from the norm. E-poetry is not only changing how readers view art, but it is also the way the art is being made causing creativity to flourish.

Immersion By Alex DeLattre

     Electronic poetry (e-poetry) is a new form of the classic media know as poetry. With e-poetry the author or artist can transcend the two dimensional world of a book and pull the reader into a new universe. Fully immersing the reader into the world the author has created to portray their piece. Using this new medium a writer can not only use words to capture one’s mind, but can also bring to life so to speak anything in their imagination (a link for further reference on e-poetry,http://iloveepoetry.com/?p=11968).     Exemplifying this is the e-poem called The Sweet Old Etcetera authored by Alison Clifford, where they take poetry written by the famous author E.E Cummings. A link to the piece http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/clifford_the_sweet_old_etcetera.html, in this new take of the classic poem, Clifford brings a whole new level of interactivity. Using images made up of words from the poems. This a brilliant use of modern technology to really immerse the reader into the world of the poem. Allowing the reader to relate to the piece even better, another thing Clifford did was have the text fall like a leaf alluding to the subject of the poem. Moreover, when one looks at this piece and the completely white canvas it is presenting it is easy to see that there is an infinite possible ways this piece could develop into. Filling the reader with suspense, baiting them into clicking the interactive piece, propelling them on a journey of unexpected outcomes. One could almost relate the writer as a fisherman and the reader a fish being drawn in by the bait. Clifford has truly brought a new dynamic dimension to this classic piece of literature.
     Lastly, e-poetry can be looked at like an ocean of the human psyche projected upon our modern technological world, while the reader is a fish in that ocean being drawn in by the different pieces of digital media in this ever expanding ocean.

Reaction to E-poetry by Peter Panagiotou

Electronic poetry, or E-poetry is a poetic form that capitalizes on the advantages that a digital format allows.  These advantages often consist of on-screen movement that can stimulate the senses to a degree greater than is possible when reading a poem. This use of movement to convey meaning is apparent when viewing the E-poem “Puddle” by Neil Hennessy. This poem uses only a few words, but expresses a vivid depiction of water drops falling into a puddle of water.  The cyclical motion that this poem uses displays a calming and peaceful tone. The poem also mimics the falling of water droplets from a surface into water, and the rippling that the drops cause. This display actively helps the reader prescribe meaning to only a few words that might have been unappreciated if only read on a piece of paper.  This is not to say that traditional poetry cannot convey  meaning efficiently, but that E-poetry can help guide the reader to greater understanding of the material in a more active manner. Some might even argue that E-poetry like “Puddle” is more accessible than standard print poetry, when it come to interpreting meaning. Taking advantage of digital benefits of E-poetry can provide people who have a hard time enjoying the ,often puzzle like, nature of poems with a way to enjoy poetry. This accessibility could broaden the rage of people who enjoy poetry, and help the field of literature move into the future as an even more popular medium.

E-poetry is a unique when it comes to artistic expression. It would be difficult  to match both the creativity and utility that E-poems can offer. With constantly changing technology, poetry continues to be enriched with new features that contribute positively to the storytelling tradition. Whether it is touch screen technology, or even the emergence of virtual reality, E-poetry will continue as an innovative way to experience digital media.