Megan Sapnar "The Sound of New Media Poetry"

Abstract:
Sapnar discusses the
affect of “New Media” on poetry and recording in general. The
article takes a quick tour of previous recording methods and notable
uses of these methods but quickly moves into new technologies
available to poets and what affordances they lend artists and
authors. 
Key Concepts:
 
This article acts
more as a chronicle of pieces of work that take particular advantage
of the technologies available to them at the time than any in-depth
discussion of a topic. After opening with statement that poetry uses
the human body as it's traditional medium, Sapnar shifts to
discussing the works of Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier, and Georg Anheil
and how they utilized the technology of their time to create works
far different than those that came before them. 
Both Reich and
Lucier used negative aspects of their recording equipment to create
unique and expressive pieces. Reich utilized two channels playing the
same audio that would shift in and out of sync with one another to
create a sound that is “powerfully hypnotic...” and would
overtime “morph into new configurations.” Lucier recorded and
rerecorded his own speech in an open room utilizing the room's
resonance and recording quality of his equipment to ultimately morph
his speech into “pure sound.”
From here the
article follows form and discusses impressive and unique works of
poetry with the use of modern technologies. First discussing how
these technologies present new challenges, as well as great short
cuts and eases of production. 
Possibly the most
notable of which are Neil Jenkin's Orbital which utilizes the IP
address of visitors to decide the next word of a poem to be played
and Jason Nelson's Conversation which lets viewers take full control
of this spoken word piece. 
While not much deep
discussion is done on the specific affordances of these technologies,
it is clear what they are and how they are used. I believe that
Sapnar wants to leave his audience in a creative mood, thinking about
what could be done for poetry with today's technology and possibly
future technology. 
Examples:
Though this article
lists a few examples itself, they are too important to not mention in
their own section.
Steve Reich – It's
Gonna Rain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugqRAX7xQE
Steve Reich – Come
Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0WVh1D0N50
Alvin Lucier – I
am Sitting in a Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jU9mJbJsQ8
Neil Jenkins –
Orbital http://poemsthatgo.com/gallery/spring2003/orbital/index.htm
Joerg Peringer –
Soundpoem 1 http://poemsthatgo.com/gallery/spring2003/joerg/index.htm
Joerg Peringer –
Soundpoem 2 http://poemsthatgo.com/gallery/spring2003/joerg/index.htm
Keywords: 
Poetry.
Sound.