found poetry

Most Powerful Words is a digital literary work comprised of 54 computer-generated poems. There are six themes containing nine poems. Click a theme, then a panel of the theme’s carousel to generate a unique, infinite, recombinant poem. Click ‘Return to [SECTION]’ to return to the carousel menu. Click ‘Return to Main’ to return to this page. Using Montfort’s algorithmically minimal Javascript (for copyright, inspect source), this collection presents all language on the same playing field, allowing contemporary readers to lightly, quickly, precisely, visibly, and consistently traverse the infinite use and misuse of past and present language. Chrome browser recommended. Cultural Sensitivity Warning: This work includes images of and references to people who have died. PM DMs uses the vocabulary of speeches delivered by the first nine Australian Prime Ministers. Most Powerful Words uses the vocabulary of speeches delivered by the nine most powerful people in the world today, according to Forbes magazine. Money Speaks uses the vocabulary from letters, notes, diary entries, poems, speeches and books written by the nine individuals that appear on Australian currency. Indigenous Silence uses the vocabulary from historical policies, speeches, rulings, log-books, and Wikipedia entries that are about/have impacted Indigenous Australians. No words written by Indigenous Australians are used in this section. Concessions uses the vocabulary of concession speeches or regretful musings of the past nine Queensland Premiers. Finally, New Beginnings uses the vocabulary of the first pages of nine notable Queensland novels and works of non-fiction.

Google Poetics is born when Google autocomplete suggestions are viewed as poems.

Google’s algorithm offers searches after just a few keystrokes when typing in the search box, in an attempt to predict what the user wants to type. The combination of these suggestions can be funny, absurd, dadaistic - and sometimes even deeply moving.There is, however, more to these poems than just the occasional chuckle. The Google autocomplete suggestions are based on previous searches by actual people all around the world. In the cold blue glow of their computer screens, they ask “why am I alone” and “why do fat girls have high standards”. They wonder how to roll a joint and whether it is too early to say “I love you”. They seek information on ninjas, cannibals, and Rihanna, and sometimes they just ask “am I better off dead?”Despite the seemingly open nature of Western society, forbidden questions and thoughts still remain. When faced with these issues, people do not reach out to one another, instead they turn to Google in the privacy of their own homes. The all-knowing search engine accepts and embraces these questions and tangles them with popular song lyrics, book titles and names of celebrities: often with hilarious results.Obviously Google is not Shakespeare, Whitman or Dickinson - it can not illuminate the unknown. But it does reveal our inner workings, our fears and prejudices, secrets and shames, the hope and longing of a modern individual.This is why Google Poetics is important.

November 4th 2012Helsinki, Finland

Quoted from Google Poetics Info page (http://www.googlepoetics.com/post/35060155182/info).

Spine Sonnet” (the app) is an automatic poem generator in the tradition of found poetry that randomly composes 14 line sonnets derived from an archive of over 2500 art and architectural theory and criticism book titles.

“Spine Sonnet” (the website) combines images of scanned book spines into stacks of 14 titles. Each time you refresh the browser you get a new combination.

(Source: The ELO 2012 Media Show)