Piwkowski's work is an algorithm that generates (and prints) pages of an infinite book. The inexhaustible book is a collection of all possible combinations of 26 letters of Latin alphabet. User can only see the on-demand page that is a result of his own word query. [Taken from Electronic Literature Publishing and Distribution in Europe, 2012]
While discussion of the relationship of image and word has been prominent in the discourses
surrounding new media writing, the role of sound is rarely addressed in this context, even
though words are sounds and sounds are a major component of multimedia. This paper
explores possibilities for new theoretical frameworks in this area, drawing on musico-literary
discourse, intermedia theory and inter-cultural theory, and using ideas about semiotic and cultural exchange as a basis.
The paper will examine the different types of sound in new media writing from voice-based
performance of words to soundscapes and musical composition, and the role of sampling, vocal
manipulation and improvisation. Building on my previous work on affective intensities in new
media writing (Smith 2007 ; Smith 2009), and the manipulation of the voice to create cultural
effects such as sonic cross-dressing (Smith 1999), I will discuss the ways in which sound plays
a distinctive role in new media writing. I will argue that it creates mood, immersion and affect,
and can be very important in questioning stereotypical concepts of gender or racial identity. I will
also talk about sound as part of the process of making a work, and how the sound can drive the
writing, as well as writing driving the sound.
(Source: Author's abstract, 2012 ELO Conference site)
Flash animation: images of mouths in different shapes and forms flash on the screen, accompanied by short phrases describing them.
In his State of the Arts keynote, Coover offered a tour of a number of contemporary works of electronic literature, in the style of an adventure story following our hero "Mot" -- the word -- as it wrestles through the multimediated world of graphic networked technologies.
An adventure, yes, but of some danger to our hero's health, as most of his word-doctors forewarned, their patient's very substance was at risk in this parasitic realm, where she often found herself sucked dry as if by vampires' kisses, reduced to a mere floating husk, buffeted by flash and cacophony.
We may yet take the digital world to bed with us.