Exploring the History of Digital Poetry from 1950 to Augmented Reality Poetry

Authors

  • Christopher T. Funkhouser New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Keywords:

Digital Poetry, Augmented Reality, Electronic Literature, Poetry .

Abstract

This article offers a comprehensive overview of digital poetry, tracing its development from the late 1950s through to contemporary augmented reality applications. It begins by highlighting early stochastic texts generated by Theo Lutz, contextualizing them within the mathematical aesthetics championed by Max Bense. Funkhouser explores how digital poetry evolved into multi-modal formats, integrating text, visuals, and sound to create both kinetic and static works. Notably, the lecture examines key influences from non-digital movements like Dada and Concrete Poetry, and discusses the impact of hypertext, gaming culture, and networked writing on digital poetics. The presentation emphasizes that digital poetry invites imaginative reader participation and challenges conventional poetic forms, exemplified by works such as Jason Nelson’s interactive poetry games and Ranjit Bhatnagar's Pentametron. Funkhouser concludes by reflecting on how digital tools have redefined poetic practices, offering new modes of expression and collaboration in a networked era.

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Author Biography

  • Christopher T. Funkhouser, New Jersey Institute of Technology.

    Dr. Christopher Funkhouser is a writer, musician, and multimedia artist. He is author of two scholarly monographs, Prehistoric Digital Poetry: An Archeology of Forms, 1959-1995 and New Directions in Digital Poetry. Funkhouser has taught in the Communication and Media Program at New Jersey Institute of Technology since 1997, and was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Multimedia University, Malaysia, in 2006. A publisher who worked closely with Amiri Baraka and Kamau Brathwaite, Funkhouser was commissioned by the Associated Press to prepare digital poems for the occasion of Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and in 2016 he performed at the Whitney Museum’s Open Plan: Cecil Taylor exhibition. He is a Contributing Editor at PennSound, hosts the POET RAY’D YO radio program at WGXC (Hudson, NY), and is a member of the improvisational musical ensemble Most Serene Congress.

References

Borsuk, Amaranth, and Brad Bouse. Between Page and Screen. Siglio Press, 2012.

Funkhouser, Christopher T. Prehistoric Digital Poetry: An Archaeology of Forms, 1959-1995. U of Alabama P, 2007.

Funkhouser, Christopher T. New Directions in Digital Poetry. Bloomsbury Academic, 2012.

Funkhouser, Christopher T. "What is Digital Poetry?" Lecture on Digital Poetry, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2023. https://www.njit.edu/~funkhous/2023/369/lecture1/whatisdigitalpoetry.html.

Melo e Castro, E. M. “Videopoetry.” Edited by Eduardo Kac, Visible Language, vol. 30, no. 2, 1996, pp. 172-180.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Why Read Moby Dick? Viking, 2011.

Strehovec, Janez. “The Poetics of Elevator Pitch.” Technoetic Arts, vol. 7, no. 1, 2009, pp. 33-41.

Waliya, Yohanna Joseph. "African Literature on MAELD and ADELD Platforms: Grafting the Buds of a Nascent E-Literature." Afrique (s) en mouvement 1 (2023): 55-64.

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Published

27-11-2024

How to Cite

Funkhouser, Christopher. “Exploring the History of Digital Poetry from 1950 to Augmented Reality Poetry”. Multilingual African Digital Semiotics and E-Lit Journal (MADSEJ), vol. 1, no. 2, Nov. 2024, pp. 33-42, https://madsej.africanelit.org/index.php/madsej/article/view/19.

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