Multiplicity Tie In

Layered Compilation. Hayles characterizes elit as being layered while Calvino speaks of the persistence of literature as a system that conditions other systems. Birds exemplifies both of these ideas in that it is the layering of media on top of one another (which is in turn code, which is in turn 1’s and 0’s) and it is also exhibits a self conditioning feedback loop.

Rather than the flatness of regular literature which is 2 dimensional at best (the actual text and the meaning behind it [arguably vast as it may be]) elit may be multi-dimensional.

To Infinity and Beyond

Multiplicity Elit

Birds. Birds Singing Other Birds’ Songs by Maria Mencia is a game of sorts where the user enables any combination of 13 different ‘bird songs’ which then create a bird on the backdrop. The bird sings a song and loops until the user disables it. 
The birds themselves are formed using words, the words are the phonemic representation of the sound they make, and the sound itself is reconstructed by human singers. In this way there are a multitude of dimensions to each bird. The first dimension comes from the sound the bird makes, which is then turned into a word, which subsequently forms the body of the bird forming a complete circle. The animations and sounds are toggled completely by the user, so a feedback loop is created where the user enables a sound. That sound may become cacophonous if more sounds are added until the user shuts down some sounds. The loop is complete when the user re-enables sounds.
The interaction of the user with the site is impossible outside the realm of eliterature, as are the animations. The work itself would be lifeless without the animation and the sound.

All Aflutter

Multiplicity Analogy

Platform Virtualizations. When one operating system just isn’t enough, turn to platform virtualization. A computer’s architecture (currently the most common is Intel’s x86) is meant to handle only 1 operating system at a time, but after installing a thin client a user can install another operating system to share the physical resources of the machine. This allows one operating system to ‘host’ a ‘guest’ operating system. 
As a metaphor virtualization allows for an infinite number of elements within elements to exist. This is analogous to how a work of literature can be fleshed out in almost infinite detail. The recursive nature of a platform run in a platform run in a platform (etc.) is layered but within the context of the machine it is being run on. More interestingly, virtualization allows different operating systems to be run concurrently on one machine.

Multiplicity Emblem

Starfish Regeneration. Starfish have the amazing ability (curse?) to regenerate lost rays (arms) and, in the case of a few extraordinary species, are able to regenerate the body and subsequent rays from just a single ray. This ability for a segment to expand and become the body relates closely to Calvino’s description of Multiplicity.
In the most literal sense starfish are able to multiply themselves after having limbs severed and are therefore a perfect emblem for multiplicity. Metaphorically ‘dissecting’ a starfish will grant more specimen to study, and further dissecting that specimen yet again creates more material.

Multiplicity Intro

Multiplicity is the ability of literature to be analyzed ad infinitum. It is the detail within the detail within the detail that adds layers upon layers and thus compounds meaning. Conversely multiplicity is the ability to be singular and, while not shallow, obvious from the surface. As a plot convention multiplicity can be expressed in novels such as “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” (Italo Calvino) which begins in one story and then within that story starts a new story etc. Similarly, Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of a Shrew” is a play within a play.
Multiplicity is that attribute of literature that allows for a sort of universal physics. It allows the simplest of details to connect and interconnect with myriads of disparate yet somehow related information. In this way no work is ever fully fleshed out, but on the flip side, each work stands as its own node in the massive network that is language no matter the length or depth of the piece.