Jacoby,+Elizabeth

= = = = =//The Body and the Machine: Chapter 3//=

Hayles, N. Katherine. Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. Notre Dame, 2008.

__**OVERVIEW:**__

In Chapter 3 of Hayles' Electronic Literature, the reader is thrown deeper into the concept of humans and machines working as one unit. Hayles articulates that the body and machine are interwoven. However, she further argues that the machine is an autonomous force. Hayles' goes into great detail while debating several pieces written by Mark Hansen. Fundamentally, Hayles is at odds with Hansen's emphasis that the body is more important than the machine. While Hansen argues that the body can and will be transformed through its interaction with digital media and that this embodiment "trumps every possible machine capacity," Hayles takes a position that machines have the ability to take action without human intervention. Machines can collect, analyze, and interpret data without being prompted. Thus, the computer "thinks" and, in turn, embodies what the human is doing.

After Hayles talks about the dynamic of the body and machine, she calls for a focus on the coevolutionary dynamic presented with electronic media. There is a study posed in this reading about the Baldwin Effect that seems pertinent to her argument. The Baldwin Effect states that "evolution is not solely physical but psycho-physical" (115). While Darwin maintained that it was "survival of the fittest," Baldwin delves deeper to reveal that it is within the "fitness of an entire individual." In other words, our brain evolves constructing a strong mind and body. Hayles points to the younger generations and their ability to learn and adapt to new and emerging technologies. She maintains that as media evolves, so do our abilities to analyze and interpret it.

__**COMMENTARY:**__

//"...print novels operating in new media conditions are undergoing transformations as they too participate in recursive feedback loops connecting bodies and machines, natural language and code, human and artificial intelligence" (119).//

Hayles' argument about the embodiment of human and machine forces readers(and users) to understand the dynamic that is presented to us when encountering electronic literature. That there is a feedback loop between the human and the machine which cannot be ignored or negated. The "recursive feedback loop" to which Hayles is analyzing presents us with a challenge that takes us away from print into the digital and forces us to view literature in a different way. She also poses the question: Is the body subject to the machine or the machine to the body? Hayles tries to delve into how these two things exist while remaining autonomous.

Also, there is insight as to where this technology might be headed. There is this leering suggestion that the yet is best to come with younger generations. This is an interesting scope on the endless possibilities that are presented to readers in the advancement of computer technology.

Furthermore, Hayles is holding certain critics accountable for their discourse in the arena of media. Education is changing through innovation. Thus, it is worth exploration in the educational value in the arena of digital media especially in terms of the cultural and social aspects.

__**FOR DISCUSSION:**__

Is the machine autonomous in the way that Hayles describes it?

With these new literary engagements, to what extent do we make students aware of this dichotomy?

Hayles claims that there a failure in Anglo-American criticism (focus on form and structure only) to look at social and cultural dynamics in the electronic literature discourse, why is this relevant?

Anglo-Am Crit link: []

=--= =Media Specific Analysis= [|Ah] "Ah" Michel and Vis

__**Overview:**__ "Ah" is a stream of consciousness linear narrative developed to mimic someone's thought and respiration process as they are taking a shower. This Flash presentation uses words and spaces (or lack there of) to illustrate when the narrator is breathing or, in fact, singing. More importantly, it allows the reader-user to develop this concept of time as laid out for us by K. Michel and Dirk Vis. (Originally written in Dutch)

__**Textual Features:**__
 * Linear narrative/Time based
 * There is no ending point
 * There are no other choices but what is laid out in front of you. User-reader is therefore, passive.
 * Lack of hypertext forces you to pay close attention to the stream
 * Utilizes stream of consciousness
 * Spaces, or the lack their of(overlapping text), contribute to the narrative and force the user-reader to draw their own inferences
 * Reflects on Einstein, in particular
 * Uses "oh" and "ah" to evoke a sense of a thought process. They use auditory words to illustrate thought and revelation.

__**Media Features:**__
 * Black text on a white background forces the user-reader to pay close attention to the narrative
 * Often times words overlap in a stream running across the middle of the screen
 * Screen breaks into two lines at times and then rejoin once more
 * Flash without hypertext
 * User cannot speed up or slow down the narrative
 * The images that the reader experiences are limited to the words on the screen

__**Reading Experience:**__ As a user-reader this narrative can seem extremely dull and underdone at first. We accept a role of passivity because we are left with no other choice. The reader watches the repetitive "oh's" and "ah's' flow across their screen waiting for their meaning to reveal itself to us. In th beginning, we are told this is a piece about breathing and singing so we dismiss these sounds as such. However, insight cannot be found with one pass. If you keep reading this linear narrative over and over you will find that there might be more to it then when it first meets the eye. As readers, we can associate our own stream of consciousness with that of the narrator. Immediately, a relationship is formed because we all own our own stream of consciousness so there is an aesthetic of familiarity with the piece.

__**Analysis Interpretation:**__ Einstein is brought into this narrative to force the reader to evoke certain images and associations. Michel and Vis are playing on the association with mathematics being a linear narrative. In turn, our stream of consciousness is a linear narrative that often overlaps and runs together. The "oh's" and "ah's" represent the times where the narrator is having a revelation (thus the sound they make) when their mind moves from one idea to the next or one or two lines until there aren't lines anymore. Thus the Michel and Vis allow the reader to construct meaning within the framework of our own stream of consciousness and our own revelations as a result. It allows the reader to understand our own thought process on a deeper and more meaningful level.

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