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(Chime. Stage. Click. Lights. Trusty table. Belligerent briefcase. Flurry of paper, paraphernalia, and archontic impulse. The Barker springs. Upright, feet.) BARKER: ELECTRONIC BOOK REVIEW is here to bring you— (Inhale.) Articles! (Inhale.) Meditations! (Inhale.) GLOSSES AND INSINUATIONS! (Stark white spotlight. Automaton imitation. Hard jaw.) BARKER: As an non-AI language model, I am able to introduce you to Nick Montfort’s latest offering with this attempt at both surrealism and summary: (Pause.) the socio-cultural collective unconscious emerges fettered by $2 mal[content]ed moderators to be… continue

(The tick-tick-tick of a counter climbing up as messages are sent. The ding of an inbox visible to only one person. The looming crumple of an email automatically sent to ‘Trash’. A digital veil rises, allowing the brief imitation of contact to be made. Here, THE BARKER stands, center stage.) BARKER: This month, in electronic book review: (The lights drop. A pale blue spotlight bursts into life.) BARKER: Jussi Parikka, Paolo Patelli, and May Ee Wong delve into their captivating post-digital narrative work, The Environmental Audiotour, in “Ecocritique between Landscape and Data: The Environmenta… continue

(A click as an unopened email is opened. A virtual curtain rises. The Barker stands alone at center stage, but we are aware of a larger editorial team working in the wings.) BARKER: Another month. Another issue. Another mailshot. (Darkness, before a hard, white spotlight pierces the gloom. The Barker stands in sharp relief.) BARKER: Data is power! Stephan Paur illuminates the issues surrounding the (in)formation of identities in Infopower and the Ideology of Extraction! (The lighting shifts, whites becoming a mix of greens and turquoises reminiscent of an affiliate’s branding. The Barker waits… continue

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED [SUN/MON/TUES]DAY TO BRING YOU THIS MESSAGE Winter or summer, rain or shine, night or day, you can rely on the electronic book review to deliver cutting edge academia straight to your inbox! I’m TEGAN PYKE—ebr’s latest co-editor and PhD researcher in Digital Culture at the University of Bergen—and I’m here to give you the inside scoop! Join us this month for— MORE OFF CENTER! Are you a scholar interested in the interplay of creative practice and research? An academic lost in the limbo of invisible labor? A disaffected millennial looking for inspiration in… continue

Following last month’s essays about the impact of generative AI on digital writing come two articles that further address the evolving states of creativity in a rapidly changing digital world. Stuart Moulthrop’s review of Steve Tomasula’s Ascension explores the work’s cybernetic and apocalyptic dimensions. Moulthrop traces its subterranean, encyclopedic lineage through print fictions like Joyce’s Ulysses, Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy, Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, DeLillo’s Underworld, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth… continue