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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Murat,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Thanks for the illuminating response. I
appreciate & am glad to be part of this somewhat temporary autonomous zone
(though not exactly in Bey’s sense, an adaptation of that sense), & as I
mentioned in the email I sent, the only missing component (in comparison to the
“early” days, for me anyway) is time. With a job, family + research, a lot less
time to engage in online dialog…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">reading your <i>Prehistoric Digital Poetry</i>. I sensed a
great interest in developing the capabilities of the computer progressively to
create a poetry <u>unique to the medium</u> from word to image to movement to
sound, and their combination --finally creating a poetic form which is
both absorbing and ephemeral and can be read practically in endless ways
depending on the choices the "reader" makes. In that synthesis, the
digital poem resembles very much a computer game where words/letters are one
element. Towards the end of the book, I remember asking myself what
differentiates that digital poem from a game (not a play). I don't think I
found a satisfactory answer in the book.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">At first, I though, “he’s right—I wasn’t thinking of that too
much, & so I decided to look back. Near the end of the book when I consider
the Web (which proceeds in chronological order), I begin seeing a shift,
describing Aya Karpiska’ work </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">the arrival of the beeBox</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> as gamelike, introducing Sandy Baldwin’s </span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">“New
Word Order” (a </span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">modification
of the video game <i>Half Life</i>, in which
words of a Billy Collins poem are destroyed) and my own (now extinct) piece <i>Moby Dick </i>(described as, “</span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">part
display, part investigation into the mechanics of the acrostic form, part
reading game”). I </span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">also introduce
Espen Aarseth’s concept of cybertext, </span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">“The cybertext reader </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">is </span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">a
player, a gambler; the cybertext </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">is </span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">a
game-world or world-game; it </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">is </span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">possible
to explore, get lost, and discover secret paths in these texts, not metaphorically,
but through the topological structures of the textual machinery”.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">& this is from the
first paragraph of the conclusion to <i>Prehistoric</i>:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Poetry in its traditional form may never take the
shape of a video game because video games as we know them in popular form (i.e., lots
of rapid-¤re action, to which the player physically responds) are
antithetical to the purposes of a certain style of poem. Poetry in oral and written
forms has developed a history, we must presume, because it appeals to deeply
ingrained human sensibilities with its often metrical presentation of language
that pleases the reader’s emotion, intellect, and imagination. A
large audience might consume a technologically complex digital poem produced as
a video game, but that text is going to be vastly different from
something in the anthologies heretofore published by W. W. Norton. Given a new
set of stimuli—a slower pace of presentation, materials absorbed as words
and artwork—the typical video-game audience might change its tastes, but I
do not see those radically different modes ever conjoining in titles that
reach a high level of popularity in mass culture. Poets will build poetry-based games,
I am sure—perhaps they will allow for real-time encounters with
texts, possibly in multiuser interactive environments—yet their scale and purposes will
differ vastly from what is available in arcades. These titles would
be an educational tool and may have an in®uence on the circulation of ideas
and level of visibility of conventional poetic works; their production should
be encouraged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">I don’t know if you ever saw my follow-up book, <i>New Directions in Digital Poetry</i>? (If
not, I can send a pdf)). I present a couple of case studies about games. The
first paragraph of the book speaks fairly directly to your concern, I think:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">T</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">he creative task of
digital poetry often involves an artist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">observing and making connections between
separate but poetically</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">associable entities and then using
technological apparatuses</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">to communicate to an audience through
compelling presentations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Jim Andrews’ online digital poem </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Arteroids</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">,
for example, borrows</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">its stylistic cues from a 1980s video game
called </span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Asteroids</span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">For years, I have introduced students to this
work, perplexing</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">them with an assignment unlike anything they
have experienced</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">before: a video game featuring fragmented
language proposed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">as poetry – or poetry designed as a type of
game without</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">competitive structure. Upon study they begin
to understand</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">how digital poetry functions as something
other than poetry</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">presented on a computer, involving processes
beyond those used</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">by print-based writers, and that poetry made
with computers has</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">unusual qualities – representing something
inventive and worthy</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">of engagement.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Though I wouldn’t describe the book as a providing a deep study
of the topic, I did write a good bit about digpo’s connection to games in the
second book. Here’s another relevant passage, discussing the Electronic
Literature Collections:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Literature conceptually unites with computer
games (e.g.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Andrews, Ch. 3). A high level of
interactivity employed by authors</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">in the collection indicates that a greater
number of works aspire to</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">position viewers as players on a field rather
than spectators in the</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">grandstand – a disconcerting (yet potentially
captivating) condition for</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">those untrained to negotiate participatory
works.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Thinking this now, I’d say that some digital poems resemble
games in varying ways, yes. I teach a few in this context, but mainly titles
that can be clearly identified, or are labeled, as games. I don’t really see
the sense of play in poetry to be similar to computer games, but I know what
you mean! There is a lot of research on the topic… I’m sure Katherine Hayles
discusses it in her book <i>Electronic
Literature </i>(though offhand I can’t recall what she says), & Nick
Montfort has written about Literary Games too (see <a href="http://poemsthatgo.com/gallery/fall2003/print_article_games.htm">http://poemsthatgo.com/gallery/fall2003/print_article_games.htm</a>)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">Failure for me is a residue that remains in the poem after
it is "finished." It is integral to the kind of poetry or poetics I
write. Failure or success of communication, obtaining or failing to obtain
rights are different. I know for you the ephemeral quality of internet sites or
changing computer software are major issues. They are what make digital poetry
(or any digital art) temporary, subject to time. Perhaps that is the failure
that haunts digital works. I don't know. You tell me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">I understand there are different types of
failure, and am sure that there are ways that computer forms that function
perfectly well can be seen as failures! For me that might mean selecting a text
that isn’t effective as another might be (like any poet), or having an
animation run too slowly, though usually after something’s completed I don’t
really think about it too much unless I get compelling feedback (& in that
case I very well might go back and make changes). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Digital works disappear for various reasons
all the time. Some of my all-time favorite works and tools are no longer
accessible—so, yes, this is a type of failure! As seemingly unfortunate as that
is, we have to accept it as part of the conditions of production. I definitely write
about this aspect of the genre in <i>New
Directions</i>. Unlike the first book, I didn’t intend for that book to be a
documentary study—but as soon as works I’d written about disappeared, it became
that! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif">If I understand correctly, the basic creative part of a
digital work occurs in the programming of the software where the visionary or
poetic impulse comes into play. If the original idea changes, the program has
to be altered "on the fly"; or, I assume, sometimes the idea is
bent by the exigencies of the program. If so, how does the idea of perfection
come into play? In what sense is the code always perfect? How do you
know?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">I used to do all kinds of experiments with
Flash, just to see what the program would withstand. As with any program, the
constraints become evident pretty quickly. When writing code like javascript,
the authoring program (which for me is Adobe Dreamweaver) makes it clear if the
code is written to spec—red flags go up if it isn’t. Usually, with WYSIWYG
programs, it is easy to do a preview & have a sense of how a design will
appear. The idea of perfection is in the eye of the beholder!</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif;color:rgb(112,48,160)"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br>
<br>
How do you determine the triggered on screen or audible events are random? Do
you mean it feels random to the viewer/listener? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">Essentially, yes. For instance, with some of
the MIDI work, I have a database full of words or phrases, and when a note on
the guitar is struck, one of the many words or phrases is selected. No
particular order is imposed, & things like this can be programmed not to
repeat. Thus the experience will be different every time. There are a lot of
pieces of e-lit like this. Even if the overall structure of the work is fixed/functioning,
what happens within it isn’t.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br>
"<span style="color:rgb(0,112,192)">... Plus, programs like javascript enable
impromptu, interactive database stylings that may not be improvised on-the-spot
but project a sense of spontaneity and uniqueness..."<br>
<br>
</span>We are I think touching a very crucial issue. "A sense of
spontaneity and uniqueness" is an effect, basically a rhetorical trope. It
can be premeditated, created through hard labor or through a code.
"Improvisation" is an act. Something is either improvised or not. For
instance, in his performances, Taylor is improvising, not creating a sense of
it. Doesn't the difference matter?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">With regard to Cecil, there are usually ornate
structures or outlines that he & his groups work with. These are not
written out like Mozart, but certainly exist (as diagrams on paper, as you may
have seen at the Whitney exhibit?). If I’m working with a writing program (an
algorithm that makes poetry), or whatever, I can improvise in that I can enter
spontaneous, unpremeditated input, & the machine will do what it has been
told to do with it (maybe containing random elements, maybe not).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(112,48,160)">I’m sure I didn’t cover everything, but that’s
what I have for now, OK, cf</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"></span></p>
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