This assignment, by kathy wu, is from the TextGenEd collection in the WAC Clearinghouse Repository.
The abstract from the site explains:
This assignment asks undergraduate students to generate text using both analog cut up techniques, as well as a simple Markov procedure, and discuss the power relations inherent in found writing processes. Through reading and making, students will encounter and critically develop their own articulations of found art—its questions of property and power—and how it relates to generative text and its corpuses.
Key Features of This Assignment
- Exploration of Found Art and Text Generation
- Students generate text using both analog cut-up techniques and a simple Markov procedure. This exercise introduces them to the concept of found art, encouraging them to critically examine issues of property and power in the context of generative text and its sources.
- Integration of Literary and Computational Skills
- The assignment combines elements of literary analysis with computational text generation. Students gain familiarity with generative text models, specifically Markov chains, while also engaging in deep literary critique of found texts and their ethical implications.
- Multidisciplinary Creative Output
- Students produce a cross-disciplinary work that emphasizes writing, aesthetics, and computation. The final project involves presenting their generated texts in a bound book or website, along with a reflective piece discussing the formal and ethical aspects of their work.
Find the full version of this assignment at the WAC Clearinghouse.