Algorithmic Adaptations – Writing With and Against the Intelligent Machine

I will outline my understanding of how writing through digital media extends the practice of self-translation (an area which has recently attracted attention in translation studies) and writing in general. As an example of technogenesis, writing with and against the intelligent machine opens a wide spectrum of interaction where the human actor both adapts to and resists the influence of the digital media. Writing through this type of translation becomes a self-reflexive practice, in which the translation functions as a mirroring device that prompts the writer to return to the “original” and then again to the “translation.” Ultimately, the outcome is a back-and-forth process in which the binary between original and translation collapses. (Source: Abstract ICDMT 2016)