What theories have been developed around the statistical study of literature?
sysbib97 is a bibliography of around various strands of literary theory including Bordieu’s Theory of the Literary Field (champ littÈraire.)
Continue reading Bibliography on Bordieu’s Theory of the Literary Theory
Can we study literature by numbers?
The Center for the Study of the Novel is led by Franco Moretti who believes we should quantify and visualize novels or corpora. Sounds like he would love TAPoR.
Do we read by just looking at the first and last letter of a word and its length?
Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey: visual word recognition is a blog entry with responses on this subject. It is complete with examples of texts with the middle letters of words scrambled. The idea that the order of the middle letters doesn’t matter is something between an urban legend and the subject of psychology tests.
Continue reading Visual Word Recognition
“It’s lights, Ronan. Just lights.
He took a theatrical step toward her. That’s right. He showed her his empty palms, then the backs of his hands. He stood against the north wall of the Cavern, a living silhouette, glowing with a luminous halo. Just lights. But then, what isn’t?” (p. 195)
Virtual Reality is just a fancy version of Plato’s cave. A version that fools us because we know it is virtual, but are in love with our ingenuity.
Continue reading Plowing the Dark 2, Meaning No End
Is there a difference between the halucinations of a confined imagination and virtual reality?
This is one thread in Richard Powers’ brilliant historical fiction about 80s VR and politics, Plowing the Dark. Two narrative threads are intertwined in this book: an artist recruited to develop compelling demos for a VR cave being developed at Seattle R&D lab in the mid-80s; and a Lebanese-American who is kidnapped after going to Beirut to teach ESL. The artist reaches back through the history of art (Rousseau, Lascaux cave paintings, and the Hagia Sophia of Byzantium) to create sites for the VR cave. The kidnapped man reaches back through memories until an ex-girlfriend becomes present. Powers reaches back to that moment in the 80s when VR technology was going to be the next paradigm shift.
The first Gulf war brings all this to an end. The war that may have been virtual in popular imagination.
Continue reading Plowing the Dark of Virtual Realities
How would a Broadway production engage the production and consumption of film, theatre, and the imagination in general?
Well, you could make a play of a film about the making of a play that is designed to be so bad that it flops (in order to make lots of money!) You could make musical theatre version of the classic Mel Brooks, The Producers! Of course, the show was a hit, despite ironically stereotyping major groups from Jews, women, gays and, yes, even Nazi sympathizers.
Continue reading The Producers, “If you’ve got it flaunt it!”
We have blogs and photo blogs. How about glogs?
Salon.com Technology | Professor lives life as cyborg is an article about Steve Mann, the U of T professor who explores cyborg technology by wearing it.
Continue reading Steve Mann and glogs
What does the ice look like her in Cootes Paradise?
The Ice in Cootes Paradise is photo poetry on snow and ice.
1000journals is a project where 1000 blank journals were sent out to work their way around being filled in. When finished and returned they are scanned and made available. Neat.
Continue reading 1000 Journals
What is a blog, really?
Janice P. talked to me about blogging for an article for a McMaster publication and we got talking about guilt and blogging. Like the journals I used to keep and the research note books I kept up until I started this blog, I feel guilty if I don’t post on a regular basis (lets say once a week.)
On her blog she comments on guilt and blog death. (Hi JP!)
I wonder if the blog hasn’t reopened all our worries around journals and immortalizing everyday thoughts. Someone must have written on this.
Continue reading Blogging and Janice’s blog