Table of Contents1
Warren Weaver is acclaimed as the father of the theory of complexity. In one of his most famous articles, Science and Complexity, he classifies complexity according to three different problems. The one  we consider here is called “disorganized complexity”, described as “a problem in which the number of variables is very large, and one in which each of the many variables has a behavior which is individually erratic, or perhaps totally unknown”.
Warren Weaver is acclaimed as the father of the theory of complexity. In one of his most famous articles, Science and Complexity, he classifies complexity according to three different problems. The one  we consider here is called “disorganized complexity”, described as “a problem in which the number of variables is very large, and one in which each of the many variables has a behavior which is individually erratic, or perhaps totally unknown”.2
Moving this definition into the realm of the WWW, we can immediately identify a deep correspondence between the structure of the Web and the concept exposed in Weaver’s theory: the variables that bring us back and forth from a webpage to another through a wide variety of links are manifold and of different kinds. They depend on how much a topic interests us, how specific is the piece of information we are looking, how much time we have to spend surfing the net and how links are put into evidence. Our reasons for going form a page to another are based on a personal and arbitrary choice. At the end of our wandering and voyaging in the ocean of the Internet, what we have is a complex and composite system created through our clicks.
Moving this definition into the realm of the WWW, we can immediately identify a deep correspondence between the structure of the Web and the concept exposed in Weaver’s theory: the variables that bring us back and forth from a webpage to another through a wide variety of links are manifold and of different kinds. They depend on how much a topic interests us, how specific is the piece of information we are looking, how much time we have to spend surfing the net and how links are put into evidence. Our reasons for going form a page to another are based on a personal and arbitrary choice. At the end of our wandering and voyaging in the ocean of the Internet, what we have is a complex and composite system created through our clicks.3
Similarly, interacting with a piece of literature means surfing texts, loitering on some passages, finding crucial nodes and weaving routes from one node to the other. Also, it is not a chance that in a computer network “node” is defined as
Similarly, interacting with a piece of literature means surfing texts, loitering on some passages, finding crucial nodes and weaving routes from one node to the other. Also, it is not a chance that in a computer network “node” is defined as4
an abstract basic unit used to build linked data structures such as trees, linked lists, and computer-based representations of graphs. Each node contains some data and possibly links to other nodes. Links between nodes are often implemented by pointers of references.
an abstract basic unit used to build linked data structures such as trees, linked lists, and computer-based representations of graphs. Each node contains some data and possibly links to other nodes. Links between nodes are often implemented by pointers of references. 5
Now, if we take this definition into the literary world, we can find that “nodes” can be thought of as the turning points in a story, the ones around which narration happens – being them the most memorable moments or characters, or some meaningful details described in a unique style.  These nodes are linked to one another so to build networks in which stories develop, symbols are evoked, meanings are revealed – including the ones even the author was not aware of, but still, they come to the surface and float at every new reading of the same old page. Every reader, while interacting with a text, creates subjective and intimate conjunctions with the text she is analyzing, and here lies a strong analogy with the web system: we draw our own paths through a text according to the emotions it causes us, the reactions it starts up, the impressions generated while reading. We are somehow asked to navigate to and visit the various ports a work of literature presents us, being them Montale’s Limoni, or the uncountable number of people named Aureliano Buendìa in Cien Años de Soledad. As we travel through a novel’s characters or a poet’s words, as we identify ourselves with them and their adventures, and as they intertwine with each other, so a web page is connected with another, with us, and we also are connected with another page, and then another, and then another one… Thus, literature and the Web are not that far, they share something: they both seem to be inclined to be “navigated”, surfed. Is it just a fortuitous resemblance? I do not think so. There are too many correspondences and similarities to make us ignore this surprising coincidence. That is the reason why I have started searching and exploring in the deep the world of electronic literature.
Now, if we take this definition into the literary world, we can find that “nodes” can be thought of as the turning points in a story, the ones around which narration happens – being them the most memorable moments or characters, or some meaningful details described in a unique style.  These nodes are linked to one another so to build networks in which stories develop, symbols are evoked, meanings are revealed – including the ones even the author was not aware of, but still, they come to the surface and float at every new reading of the same old page. Every reader, while interacting with a text, creates subjective and intimate conjunctions with the text she is analyzing, and here lies a strong analogy with the web system: we draw our own paths through a text according to the emotions it causes us, the reactions it starts up, the impressions generated while reading. We are somehow asked to navigate to and visit the various ports a work of literature presents us, being them Montale’s Limoni, or the uncountable number of people named Aureliano Buendìa in Cien Años de Soledad. As we travel through a novel’s characters or a poet’s words, as we identify ourselves with them and their adventures, and as they intertwine with each other, so a web page is connected with another, with us, and we also are connected with another page, and then another, and then another one… Thus, literature and the Web are not that far, they share something: they both seem to be inclined to be “navigated”, surfed. Is it just a fortuitous resemblance? I do not think so. There are too many correspondences and similarities to make us ignore this surprising coincidence. That is the reason why I have started searching and exploring in the deep the world of electronic literature.6
When I say “searching and exploring” I refer not only to my actual research, but also to an exploration that lasted about 5 months and took place in New York City. Thanks to an exchange program sponsored by my university – University of Siena in Tuscany, Italy – I spent a semester at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. I came across a group of enthusiastic scholars and students in the field of Digital Humanities. Giving a clear and straight definition of DH is almost impossible, as the nature of the subject itself is multifaceted and includes a huge variety of topics and interests. Here are some of the definitions given by the participants at the Digital Humanities Day in 2010:
When I say “searching and exploring” I refer not only to my actual research, but also to an exploration that lasted about 5 months and took place in New York City. Thanks to an exchange program sponsored by my university – University of Siena in Tuscany, Italy – I spent a semester at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. I came across a group of enthusiastic scholars and students in the field of Digital Humanities. Giving a clear and straight definition of DH is almost impossible, as the nature of the subject itself is multifaceted and includes a huge variety of topics and interests. Here are some of the definitions given by the participants at the Digital Humanities Day in 2010:7
1
A field of study that looks at the application of digital technology to the research areas of the humanities. It is not necessarily undertaking that humanities research, but examining the methodology and provision of possibilities for enabling that research or new conceptions of related research. The majority of work in this area, however, gets characterised by those outside the field as IT professionals just doing a bit of programming work for them while uselessly banging on about long-term preservation formats, open data, and not really doing real research. -James Cummings, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
1
A field of study that looks at the application of digital technology to the research areas of the humanities. It is not necessarily undertaking that humanities research, but examining the methodology and provision of possibilities for enabling that research or new conceptions of related research. The majority of work in this area, however, gets characterised by those outside the field as IT professionals just doing a bit of programming work for them while uselessly banging on about long-term preservation formats, open data, and not really doing real research. -James Cummings, University of Oxford, United Kingdom8
Digital humanities is a field of study characterized by critical analysis of the relationship between the produced surfaces of digital media and the information structures and cultural structures that produce them; alternatively (or additionally) it is characterized by a critical interest in how humanities scholarship is produced, consumed, and transformed in and through digital media. -Julia Flanders, Brown University, USA
Digital humanities is a field of study characterized by critical analysis of the relationship between the produced surfaces of digital media and the information structures and cultural structures that produce them; alternatively (or additionally) it is characterized by a critical interest in how humanities scholarship is produced, consumed, and transformed in and through digital media. -Julia Flanders, Brown University, USA9
I think Digital Humanities is a kind of “fast-acting glue” that allows scholars with different academic backgrounds to collaborate instantly. -Mitsuyuki Inaba, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
I think Digital Humanities is a kind of “fast-acting glue” that allows scholars with different academic backgrounds to collaborate instantly. -Mitsuyuki Inaba, Ritsumeikan University, Japan10
It is clear, I think, that every scholar in every field, from a physicist to a linguist, end up into the field of DH, each and everyone of them with his/her own cultural background but with a common attitude: a deep belief in applied technology and a strong will of easily spreading and sharing information, thus creating knowledge.
It is clear, I think, that every scholar in every field, from a physicist to a linguist, end up into the field of DH, each and everyone of them with his/her own cultural background but with a common attitude: a deep belief in applied technology and a strong will of easily spreading and sharing information, thus creating knowledge.11
The place that helped me carrying on with my project was the New Media Lab at the Cuny Graduate Center. I was given the chance by my adviser there at the Grad Center and coordinator of my exchange program, Prof. Steve Brier, to develop a project in the New Media Lab. My idea was to create something about electronic literature, a sort of database or online textbook, so that its format would have been coherent with the subject I wanted to explore (that is, electronic literature). This is how my website was born: Lit-Liv was created using WordPress and it has two main parts. There is a “general” part in which I’ve tried to explain what electronic literature is, how it was born, who are its main authors…and there’s a blog in which I usually post about various works of electronic literature I find on the web. Â My hope is to be able to involve in this project as many people as possible, especially Italian students and scholars, given the scarce attention this filed of study is having in my country.
The place that helped me carrying on with my project was the New Media Lab at the Cuny Graduate Center. I was given the chance by my adviser there at the Grad Center and coordinator of my exchange program, Prof. Steve Brier, to develop a project in the New Media Lab. My idea was to create something about electronic literature, a sort of database or online textbook, so that its format would have been coherent with the subject I wanted to explore (that is, electronic literature). This is how my website was born: Lit-Liv was created using WordPress and it has two main parts. There is a “general” part in which I’ve tried to explain what electronic literature is, how it was born, who are its main authors…and there’s a blog in which I usually post about various works of electronic literature I find on the web. Â My hope is to be able to involve in this project as many people as possible, especially Italian students and scholars, given the scarce attention this filed of study is having in my country.12
Exploring such a young and new field as electronic literature, where bibliography on the subject is still poor, has been a tough though challenging and fascinating activity. You have to grope your way forward, be ready to be wrong and criticized. I am having a great time navigating though it, but I always feel like I have a beautiful and marvelous toy to play with, but with now assembly instructions. And what do you do in this case? Summon up all your strength and inventiveness and try to understand which A screw goes with a C bolt.
Exploring such a young and new field as electronic literature, where bibliography on the subject is still poor, has been a tough though challenging and fascinating activity. You have to grope your way forward, be ready to be wrong and criticized. I am having a great time navigating though it, but I always feel like I have a beautiful and marvelous toy to play with, but with now assembly instructions. And what do you do in this case? Summon up all your strength and inventiveness and try to understand which A screw goes with a C bolt.13
That’s why I thought writing a sort of instruction booklet was more than necessary. This is what I would have liked to find in this beautiful but unknown world of electronic literature. The structure is the same as a manual, too: the first chapter will be about the differences between print literature and electronic literature. I will also try to explain why ereaders and ebooks cannot be considered as electronic literature. Following the traditional distinction between prose and poetry, the second chapter will take into consideration and examine these two genres reviewing some examples from the English speaking world. The third chapter is focused on one of the most interesting web artists and media writers of the last ten years, Christine Wilks. Two works of her have recently been included into the last issue of the Electronic Literature Collection released by the ELO.
That’s why I thought writing a sort of instruction booklet was more than necessary. This is what I would have liked to find in this beautiful but unknown world of electronic literature. The structure is the same as a manual, too: the first chapter will be about the differences between print literature and electronic literature. I will also try to explain why ereaders and ebooks cannot be considered as electronic literature. Following the traditional distinction between prose and poetry, the second chapter will take into consideration and examine these two genres reviewing some examples from the English speaking world. The third chapter is focused on one of the most interesting web artists and media writers of the last ten years, Christine Wilks. Two works of her have recently been included into the last issue of the Electronic Literature Collection released by the ELO.
http://tapor.ualberta.ca/taporwiki/index.php/How_do_you_define_Humanities_Computing_/_Digital_Humanities%3F