Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-rnpqb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T13:20:15.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

From Work to Conversation: Writing and Citizenship in a Global Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Abstract

In the last few years, a growing number of writers and artists have begun to develop a new form of verbal art. They no longer devote themselves to individually writing fixed texts destined to be read in solitude and silence. Instead, they are designing mechanisms that enable large and heterogeneous groups to collaborate on projects that combine the production of discourses, the exploration of knowledge about local circumstances, and the invention of potential socialities. These projects intend to foster forms of cosmopolitan citizenship in a globalized world at a time of expanding digital technologies. The article describes some crucial aspects of this process through a reading of two projects: a platform for collaborative translation on the Internet designed by the American artists Warren Sack and Sawad Brooks and an “open-source narrative” by the Italian collective Wu Ming.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Anderson, Benedict R. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich, and Wilms, Johannes. Conversations with Ulrich Beck. Cambridge: Polity, 2004.Google Scholar
Benkler, Yochai. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven: Yale UP, 2006.Google Scholar
Bruce, Chatwin. The Songlines. In Patagonia—The Viceroy of Ouidah—The Songlines. New York: Simon, 1997. 290430.Google Scholar
Dean, Jodi. “Why the Net Is Not a Public Sphere.” Constellations 10 (2003): 95112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupont, Florence. The Invention of Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1999.Google Scholar
Danyel, Fisher. “Studying Social Information Spaces.” Lueg and Fisher 318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Andrew. The Origins of Criticism. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003.Google Scholar
Goldhill, Simon. “Literary History without Literature.” Debating World Literature. Ed. Prendergast, Christopher. London: Verso, 2004. 176–98.Google Scholar
Lash, Scott. Critique of Information. London: Sage, 2002.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2004.Google Scholar
Liestol, Gunnar, Morrison, Andrew, and Rasmussen, Terje, eds. Digital Media Revisited. Cambridge: MIT P, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, Joseph. The Author's Due: Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, Joseph. Ben Jonson and Possessive Authorship. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002.Google Scholar
Lueg, Christopher, and Fisher, Danyel, eds. From Usenet to CoWebs: Interacting with Social Information Spaces. London: Springer, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ong, Walter. Orality and Literacy: The Technologization of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sack, Warren. “What Does a Very Large-Scale Conversation Look Like?First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Ed. Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Harrigan, Pat. Cambridge: MIT P, 2004. 238–49.Google Scholar
Sack, Warren, and Brooks, Sawad. “How Does It Work?Translation Map. 2 Jan. 2007 <http://translationmap.walkerart.org/how.html>.Google Scholar
Sack, Warren, and Brooks, Sawad. “What Is It?Translation Map. 2 Jan. 2007 <http://translationmap.walkerart.org/index.html>.Google Scholar
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. Death of a Discipline. New York: Columbia UP, 2003.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. Modern Social Imaginaries. Durham: Duke UP, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650–2000. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004.Google Scholar
Tuomi, Ilka. Networks of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.Google Scholar
Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, and Harrigan, Pat, eds. First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Cambridge: MIT P, 2004.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael. Publics and Counterpublics. New York: Zone, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Steven. The Success of Open Source. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2004.Google Scholar
Williams, Raymond. The English Novel from Dickens to Lawrence. New York: Oxford UP, 1970.Google Scholar
Wu Ming 2. La ballata del Corazza (Versione 1.0.0 di Wu Ming 2): Racconto Open Source liberamente modificabile. Wu Ming Foundation. 3 Jan. 2007 <http://www.wumingfoundation.com/italiano/opensource/opensource.html>..>Google Scholar
Wu Ming 4. “Entrevista con Wu Ming 4: Mitopoiesis y acción política.” Interview with Amador Fernández-Savater. El viejo topo 180 (2003). 2 Jan. 2007 <http://www.wumingfoundation.com/italiano/outtakes/viejotopo_es.html>..>Google Scholar
Zumthor, Paul. La lettre et la voix: De la “littérature” mediévale. Paris: Seuil, 1977.Google Scholar