About
“If we create this resource, we will be able to devise more culturally and regionally diverse theories of digital poetry than the ones proposed by the brilliant but small group of white, middle-class, predominantly male poets from Toronto–poets who are largely affiliated with Coach House Books and who have gained entry into the American critical market.”
– Ian Rae, The Case for Digital Poetics
Digital Media: Diversifying the Canadian Literary Landscape is one of several research team websites for the ENGL 470A (Canadian Studies) web conference. Offered by the University of British Columbia through distance education, this course is taught by Dr. Erika Paterson. A class she informally dubs “Oh Canada… Our Home and Native Land?” (Paterson, “Welcome”), one of the goals upon completion of this course is that “students will be able to discuss the historical and critical processes involved in developing a Canadian literary canon” (ibid.). We have explored the perspectives of many Canadian literary critics and authors including Northrop Frye, Thomas King, Susanna Moodie and Edward Chamberlain. Through our explorations, an attempt to make connections and think critically about opinions and perspectives has been fostered, encouraging us, as students, to think past what we know to discover what we don’t know. Many of these connections are formed through blogging assignments and student dialogue, initiating an interactive exchange of ideas and information, with the goal of ultimately developing the ability “to pursue research that will allow you to speculate on the future of literature and story in Canada and, in context with the new social media tools and technologies” (Paterson, “Welcome”). The use of Facebook and UBC Blogs as digital media platforms in this course makes for an unique learning opportunity that is otherwise inaccessible in a traditional classroom setting.
As our class is almost exclusively based around the Internet and digital media, our interests lie in the effects of digital media on Canadian literary canon. More specifically, we are excited to explore the digital era’s influence on the diversity of voices in Canadian literature. Our readings of the Intervention articles of both Ian Rae and Larissa Lai are major contributors to our curiosity. Rae’s Intervention, “The Case for Digital Poetics”, addresses the need for an online space in which digital poetry – which often includes hyperlinks or videos, just as our individual blogs and annotated bibliography do – can be considered in a critical sense. More importantly, Rae hopes that this space will allow for the emergence of more diverse digital poetry. This article causes us to consider the Canadian literary landscape if there were space for all different kinds of content. Lai’s Intervention, “Journals in Digital Space: Electronic Circulation, Cultural Commons, and Intellectual Labour” ignites our curiosity about self-publishing on the World Wide Web and how the Internet allows for the removal of many hurdles authors face before they are able to reach their audience.
Research Goals
“We might consider opening to public fora what the private databases and corporatized universities want to keep private. I understand that there is no such thing as complete access–only certain people have access to the web, only certain people have access to what Rita Wong calls pavement and most of us call English, and even fewer have access to the education that makes critical discourse make sense. But I think that if the ideals we embrace, or at least strive contradictorily towards, are going to make any difference at all, we need at least to try.”
– Larissa Lai, Journals in Digital Space: Electronic Circulation, Cultural Commons, and Intellectual Labour
Our research team has collaboratively agreed to assess the changes in the accessibility to and content included in the Canadian literary canon, in regards to the shifts in ideas entering and being circulated in the Canadian literary arena. We also plan to investigate the emergence of online publishing, both in terms of its effects on traditional print methods of publishing and what potential this new medium offers for an increased exposure of diversity in published works of varying kinds. We begin, though, by exploring the changes that the new media will effect on publishing, focusing on its impact on Canadian literature within the past 20 years and into the future, to infinity and beyond assuming “Canada” is still a thing and we haven’t relocated to Mars by then.
During our intervention, we are also assessing the potential for a wider diversity of voices to gain a platform upon which they may reach an audience or, in the very least, increase exposure through the rise of digital media. This includes asking questions about whether the digital media landscape has a capacity to embrace and serve First Nation and minority needs and also under what conditions, if any. Overall, we hope to gain insight on barriers that could arise with digital media as well the possibility of increased inclusiveness through this relatively new platform.
Works Cited
“Ian Rae”. King’s Western University. Web. 29 July 2014.
Lai, Larissa. “Journals in Digital Space: Electronic Circulation, Cultural Commons, and Intellectual Labour”. Canadian Literature. 204(4), 137-140. Web. 2010. 29 July 2014.
Lai, Larissa. “Larissa Lai.” Web. 29 July 2014.
Morgan, Nick. “What is the Future of Publishing?” Forbes. Forbes.com LLC. Jul. 12, 2012. Web. 29 July 2014.
Paterson, Erika. “Instructor’s Bio.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genre 98A May 2014. University of British Columbia. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. 29 July 2014.
Paterson, Erika. “Welcome.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genre 98A May 2014. University of British Columbia. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. 29 July 2014.
Paterson, Erika. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genre 98A May 2014. University of British Columbia. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. 29 July 2014.
Rae, Ian. “The Case for Digital Poetics.” Canadian Literature. 204.4 (Spring 2010): 134-137. Web. 29 July 2014
Smith, Russell. “Why do we Struggle with What Makes Canadian Literature?” The Globe and Mail. Globe Arts Inc. Nov. 21, 2013. Web. 29 July 2014.