View source for Writing Machines–Protocols–Feedback

[[File:bowie-cutups.jpg]]<br>
Image:''David Bowie using the cut-up technique to write lyrics  - from the documentary Cracked Actor(1975)''<br>

''"Mankind is beginning to understand how to dismantle and reassemble the most complex and unpredictable of its machines: language."''–<br> Italo Calvino, Cybernetics and Ghosts (1967).<br>
Alison Knowls' computer generated poem: ''"The House of Dust (1967) is not only a poem, it is in many ways also an interpretable score."''–<br>Maud Jacquin and Sébastien Pluot, House of Dust Journal (2019)<br>
''“If we find a monkey striking a typewriter apparently at random but in fact [it] is writing meaningful prose we shall look for restraints, either inside the monkey or inside the typewriter”''–<br>Gregory Bateson, Cybernetic Explanation (1967).<br>

==Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback==

The project described here is a new iteration of a course first run in 2023 [[Radio Worm: Protocols for an Active Archive]].<br> This iteration is called '''Writing Machines–Protocols-Feedback''', and will run from September to December 2025.<br> The format will be a '''weekly live 1 hour radio program''', and a '''“public moment”''' (tentatively planned for the beginning of December, 2025).<br>The project is supported by the [https://nadd.network NADD].<br>The course will be developed and run by tutors of XPUB, supported by WORM staff, and the content will be produced by XPUB1 students. <br>The idea is to produce and maintain a podcast feed of materials related to the program during the duration of the 3 months. <br>The format of the live event is described further below. <br>XPUB will be responsible for documenting activities related to the course, and in working with WORM for possible inclusion within their network (for instance working with Ash on materials that could be part of WORM’s Mixcloud channel).<br>
The project will involve the assistance and cooperation of: Ash Kilmartin, Lukas Simonis, Lieuwe Zelle (Radio WORM), Steve Rushton (WDKA/XPUB), and XPUB prototyping + methods tutors.<br>
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== Introduction to Special Issue #28: Writing Machines–Protocols–Feedback ==

[[File:burroughs-cut-up-650x1024-1.jpg]]<br>
Image:''William Burroughs using the Cut-up technique''

Since human beings developed the software of the alphabet, they have engineered a series of technologies to manage and enhance its power. These include storage and operating systems such as books and libraries, along with more recent (computerised) systems of information collation and dissemination.<br>
In the twentieth century, the realisation that writing is a technology – as opposed to a "natural", direct conduit to the soul – came as a creative inspiration to many writers and artists. 

*the Surrealists fashioned "exquisite corpses"; 
*the 'Pataphysicians channeled streams of consciousness; 
*the Oulipo group used systems of restraint to open new channels of potential literature; 
*the Fluxus group developed protocols for "happenings"; 
*John Cage established restraints for composition; 
*the Scratch Orchestra co-wrote scores for group improvisation. 
*William Burroughs used various techniques, including "cut-ups", to scramble the patterns of language that he believed programmed conformity. Sometimes Burroughs folded one text into another, sometimes he collaged the (then) new media of magnetic tape.<br>

This all sounds liberating, but in the twenty-first century we have reason to be critical of how easily the creative potential of the software of the alphabet can be commodified and pre-programmed. As knowledge transfers to ever-larger datasets, and drops into the hands of a minority who own them, we must ask again: what is our stake in the software of the alphabet?<br>
Where is our agency when human expression through writing is understood as a code managed by a series of protocols?<br>
What is at stake when a large dataset can claim the space of "creativity"?<br>
Can we, through learning about how the past has been structured, shape information technologies that serve ''our own'' desires and interests? 

====The outcomes of Special Issue #28 will include:====
* a series of radio shows
* writing machines (protocols, codes, Frankenstein devices)  which structure the weekly radio shows
* a library of such protocols and techniques will generate scripts...
* to be performed (live) together...
* creating and remixing existing material...
* and using the scripts as improvisational prompts

===Weekly schedule===
'''Monday''' from 10-11 a live radio program is produced by a rotating team of XPUB students together from the Radio WORM Studio. <br>From 11-12:00 time will be put aside to listen and reflect on the program.<br>
In the afternoon <br> 1) Steve Rushton opens with a mini-presentation which provides context and gives an overview of the texts and issues to be discussed that week; followed by <br>2) an open session, drawing on the texts we have read over the week; and lastly <br>3) building or designing "rapid prototype" writing machines based on the things we have been talking about.<br>
'''Tuesday''' = Prototyping with Manetta and/or Thijs [...] material which can feedback into the Monday Special Issue sessions and the Wednesday Methods sessions<br>
'''Wednesday''' = Methods with Marloes or annotation station with Steve [...] material that can feedback into the Monday Special Issue sessions and the Tuesday Prototyping sessions.


==Infrastructure:==

[[WritingMachines Reader|Writing Machines Reader]]

Writing Machine Bootleg Library shelf: https://hub.xpub.nl/bootleglibrary/shelf/111

[[Writing Machine Directory]]

[[Writing Machines Notebook]]

[[Ethereal Etherpad Directory]]

[[Methods xpub|Methods]]

[[Prototyping/2025-2026/T1|Prototyping]]

[[SI28-Radio-Worm|Weekly Radio Episodes]]

[[A_Mazing_Machine_s]]

[[SI28/Publication]]

A_Mazing_Machine_s Web site: https://hub.xpub.nl/sergio/SI28/

==Week 0==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/15-09-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/17-09-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 1==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/22-09-2025 -Event 1}}
Pad for radio show (real time) https://pad.xpub.nl/p/firstRadioShow<br>
'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – '''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/24-09-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 2==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/29-09-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/01-10-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 3==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/06-10-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/08-10-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 4==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/13-10-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday 14 October – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday 15 October – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/15-10-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 5==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/27-10-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday 28 October– Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday 29 October – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/29-10-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 6==
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/03-11-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – Annotation Station'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/05-11-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 7==

{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/10-11-2025 -Event 1}}

==Week 8==

{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/17-11-2025 -Event 1}}


'''Tuesday - Prototyping'''

{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/18-11-2025 -Event 1}}

'''Wednesday - A Mazing Machines at Worm'''

==Week 9==

{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/24-11-2025 -Event 3}}

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday – Methods'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/26-11-2025 -Event 1}}
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==Week 10==
'''Monday'''<br>
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/01-12-2025 -Event 4}}

Pad for today: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/Class01122025

'''Tuesday – Prototyping'''

'''Wednesday - Annotation Station'''
{{:Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/03-12-2025 -Event 1}}

{{Calendars:XPUB/XPUB Calendar/10-12-2025 -Event 2}}

[[Calendars:XPUB 2024-2026]]

[[SpecialIssue28EndNotes]]

[[Category:Special Issue]]

[[Category: SI28]]