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Broken Image

Self-generating Text

As discussed in prior blog posts, the realm of digital humanities is broad and ever-expanding. A small facet within this realm lies within self-generating text. Self-generating text is essentially text that is entered into a software program and then the text is rearranged by the computer that runs the software to make new sentences and phrases. This has created problems within the art world in terms of authorship; who gets what credit and where is a gray area full of split hairs.

Camel Tail

A prime example of problematic authorship in self-generating text can be found in Sonny Rae Tempest’s “Camel Tail”-- a piece where author Sonny Rae Tempest takes lyrics from Metallica songs, and works them through software developed by Nick Montfort. The question readers and DHers alike have found themselves facing is “who truly owns ‘Camel Tail?’” Considering all this, is the computer itself an artist having brought Sonny Rae Tempest’s idea to life?

If Ownership was a Pie Chart, Who Would Get the Biggest Slice?

Credits: Yellow- Metallica, Red- Sonny Rae Tempest,
Blue- Computer

Metallica wrote the words and their original placement, Nick Montfort synthesized the software that arranges the words, and Sonny Rae Tempest came up with the raw pulp of the art where the idea of the art lies. Assigning ownership to a singular artist of a multi-layered piece like this is, as aforementioned, getting down to the nitty gritty of hair splitting. Sonny Rae Tempest obviously owns the piece because it was his idea to compile these works and create the self-generating poem “Camel Tail.” Metallica, however, still owns the words and phrases that may or may not get mish-mashed together because the piece mentions directly that the lyrics are pulled from the band’s works. Nick Montfort, similar to Metallica, authors “Camel Tail” indirectly; by creating the coding that creates the patterns Metallica’s lyrics follow, he has a hand in writing the poetry. Because he had no knowledgeable intention of being able to make meaning for his readers at the time of creation of his software, he has no real connection with “Camel Tail’s” readers as Sonny Rae Tempest does.

Which Slices Have the Most Filling?

Since Metallica’s lyrics are chopped up and used one word at a time, their ownership, and thus artistic intentions and connections with the readers are less meaningful. Similarly, Nick Montfort created his software with intentions to make self-generating poetry; out of his artistic context, his inten meaning is lost and substituted with Sonny Rae Tempest’s. Meaning within the self-generated poem is given in two parts: the first is through the maker’s creative intentions and the second is through the readers’ interpretations of the poetry created.

The Ouroboros of the Digital Humanities World

The meaning that gives “Camel Tail” its meaning lies within the work’s readers; to put it plainly, an artist’s audience is diverse and because of this, every member of that audience is going to interpret the piece a little bit differently. Self-generating text has no true, definite meaning, but its readers give the pieces they view meaning by applying what their personal background knowledge. 

Tailspin

A Look into Tailspin

     Christine Wilks brings the Internet and all its users an interactive piece of electronic literature. This piece, named Tailspin, can come off as quite odd to the viewers. Without the description on the home page, one may find himself lost in this crafted digital realm confused by the distorted cartoons and overly amplified music and sound effects. The lack of color throughout the piece creates a space of dark emotions and pushes these effects upon the audience.

     Even though all this media takes place all at once, it is quite necessary to focus on the work's purpose. The piece focuses on a former air plane mechanic from World War II with a hearing impairment. Due to his hearing loss, or tinnitus, he tends to get angry with his grandchildren easily. Frequent miscommunication leads his grandchildren to be confused by his anger. The way the author created this piece allows the audience to understand how life plays out from the grandfather's perspective. The portrayal of obnoxious and over-amplified tones of scratching forks, chuckles, and video game tones are enough to irritate some readers. It can be implied that the old man's loss of hearing started dating back to the war or is a result of fighting in the war.
     Living with the grandfather seems to be quite fearsome to the children. They do not talk at dinner because they have learned it is best to just let him do the talking at the family meals because they do not want to trigger their grandfather. The piece focuses and plays with the idea of shame. The feeling of shame is present when the old man is addressed about using a hearing aid or even just listening about new studies on tinnitus. The former army mechanic may be feeling this shame because his hearing loss can be a sign of his old age which leads him to deny that he has a problem. His daughter has adapted to his stubborn choice of not seeking aid by keeping quiet and not raising voices or shrieking. The kids also learned to follow in their mother's footsteps when dealing with their grandfather. The mother has adapted to be passive with her father since he won't listen, and realize it is best to leave him alone when he is angry.

Written by Chase 
Edited by Bailyn
Hyperlinks by Alex
Media by Tim 

my body — a Wunderkammer

Main Page of My Body

Summary 

The digital humanity selection, “My Body – A Wunderkammer,” by Shelley Jackson, illustrates a young woman's thoughts, feelings, and memories as she discovers her changing body.  Through hypertext interaction the viewer is able to explore the young girl’s body, both internally and externally.  One may start exploring wherever they please.  No matter where the exploration begins, the viewer will enjoy a narrative of the body and explore different body parts.  

Significance/Message
The main point of the artwork is to show the reader how all of the body parts are interrelated.  One memory can be linked to another through body parts and shared emotions.  The author describes the body as a cabinet that preserves memories in all of its parts, each to be opened and accessed when a certain memory is provoked.  This text also exemplifies that a woman's external identity is often very visible to the public eye, based on historical events and femininity; however, this piece further reveals internal or personal identity--  meaning that even though we are given public identities, it is often for individuals to have personal identities based on our past events and memories.

Relation to the Reader and Ideas it Portrays

Within the text of "My Body-- A Wunderkammer," Jackson takes the reader through a graphic portrayal of growing up and coming of age through the usage of hyperlinks, sketches, and prose. By clicking on each hyperlink within the story, the reader is lead to different parts of the story. Seemingly disjointed at first, "My Body-- A Wunderkammer" is merely a composition of memories that, as the reader makes his or her way through the story, realizes that the author has no true order to the story. Because of the story's lack of order, the author forces the reader into interpreting the story however he or she best relates. 

"My Body-- A Wunderkammer" best shows its readers raw, honest memories and associations made by the human mind during adolescence. Its honesty connects almost directly to the reader in some way surrounding growing up regarding sexuality, way of thinking, or even common emotional connection to the human psyche. Throughout the story, the author portrays her sexuality in such a way that is graphic yet starkly honest that it corners the reader into witnessing Jackson's memories muddled by creative liberties. The word "wunderkammer" literally translates to a cabinet where rarities are kept; when Jackson tells of the graphic sexual memories she has of experimenting with her body, it is like she holds these memories, or rarities, within her. This is also relevant to the other memories Jackson narrates for her readers. 

Relation to the Reader and Ideas it Portrays - Alex Douglas

Hyperlinks - Tim

Summary and Significance/Message - Bailyn Yost

Media - Chase Vazquez 

What is Digital Humanities?

Digital Humanities is an evolving area of study that is continuously editing and changing its definition and name. Making a debut as early as 1950, Digital Humanities has gone through several names, but still deals with study of human culture and history. Humanities itself was the study of human cultures through the realm of literature, art, music, and philosophy. Now adding the digital aspects allow scholars to digitize the old study and allows new cultural operations to happen. DH broadens the spectrum in which scholars and communities can collaborate to create new ways of learning and reading, and also make the old information more accessible. As stated earlier, DH is always evolving, and that is due to the always evolving internet/technology allowing it to be easier for those interested in the study to learn together and create together. Nowadays, technology and the internet are key in society. Social media is a rising platform, which is beneficial by effortlessly creating communities. With growing environments and tools, the simplest of creations can be created from a handheld device such as iPhones or other smartphones and shared onto social media. 

Tim Meyers DH Definition

Digital Humanities, or DH, is ultimately the combination of the study of the interactions of humans and how different types of technology incorporate themselves into these interactions. Whereas in the past, technology has simply been viewed as a type of media to exchange information from point A to point B, it has now embedded itself in the everyday lives of human beings. Technology, which is also digital, meaning zeros and ones in the binary code, can produce vast arrays of forms of art or different methods or modes of communication. Not only does it encompass the method of how we, as humans, interact with one another, but it also uncovers a sort of evolution of the way that society passes ideas. Different cultures may adopt new ideas or improve on their methods, for example, because of something that they saw through a digital medium. Whereas in the past, come cultures or ways of life may have been isolated and separated from the rest of the world, they now have a broad spectrum of opportunities to either adopt some of the characteristics of some other culture from across the globe, or they may also immerse themselves in the way of life of some other sort of culture, completely abandoning their entire way of life. With Digital Humanities, we, as a human race, now have the opportunity to expand our horizons in such a way that just from a simple work of literature that may be posted online, we can influence the way that other humans interact from tens of thousands of miles away.

What is Digital Humanities?

Digital humanities is an all-encompassing term used to describe the ever-evolving world of the arts in modern day society. The term can be broken down into two parts-- digital and humanities. "Humanities," before it became digital, held the key parts of human culture such as visual arts, writing, linguistics, music, theater, reading, history, anthropology, and even philosophy. To put it simply, the humanities are the divisions that hold the interpretations and studies of human culture. As time progressed into the "digital" era-- 1950s and forward-- the humanities started to evolve into something even broader just as human culture evolved. With technological advances, come cultural advances which leads to the eventual recognizing of the digital humanities. In order to describe the digital humanities, one must have an understanding of the evolution of human culture and the strong technological influence over the culture. When combining the digital world with the humanities, culture and human knowledge expand almost infinitely-- or at least as far as the technological world will allow. This umbrella-like idea holds now the digital humanities as well as the original humanities. Digital humanities holds media that can be found online, stored on a computerized facility, or any sort of art form expressed through technology. Similar to the original subject of humanities, digital humanities is merely an expansion of the term-- stretched to better fit the technological and human artistic advances of modern times.

-Alex

BY's Definition of DH

Digital humanities is a fairly new area of study that will eventually overtake the humanities department, due to its lack of uniform and openness to creativity.  Daisy Abbott once stated that DH is, "opening up new knowledge and new ways of learning through the application of digital technologies to any humanities subject." As we learned in class, DH was discovered around 1950, and since then it has changed names, definitions, and understandings of what it has to offer to universities, businesses and individuals.  It is an area of study that will continuously change because it's dependent on technology which is never consistent in this day of age.  The uniqueness of DH allows all of the individuals who utilize it, to perceive it in their own personal way instead of using a template or a format that has been laid out and used time and time again.  Research, trial and error, and creativity are the backbone of digital humanities.  Some may utilize it for literature, and others will utilize it for art.  DH enables narrators to bring their stories to life by making their pieces less text centered and more design driven, and it allows artists to take something from its primary source to its digitalized form.  DH has a permanent atmosphere, meaning that once something enters the digital format, it is permanent.  This specific characteristic of digital humanities is beneficial to all who utilize it because their work will always be preserved and accessible.