Christopher Funkhouser

Digital (electronic) literature, Interactive Audio Production, Document Design.

In general, my research at present explores Digital Poetry, Podcast Audio Production, Contemporary Literature, and Hypertext/Hypermedia Pedagogy.

Computer and network technologies have expanded the objects and forms of inquiry in the Humanities, writing, and the Arts. Scholars investigating these contemporary developments therefore must be defined through a multidisciplinary framework. My research engages not only with Digital Arts but also with Creative Writing and Literature. In order for a broader awareness of such innovative developments to be understood, significant historical and imaginative investigations are necessary. I have, therefore, taken on, as my primary task, the responsibility of becoming one of the researchers who lights a documentary path for others who explore and engage with these new literacies. Because technology continues to evolve and affect nearly every aspect of human activity, my research as a scholar, artist, and teacher investigates the disciplines of reading, writing, and digital media along a range of modalities.

Both of my books provide overviews of an artistic culture that situates writing in relation to digital technology and media. These books blend traditional and inventive approaches to analytical criticism, and deliver detailed, academic documentary studies on forms of electronic writing. As I study what occurs within my academic discipline, I am inspired to discover what possibilities digital media holds for writers, editors, and performers. Since 2015, my research focuses primarily on interactive digital audio, a practice I have been involved with since 1991. I create inventive poetic works for computer screens, auditorium stages, and also use hypermedia and the Web to convey many types of information to students. Research conducted within my primary areas of study is central to the courses I teach at NJIT.