Cloud Writing Project
In May of 2009 the collective initiated a new project in which multiple authors simultaneously compose texts by utilizing cloud computing technology (Google Docs) and extensive appropriation of online content.
The concept is really quite simple, although our initial results have been fascinating. Several users, all with the same editorial privileges, access a single document at the same time. Then for a fixed period everyone contributes to and alters the text that appears on their screen.
We have found that from this simple formula a complex and sometimes competing set of dynamics develops during the session. Identities shift and blur as it becomes increasingly uncertain who said what and in what context. The narrative flow is ruptured by critical statements, jokes, and requests to leave. Somber tones are subverted or transformed into play. In the end, it is often unclear what our creation should mean, but the consensus is that the product truly belonged to the group -- that it was more than a mere sum of parts. The results can be viewed at the Project Archive.
We have generally made a weekly practice of this nonlinear form of writing. Our hope is that we might simulate the sort of cultural processes that generate myths of origin, thereby helping to define our own grander project.
The concept is really quite simple, although our initial results have been fascinating. Several users, all with the same editorial privileges, access a single document at the same time. Then for a fixed period everyone contributes to and alters the text that appears on their screen.
We have found that from this simple formula a complex and sometimes competing set of dynamics develops during the session. Identities shift and blur as it becomes increasingly uncertain who said what and in what context. The narrative flow is ruptured by critical statements, jokes, and requests to leave. Somber tones are subverted or transformed into play. In the end, it is often unclear what our creation should mean, but the consensus is that the product truly belonged to the group -- that it was more than a mere sum of parts. The results can be viewed at the Project Archive.
We have generally made a weekly practice of this nonlinear form of writing. Our hope is that we might simulate the sort of cultural processes that generate myths of origin, thereby helping to define our own grander project.
