From Processing to Remixing Text
The body of readings in Module Four painted a picture for me, so to speak, of the storyline of digital text development. Taken together, they provide a narrative of the ongoing history of processing ideas through words via multi-modalities and reading those texts through multi-literacies.
Considering them collectively, I return to where we began in this module. I have always been enthused by the capabilities of word processing. The leap from typewriter from computer opened possibilities, though I recall limitations in early software and dot matrix printers such as requiring manual addition by hand of French accents to printed documents.
There was nowhere to go but up! I embrace the ubiquity of word processing and desktop publishing today as much as ever. Despite all the ‘noise’ out there, I believe it enhances our creativity and communication. To quote Heim, cited in the class notes:
“…not only the speed of intellectual work is being affected, but the quality of the work itself… Language can be edited, stored, manipulated, and rearranged.”
The word processor is not only processing the output production of text into physical publication; it is processing our creation of the texts themselves. That is the true role of the calculator of the humanist.
It is also a somewhat ‘traditional’ tool by now… I would like to highlight a new way in which we might continue the narrative of processing ideas into words – or words into ideas, as the case may be. Remixing text (as illustrated in the feature photo) using a method called the Markov chain is one way that we can extend the power of digital technology to rip and remix – regenerate – work into new creative directions. The Markov chain is defined as followed:
“[A] random process that undergoes transitions from one state to another on a state space. It must possess a property that is usually characterized as “memoryless”: the probability distribution of the next state depends only on the current state and not on the sequence of events that preceded it.” (emphasis mine)
As more works enter the public domain, this kind of iteration could push our representation of texts beyond the word clouds of today into new styles of narrative and corresponding still and moving arts tomorrow. Textual analysis and remixing is part of contemporary research and discussion. According to author Rev Dan Catt of the generative text “Remixing Noon” above:
“Music is steeped in remixes, cover versions, mashups and sampling. But this doesn’t happen in writing (probably for very specific copyright reasons), you don’t often get authors covering or remixing someone else’s story. It happens but very rarely. Where are the 7″, 12″, radio edit, club mix version of writing, held within the same medium of writing?”
Indeed, where? And why not?
Julia
References
Bram.us! (2013). Remixing Noon. bram.us. Accessed July 28, 2015 from https://www.bram.us/2013/03/23/remixing-noon/
Markov chain. (n.d.). Accessed July 28, 2015 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markov_chain
Rev Dan Catt (2013). Notes on remixing Noon, generative text and Markov chains. revdancatt.com. Accessed July 28, 2015 from http://revdancatt.com/2013/03/13/notes-on-remixing-noon-generative-text-and-markov-chains/
Text Analysis, Text Remix: Preliminary Notes on Theodor Adorno’s Minima Moralia Part 3. (2015). Remix: Data. Accessed July 28, 2015 from http://remixdata.net/category/uncategorized/text-remix/
UBC. (2015). Module 04: Discovering Modern Literacy. Economies of writing; Or, writing about writing. Spring 2015 [Online Course Content].
The image you’ve included, showing the branching possibilities that the text could take, remind me of the potential reading paths through a hyperlinked text.
Because the process (Markov chain) of generating this type of remixed text is memoryless, there is no starting point (or ending point) in the narrative. I find interesting connections to oral poetry, including the reliance on patterns in texts while generating a narrative that is non-repeating.
Thanks, Janice. I absolutely love the idea and hope that more of these will emerge as advancing technology enables us to capture our imaginations. The concept is beautiful, and so is the visual. I’m officially bookmarking it as an area of interest… artists are out there working on similar projects, and I hope to find more!
Thanks for you post, it got me thinking about my own experiences as a student and a teacher.
I think word processing has moved the ease of creating publishable work ahead in giant leaps. I remember learning to type on the last of the electric keyboards. While more efficient then a mechanical typewriter, it simply didn’t afford the flexibility that word processing with a computer does. I think one of the biggest advantages of a word processor is that it removes the fear of making spelling mistakes. In my experience many students who freeze during writing time are frequently stuck on a word or words, and don’t have spellchecker to help correct mistakes. In my opinion the second biggest advantage is the ease of editing and revising work. It is simply to copy and paste sentences or paragraphs into sections, insert additional thoughts were needed, or simply find and correct spelling and grammar. When working with a pen/pencil you need to rewrite when you make corrections, with the computer they are instantly good copy ready.
You mention advantages of remixing text in a way that is similar to music in order to recreate works in new directions. Gainer & Lapp (2010) agree with your suggestion and state that remixing reading and writing can be an effective way to engage students. In my own teaching I have found this to be true. Often my most successful writing projects involve taking a well-known story, or perhaps a topic we have been discussing in class, and reworking it into new unique stories. What I like most about doing this is that all the students are given a topic that they know, and then are free to remix it as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. Remixing literacy positions students as active meaning-makers who can blend their prior knowledge and experience with new information as they construct new understanding through the textual transactions (2010).
In a recent Ted Talk, Kirby describes how for many people, famous musicians included, creativity comes from without, not from within. People are not self-made, rather we are dependent on one another and our experiences. Furthermore, this does not make one mediocre, rather it can be seen as a liberation and a reason to simply begin the creative process.
Remixing writing can remove the stress of beginning with a blank page and can lead to interesting and successful new and interesting work.
References
Gainer, J. S., & Lapp, D. (2010). Remixing old and new literacies= motivated students. English Journal, 58-64
Kirby, F. (2012). Embrace the Remix [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/kirby_ferguson_embrace_the_remix?language=en
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