This first post will be added to as I begin to articulate research questions that I would like to pursue while in the iMAP program. I have a suspicion that looking into the fields of cognitive science, linguistics, and literary theory would better prepare me for defining what contributions I would like to make to mediated, conceptual language art.
The general problem I am groping with is how various forms of emerging media may be used as a tool to create poignant works of literature. Part of the problem in defining a succinct elevator speech is the inherent subjectivity in both "poignant" and "literature". (There are infinite, infinite other problems). Let's stick to the basics. Basically, I want to make and study the mechanics of work that leave a strong impression of literary/poetic resonance rather than simply mediated spectacle/gimmick. I have seen very few works that seem to go beyond conceptual experiments and maximize their mode of delivery. I was once told that so much of early electro-acoustic music was entrenched in novelty and gimmick: the embarrassing days of new midi keyboards and simple 1-to-1 correspondence. How does a practice mature? What takes it out of the early stages. Admittedly, this is where I find most language-art experiments in "new media". I hesitate to use the term digital or electronic, I find both problematic. This is similar for the messy connotation war between "literature" and "writing". Like language cognition, little operates in vacum. To get to a core of what makes resonant innovative work, all the parts must be in harmony. Therefore, it is necessary to know the form, its limitations, and its history. It is necessary to know its relationships, divergences, and references. It is short sited to study how the cultural production of, and notion of literature will evolve without studying its delivery. I find myself dissatisfied with much of what is out there and want to really push the bounds into a meaty banquet for a wider audience!
Research Questions:
How media acts as a ghost writer.
How to leverage media specificity in the creation of resonant story worlds.
What makes GOOD Mediated (through/in/among) writing.
If archiving continues to remain a distant possibility, how to train a new generation of writers that must acclimate themselves to the constant death of their words.
What are points of public access/interaction that might re-install excitement for literacy?
With such disperse platforms can their be any uniformity to a doctrine of "qualitative assessment" for good writing in media?
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