Data

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Exif data, by Terry Freedman. This is the metadata of a photograph.

Exif data, by Terry Freedman. This is the metadata of a photograph.

The most recent article I wrote for a client is characterised by 24 pieces of data:

  • Started: 05 June 2020 15:09

  • Completed: 06 June 2020 11:39

  • Total time: 1.17 hours

  • Total earned, if client approves: I never discuss money.

  • Number of words in title: 5

  • Number of words in topic: 2

  • Number of words in document: 1212

  • Number of characters: 6887

  • Number of paragraphs: 24

  • Number of sentences: 54

  • Number of subheadings: 8

  • Number of links: 1

  • Reading level: 11th-12th grade (approximately 16 to 18 year-olds)

  • Main style: Normal

  • Font: Arial

  • Font size: 11

  • Top heading style: Title

  • Title font: Arial

  • Title font size: 26

  • Subheading style: Heading 2

  • Heading 2 font: Arial

  • Heading 2 font size: 16

  • Number of illustrations: 1

  • Number of versions: 2

More Oulipo-related articles:

Featured
Imaginary libraries
Imaginary libraries

How many ways can you organise a library?

I have been...
I have been...

Have you ever thought about all the jobs you’ve had, whether paid for or as a volunteer?

Pointless data
Pointless data

An article I wrote for a client is characterised by 24 pieces of data. More correctly: metadata. So what?

Applying constraints to enhance creativity
Applying constraints to enhance creativity

The standard advice for writers who are feeling uninspired or blocked is to allow your mind to wander where it will or to just start writing aimlessly to see what happens. Therefore to suggest the opposite approach, that of imposing some constraints on your thinking, seems completely counterintuitive.

A literature course I'd like to take if it were available: an Oulipian puzzle
A literature course I'd like to take if it were available: an Oulipian puzzle

This article contains a hidden message stating the title of my desired course. The message is hidden in plain sight using a well-established technique in the text, which has then been further processed using a standard Oulipo approach.

Creative writing using constraints: a bit of a post-mortem
Creative writing using constraints: a bit of a post-mortem

I think evaluations are very odd devices to be honest. Someone once “marked me down” on her evaluation of a one day course I was running on the grounds that the traffic was terrible.

Creative writing using constraints (a forthcoming course)
Creative writing using constraints (a forthcoming course)

This course will look at examples of constraints created by some of the Oulipo’s main proponents, with work including the Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets, the Metro Poem, and others. Course participants will have the opportunity to try out several techniques, and invent one or two of their own.

Escapism: the answer
Escapism: the answer

In Escapism: a 50 word prose poem I presented readers with a prose poem constructed in accordance with a constraint, and invited them to suggest what that constraint might be. Here’s the poem again, followed by the solution.

Escapism: a 50 word prose poem
Escapism: a 50 word prose poem

The following story has been written in accordance with a constraint, in true Oulipian style. The Oulipo is a writing movement based on constraints, such as omitting the use of a particular letter when composing a text.

Review: Oulipo and Modern Thought (Update)
Review: Oulipo and Modern Thought (Update)

If your interest in the Oulipo goes beyond simply trying out their techniques, and you wish to learn about the context in which it was conceived and the developments in went through, you will find this book very useful.

Copyright Terry Freedman. All rights reserved.