Rob Wittig
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034654
- eISBN:
- 9780262336871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034654.003.0011
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
For a decade before the Internet, members of the literary performance group Invisible Seattle pioneered the delights of creativity in social media on their Bulletin Board System (BBS) IN.S.OMNIA. The ...
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For a decade before the Internet, members of the literary performance group Invisible Seattle pioneered the delights of creativity in social media on their Bulletin Board System (BBS) IN.S.OMNIA. The invisibles conducted a series of rigorous (and often hilarious) literary experiments, asking whether or not this disembodied text could support complex fictions, prose and poetry modes, as well as philosophic inquiry, exploring in microcosm the multi-vocal modes now common. The Invisibles discussed writing practices freed from paper-and-ink with writers such as Jacques Derrida and Harry Mathews. The essay captures the song of the modem -- the flavor of collaboration on the BBS platform -- and connects IN.S.OMNIA to netprov (networked improv narrative) and other contemporary practices.Less
For a decade before the Internet, members of the literary performance group Invisible Seattle pioneered the delights of creativity in social media on their Bulletin Board System (BBS) IN.S.OMNIA. The invisibles conducted a series of rigorous (and often hilarious) literary experiments, asking whether or not this disembodied text could support complex fictions, prose and poetry modes, as well as philosophic inquiry, exploring in microcosm the multi-vocal modes now common. The Invisibles discussed writing practices freed from paper-and-ink with writers such as Jacques Derrida and Harry Mathews. The essay captures the song of the modem -- the flavor of collaboration on the BBS platform -- and connects IN.S.OMNIA to netprov (networked improv narrative) and other contemporary practices.