NETWORK WRITING: Suchana Subedi

 I was really pleased that we were looking at the Unknown this week because I had sifted through it on my own and wanted to hear the opinions of others on it. Alternative realities is a favorite of mine because not only is the reader asked to reconsider how history may play out, but differing lore also arises which explains why this history is different and how by changing one aspect, another one occurs. Reminds me of " The Man in the High Castle". Try as I might, I could not find previous passages I had read, and sifting through the work made me realize just how large the work is - with the map and the links to other, seemingly real websites based in this reality. 

Network writing reminded me of our "Medium is the message" blog post because this chapter emphasizes how the inherently interactive aspect of the internet affects the writing and content created on it. The internet is like a stage and "a number of electronic literature projects can be understood as performances online" (158). The way an audience reacts, the time between posts, and the ability to like, comment, share or make a reactive post to the original work change the way a creator must consider their work before they post it. I can think of so many times when the comment section of a video or a product changed the way I thought of the original work. Art is so different now because creators not only have to appease the publisher or sponsor of their work to allow it to be seen or witnessed by an audience - they must also appease and garner attention from the audience itself and possibly receive immediate criticism or commentary. 

The work I have brought in this week is not a Twitter bot but a horror story told on Twitter. The story was written by Adam Ellis under the username no longer used, "moby_dickhead". The story follows Adam as he explores his apartment and some weird things happen. His cats get frightened at night, he hears stories of a young boy who was horribly disfigured in an accident, and his dreams of the boy cross the threshold of imagination into reality. The story is no longer found on Twitter but I have linked a site that has the story in chronological order. Adam takes advice from commentators, following their advice about his cats, putting salt around the entrance of the door, and taking polaroid pictures to prove the validity of his story.  Adam is taking these photos and updating this story over the course of months in 2017. Eventually, he comes out and says that this is a false story, that he made this whole thing up basically but is now going to write a larger book about his created character. This is what makes this interesting for me: everyone on Twitter thought it was real or at least, that Adam was not trying to fabricate this story. Adam Ellis is a social media influencer who at the time, was very famous for this art that was featured mostly on Buzzfeed. He has thousands of followers, and posts regular relatable posts like everyone else and for him to suddenly create a story that encompasses months of his life made the ruse much more believable. 

https://wakelet.com/wake/e6275d03-7bce-4789-9961-f3a04723cc7