Socrates said that “it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration” (qtd. in Barfield 21). Today I ask you; what if Socrates was wrong? What if great poetry comes not from wisdom, instinct or inspiration but from a powerful, groundbreaking new technology invented by an NYU student in November 2014.
The name of this tool is Silver Orange. An innovative new software that will help writers of all ages to compose poems, limericks, raps, songs and much much more. Just imagine how much better Shakespeare’s sonnets would have been if he had not been worrying about rhyming? How much more powerful Eminem’s lyrics would have sounded if his mind had been free of the burden of thinking of new words to rhyme? Given time, Silver Orange will become the poets most vital tool, an appendage of their own brain. Enhancing and exciting creativity in millions of people worldwide.
Why do we need Silver Orange?
Kari Kraus talks about designing projects “less to understand the past than to imagine the future”, she says her point of view “is primarily prospective rather than retrospective” although she admits to drawing “extensively on history” (Kraus 97). This is what I aim to do with Silver Orange. In the past the word ‘poet’ has conjured up visions of a tortured artist sitting with paper and pen at an old wooden desk. And certainly some ardent poetry lovers will be initially sceptical of the idea that you could use technology to help create poetry, an art form that is meant to be “a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 6). But I would encourage these sceptics to look to the future. Silver Orange is not intended to in any way hinder creativity or make every poem formulaic. Instead, by helping with the rhyming process, it releases the poet from limits they may have encountered in the past, it will enhance creativity and make the poet free to create and explore. Imagine a runner who ran barefoot for years, and then imagine you gave this runner some expertly crafted running shoes. At first he may have his doubts, say that his craft is no longer pure, but soon he will see that he is able to take his craft above and beyond his past limitations with the help of these amazing new shoes. That is what Silver Orange will be to the poet. Once you read in full about Silver Orange, is will become clear that it is the next stage in the medium of poetry. Those who consider the poem a sacred vessel that comes straight from the human mind should consider the technological developments in the production of poetry that have been made so far. Since the invention of typesetting machines in the 1880’s industrialised publishing, poetry and the poem moved from being an old media object to a new media one (Manovich 30). Today all poetry is published and printed using new media technology requiring it to be typed onto a computer. Lev Manovich defines new media as an ‘image or a shape (that) can be described using a mathematical function’ (Manovich 27). Therefore, as it stands today, all published poetry is a product of new media. To think of poems as new media objects, it then does not seem a huge stretch to think of ways in which other new media objects can help these poems to be created.
In the 1970’s researchers attempted to use “high-level” automation of media creation to get computers to generate poetry or fiction (Manovich 32). What those researchers were ignoring was the fact that poetry requires human soul to succeed. Something that no matter how far technology progresses it will never be able to truly achieve. Poetry needs an author who is passionate about what they are writing and it relies on imagination and creativity. There is no way that a truly beautiful poem will ever be created by a computer alone but there is also no reason that the poet should abstain from the many tools technology possesses that could help them to advance in their work.
What does Silver Orange do?
At it’s core, Silver Orange will be a fairly basic software. A program that can be downloaded onto any computer. Silver Orange will be a “low-level” automation of media creation (Manovich 32), the program will respond to the author’s words by generating a list of possible rhymes using an internal comprehensive rhyming dictionary. The poet will simply open a new page on Silver Orange, enter their desired rhyme scheme and begin writing their poem.
Imagining the poet had selected an AABBCC rhyme scheme, on completing their first line and pressing the enter key, a list of words that rhyme with the last word of their sentence would appear in the right hand column. They would then proceed to choose a word from the list and compose the second line of the poem. This pattern would repeat until they felt their poem was complete. The poet will be able to choose from a number of different rhyme schemes as well as selecting modes such as ‘limerick’ or even ‘Seuss’ which will help the poet compose a poem in the style of poet Dr. Seuss.
Silver Orange will also have a ‘synonym’ function. If the poet has found that none of the suggested rhymes match his or her desires they will be able to switch to ‘synonym’ mode and a list of alternative words will appear where the rhymes used to be, the poet can then change the troublesome word and continue writing the poem.
As well as using low level automation of media creation, Silver Orange will rely heavily on new media’s increasingly ability to store and access enormous amounts of media material (Manovich 34). It will allow it’s user to tap into the expertise of other users. As Silver Orange develops it will track what words are most popular and these will move higher up in the list when words are listed. It will also develop around each individual user. The software will track what kinds of words the user normally chooses using a series of complex algorithms much like those used to filter Google searches. It will mould itself to the style of writing that the user adopts and will continue to grow, learn and become familiar with the poet that it aids.
How will it be designed:
We’ve talked in class about how important writing layout is and the layout of Silver Orange will aim to be clear, minimalist and remind the user of word processing documents they are used to. Kirschenbaum talks about how George R.R. Martin chooses the program WordStar to write his novels on as he likes it’s lack of distraction (Kirschenbaum 6). This is definitely a trend that is becoming more and more popular as writers choose to leave behind Microsoft Word and emigrate to more minimalist writing programs. Silver Orange will unavoidably have a number of ‘distractions’ as this is central to it’s function. But despite it’s extra features I want Silver Orange to feel as much like the technology that writers are used to composing with, making the transition from Word or other programs to Silver Orange simple and smooth. Users will be able to adjust the font, colour and formatting of their words to help make them feel at home with the technology. There are many different options regarding the layout of Silver Orange but ideally I would like it to be as distraction free as possible. Just the author, their poem and the genius tool that is the Silver Orange software.
A current technology that I look to as an inspiration is the Apple software Pages. The layout of Pages is minimalist however still offers a number of different formatting options. The right hand menu bar in Pages is laid out in a similar way to how I imagine the menu bar of Silver Orange to be and I think moving forward I Pages would definitely play a part in my design process. Were my idea to be picked I would also talk closely to the members of my team regarding the design of Silver Orange as I feel each individual as a different opinion regarding what kind of writing software they prefer and we would need to extensive research before deciding on the final layout.
Who will use Silver Orange and how will it be marketed?
As I’ve mentioned before I imagine at first poets will be skeptical about adopting Silver Orange to write their poetry. And while I am certain that given time and experience with the software they will come to adore it, poets are by no means the only market for this product. One way in which I plan to market Silver Orange is as an aid for people in creating poems for loved ones. Everyone has had a Mothers Day or a Valentine’s Day when they have wished to write a poem for someone and have not been able to think of anything. But with Silver Orange this will no longer be a problem. Silver Orange will also be extremely useful for writers of comedy poems or comedy songs. My brother is part of a sketch comedy group who often have to write comedic songs to perform and he has already told me that a tool like Silver Orange would be unbelievably valuable in his creative process. Similarly I feel writers of rap lyrics will be quick to adopt Silver Orange as in the past the music industry has embraced technology far more eagerly than the literary community. I would aim to market Silver Orange as a life long tool that creative users will come to rely on. I do not want to it to be a fad or something that people play around with once or twice and quickly forget. Therefore the marketing will need to have a certain elegance and class to it and not simply be marketed as the ‘next cool thing’.
The name of the program was chosen because ‘Silver’ and ‘Orange’ are two of the only words in the dictionary that do not rhyme with anything. I also felt that I wanted to give Silver Orange an abstract name so that in the future it would be something that was immediately associated with the software such as ‘Twitter’ or ‘Google’.The preliminary logo that I have designed emulates a lot of the key features that I want Silver Orange to emulate. A creative tool, one that can be used by everyone, and one that in the future will be seen as a landmark feature in the merging of writing and technology.
Works Cited:
Barfield, Raymond. The Ancient Quarrel Between Philosophy and Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2011. Print.
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. Track Changes, A Literary History of Word Processing. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2014. Early copy.
Kraus, Kari. “Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday.” Textual Cultures. Volume 8. Number 1 (2013) : 1-21. Print.
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. 2001. Print.
Wordsworth, William and Coleridge. Samuel Taylor. Lyrical Ballads & Other Poems. London: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 2002. Print.