Sentaniz Nimerik

From Rhizome Artbase
2017
Description

Sentaniz Nimerik is an electronic literature work, an example of digital storytelling and digital poetry in Haitian Creole, or Kreyòl, as the language is called in Haiti. The storytelling basis for this work is “Sentaniz,” a well-known story in Kreyòl by Haitian storyteller Maurice Sixto, who died in 1984, leaving us a collection of some 50 stories (“lodyans”).  In Sentaniz Nimerik, Sixto’s story is retold in two parallel versions which are automatically generated via new framing statements by BIC, using JavaScript to omit different lines at random from a precompiled list.

2021

Sentaniz Nimerik se yon zèv literati sou baz enfòmatik. Se yon echantiyon kontribisyon enfòmatik nan kreyasyon pwezi ak istwa an kreyòl ayisyen.

Lang kreyòl Ayiti a pale nan yon kominote ki gen plis pase 14 milyon moun landan tou patou nan monn lan. Se lang nasyonal peyi d Ayiti ki gen anviwon 12 milyon moun ki pale kreyòl. Kreyòl ak franse (ki se 2 lang ofisyèl ann Ayiti) se 2 lang diferan ; se 2 lang ki gen pwòp vokabilè ak chapant pa yo.

Se BIC Tizon Dife ki kreye « Sentaniz Nimerik » soti nan enspirasyon BIC jwenn nan istwa « Sentaniz » Maurice Sixto. Lè Sixto mouri an 1984, li kite yon senkantèn lodyans nan patrimwàn nou. Sentaniz se youn nan lodyans ki pi popilè nan eritaj sa a. Pwojè « Sentaniz Nimerik » se yon koleksyon rimiks sou Sentaniz. Chak fwa ou vizite « Sentaniz Nimerik » epi w klike sou pwogram lan, w ap jwenn 2 nouvo vèsyon istwa a ki parèt an menm tan sou ekran an. Se òdinatè a ki pwodui nouvo vèsyon sa yo selon yon lis fraz BIC te mete nan pwogram enfòmatik la. Lojisyèl la sèvi ak JavaScript pou l retire divès liy o aza nan lis fraz ki chita nan baz done lojisyèl la.

Se an septanm 2017 nan MIT, pandan BIC Tizon Dife t ap vizite MIT, li kreye « Sentaniz Nimerik » an kolaborasyon ak Michel DeGraff ansanm ak Nick Montfort. BIC se yon chantè, konpozitè ak powèt. « BIC » se abrevyasyon pou twa mo angle sa yo : « Brain », « Intelligence », « Creativity » (egal : « Sèvèl », « Entelijans », « Kreyativite »). Non legal BIC se « Roosevelt Saillant ». Michel DeGraff, li menm, se pwofesè lengwistik nan MIT epi li se fondatè ak direktè Inisyativ MIT-Ayiti. Kanta Nick Montfort, li se yon powèt ; epi tou, li se pwofesè medya nimerik nan MIT.

BIC Tizon Dife, Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff
2021

Sentaniz Nimerik is an electronic literature work, an example of digital storytelling and digital poetry in Haitian Creole, or Kreyòl, as the language is called in Haiti.

Kreyòl has a community of more than 14 million speakers worldwide. It's Haiti's national language—with 12 million Kreyòl speakers. Kreyòl is not a variety of French (Haiti's other official language) and it is not mutually intelligible with Haitian French (or with any other variety of French).

The storytelling basis for this work is “Sentaniz,” a well-known story in Kreyòl by Haitian storyteller Maurice Sixto, who died in 1984, leaving us a collection of some 50 stories (“lodyans”).  In Sentaniz Nimerik, Sixto’s story is retold in two parallel versions which are automatically generated via new framing statements by BIC, using JavaScript to omit different lines at random from a precompiled list.

The work was created by singer, songwriter and poet BIC Tizon Dife in September 2017 at MIT in collaboration with Michel DeGraff and Nick Montfort.  “BIC Tizon Dife” is the artist’s name of Roosevelt Saillant. “BIC” stands for “Brain. Intelligence. Creativity.”  Michel DeGraff is professor of linguistics at MIT and the founder and director of the MIT-Haiti Initiative.  Nick Montfort is a poet and a professor of digital media at MIT.

BIC Tizon Dife, Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff
2021
Metadata
Variant History
outside link
2017
BIC Tizon Dife, Nick Montfort
static files
9 December 2021
file copy
Nick Montfort, Rhizome staff
video
17 December 2021
file copy
Michel Anne-Frederic DeGraff, Rhizome staff