Network Writing - Abby T.

 I just realized I forgot to post my piece on Network Writing! So sorry about that...

In Electronic Literature, author Scott Rettberg describes network writing as a kind of born-digital genre which can involve multiple sites, be collaborative or performance-based, and can even be used to explore the nature of the relevant network (152). Of particular concern is the way technology – social media in particular – has changed the average person’s everyday relationship to reading and writing. Though literacy has increased globally, Rettberg notes that critical reading skills have deteriorated (153). At the same time, he recognizes that the digital world presents unique opportunities for writers and artists of all kinds. I also found it interesting that network writing is related to modern creative movements centered around critiquing their mediums and materiality, as well as to the 1937-1945 Mass-Observation movement and mail art. I’ve never heard of the latter two, and so am very curious about their relationships to other genres of writing. 

Noon Quilt by Sue Thomas and Teri Hoskins: Welcome to noon quilt (archive.org) 

Rettberg describes Sue Thomas and Teri Hoskins’ 1998 Noon Quilt as a composition “...of short pieces written by writers in forty different countries who looked out of their windows at noon and wrote in one hundred words what they could see,” noting it as an example of a conscious participation collective narrative (172-173). I found this trAce piece particularly interesting for a number of reasons, the first being that it provided a short snapshot of the lives of people from across the globe. It fascinates me how a work that draws from many voices, such as this one, can illuminate trends in the way we think. For this piece in particular, I felt that the focus was on similarities between different writing styles and the way we describe the world around us, as well as how universal the mundane aspects of life can be. Another interesting note is that the cover images for the two presented quilts are 午 (wŭ) and 口 (kŏu), the Chinese characters for noon and mouth, respectively.