Methodological nearness and the question of computational literature

Marcinkowski, M (2018) 'Methodological nearness and the question of computational literature.' Digital Humanities Quarterly, 12 (2). ISSN 1938-4122

Official URL: http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/12/2/0003...

Abstract

The rise of the application of computational methods in both the study and production of literature poses questions about how to best read works of electronic literature which engage a wider sphere of human context beyond the literary text itself. Taking a cue from modes of “distant reading” that have taken advantage of computational methods in order to pursue empirical and sociologically-influenced readings of traditional textual corpora, the liminal case of “ambient literature” is examined. As a form of electronic literature developed out of the field of ubiquitous computing, ambient literature presents a literature which is intimately connected to the situation of the reader, offering a text whose meaning is both variable and specific to the conditions of its engagement. Having confronted analogous issues in other domains, traditions of research in human-computer interaction offer methodological insight into how such works might be read. Developing an account of how literary texts may be read from a distance through user studies, an ethnomethodological analysis of the experience of these hybrid works of electronic literature is advanced. By drawing connections between literary studies and human-computer interaction, new methods which focus on the analysis of the experience of multiple readers as they encounter works of electronic literature establish opportunities for future research into the contextual, embodied, and computational nature of literature today.

Item Type: Article
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Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions: School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
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Date Deposited: 24 Apr 2018 09:57
Last Modified: 06 Jan 2022 19:41
URI / Page ID: https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/10979
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