Title: 3‑D Haiku: Introducing Students to a New Poetic Genre, Sanford Tweedie, Ph.D. and Michael Kolitsky, Ph.D., Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ� 08028

 

Abstract: Transforming traditional 2-D Haiku to interactive 3-D VRML-created poetic "cubes" in multimedia-enriched cyberspace worlds challenges students' notions of poetry and explores the role of technology in creative writing.

 

Longer Description:

 

Among college-level courses, anecdotal evidence suggests that creative writing classes are one of the last technology-free bastions.� In this presentation, we discuss how Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) can be used to affect students' perceptions of genre (in this case, poetry, specifically the traditional Japanese Haiku) and their understanding of reading as a two-dimensional process.

 

For the first time, the writing of poetry can be expanded from solely the two-dimensional area of the page to the three-dimensional space of the virtual world afforded by the utilization of VRML.� The addition of a z-axis to the x - y writing coordinates permits four Haiku written with the same middle line to be arranged in 3-D space in the form of a poetic matrix or cube of poetry.� Each of the four Haiku may be read in their traditional line order , i.e., line 1 = five syllable line, line 2 = seven syllable line, line 3 = five syllable line, with each Haiku positioned in either a vertical, horizontal, right to left diagonal or a left to right diagonal so that all four Haiku share in space the same middle line.� Additionally, by arranging these four Haiku in three-dimensional space, it is now possible in this cube of poetry to read the poetic cube's sides which are formed by the first and third lines of the four Haiku which contain five syllables each.� These "side poems" are not Haiku but can be written to have meaning which adds a higher order of complexity to the process of writing 3-D Haiku because not only is it challenging to write four Haiku with the same middle line but one also now must consider that the first and third lines may appear on one of the four sides of a cube of poetry and could also be read as a poem.

 

VRML scripts have been written to permit each of the four Haiku to have its own color in order to distinguish one Haiku from another.� The shared middle line was scripted to animate in a color sequence similar to the colors chosen for each of the Haiku in a poetic cube.� This was done so that it would be easier for the reader to understand that all the Haiku shared the same middle line.� Netscape Communicator 4.5 with a CosmoPlayer 2.1 plugin was used throughout this study.� The "rotate" tool in the CosmoPlayer dashboard was employed to rotate the poetic cube so that all the lines of poetry could be viewed in three-dimensional array.� The best perspective for reading a poetic cube could be achieved by rotating and twisting the cube slightly to the right or the left.� Without rotating the poetic cube, it is difficult to read the 3-D Haiku because in a head-on view, all the text lines are layered three deep along the z-axis.

 

Because the virtual worlds created by VRML can be made as large as one likes, it is possible for many students to place their own written Haiku in poetic cubes located throughout the virtual world at different x, y, z coordinates.� In VRML, it is also possible to script various viewpoints of the virtual world and by using the viewpoint option offered by the CosmoPlayer dashboard, it is easy for the person reading the Haiku cubes to move from one poetic cube to another.� In a sense, one could liken the person reading the poetic cubes as a virtual traveler in cyberspace moving from one small island of poetry to another.� A metapoetic form may also be possible with many poets collaborating to write about a similar topic and locating their poetic cubes within the same region of the virtual world to form a type of poetic constellation.�

 

The VRML script also can be used to encourage collaborative poetry writing by having four students each write a Haiku using the same middle line.� Then, when each students' contribution to one poetic cube is configured, the side lines composed of first and third Haiku lines can be read with an air of serendipity in whether or not the lines actually appear to be a "poetic".� This serendipitous process appears to contain an element of the "ah ha" experience when the creative moment brings together ideas, observations or elements that have heretofore not been in juxtaposition with each other and the new perspective provided by that new way of seeing is interpreted as a "being creative".�

 

Because most students have not had experience using VRML script, an HTML-based interface is being developed for ease of input of Haiku lines.� The interface is being designed as a CGI script which writes VRML script anew following the addition of the Haiku lines and display the Haiku in a 3-D world using CosmoPlayer.� The position of the lines in the poetic cube and the color of each Haiku is also able to be chosen by the student user.

 

In order to study how students in an introductory creative writing course reacted and altered their perceptions, Haiku was introduced in a three-stage process.� First, students were asked to complete a questionnaire before the introduction of Haiku in the course that was designed to assess their knowledge of Haiku, the characteristics� of the form, their feelings about Haiku and whether they find Haiku liberating or limiting.�

 

Second, as part of a half-semester study of poetry, a member of the faculty who is a well-published poet with extensive experience in writing Haiku was brought to the class.� She spent her 50-minute long presentation introducing students to the traditional form of Haiku, showing them examples, and prompting them to begin their own Haiku.� After this session, the questionnaire was administered a second time.

 

In the third phase, each student was asked to write three Haiku, placed in a group of four students where they shared, discussed and critiqued their Haiku.� They then picked one middle line and each of the four students wrote a single Haiku using that middle line.� The next meeting was held in a computer lab and each group of four students placed their Haiku in a 3-D poetic form to configure a cube of poetry in cyberspace.� The original questionnaire was again administered to discover any change in their attitude about Haiku and if technology had a role in that process.� A qualitative review of the surveys indicates that student perception underwent a change.� While students viewed traditional Haiku as a genre that is creatively limiting, they found the 3-D form to be liberating.� The web site located at http://users.rowan.edu/~kolitsky may be visited to view examples of 3-D Haiku poetic cubes.