aisyalam

At last I finally have a working prototype of the database I came to Malaysia to create, a fact that pleases me immensely. Keh Siong, without whom it wouldn’t have happened, came to my office with a cd-rom of working contents in the early afternoon. There are some minor imperfections, like odd carats ( > > > ) at the beginning of each poem, and the display “cell” for the poems are too small, but otherwise I’m relieved and happy to have something—an example of the type of textual organism I’d like to develop in the future. A lot of effort, a lot of process, and much technical know-how that’s new to me went into it, and a working poetic mechanism has emerged. I spent all afternoon trying to get the online version of the database to work, to no avail: the sound files (all less than 6 megabytes) simply will not load. All of the files (.doc, .jpg, .mp3) are online and can be read/seen/heard as stand-alone works, but the device that brings them together as one is not working correctly. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the coding and organization, but some flaw somewhere in the complex is preventing it from functioning properly. The presentation begins at http://web.njit.edu/~funkhous/13states/ - I do need to write a readme file, and do some other touch-ups, but the thing is off the ground and will continue to be nurtured and refined (for instance, eventually I will widen the presentational area so that the poems—particularly the acrostic sequences at the beginning—appear correctly). When I get back to NJIT I will begin to look for programming collaborators, and am open to working with anyone who has knowledge in database operations. Originally I’d planned to learn how to do it on my own, but as Prof. Somnuk (an IT professor at MMU) advised, it is better that I focus on content and let someone else handle the functionality (with my input and direction, of course). In any case, if you happen to take a look and have concrete ideas about how to make the present device work better, or want to get a cd-rom copy to tinker with, let me know and I’ll be happy to send one.

I’ll have nearly a full schedule of work next week, including a two hour session with the Creative Studies students whose work was part of my show last week, before heading to Singapore to lecture at the National University there (which is immediately followed by a trip to Penang to make a presentation at the USM Museum). Though I’ve completed most of what I set out to accomplish during this other-worldly adventure, there are still a few things to do—like refining the lectures, and preparing documents for an art exhibition (poems & images on display) that opens in KL on July 15 and two other performances. Apparently, some of my friends/students are going to make an effort to produce a video of the materials I presented in the performance last week too—it’ll be interesting to see what becomes of this possibility.