Versification as a key to conversational transformation?

Transforming the Art of Conversation (Part #7)

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What might the above connotations of "verse" -- especially the sense of turning together -- then suggest with respect to:

• conversation with others?
• global conversation, in both physical and cognitive senses?
• conversation with the environment?
• conversation with oneself?

Given the potential implications of "verse" in "conversation", does the art of "versification" then offer clues to the art of transformative conversation, as previously discussed (Poetry-making and Policy-making, 1993; Poetic Engagement with Afghanistan, Caucasus and Iran: an unexplored strategic opportunity? 2009) ? The styles of poetry are inspired to varying degrees by rules of versification (rhyme, meter, etc). These are somewhat analogous to the rules of harmony elaborated to a far higher degree in music -- with its own variety of styles. These might well reframe articulation of strategic issues of the future (cf. A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006).

The musical association is of value given that how music is played "together" -- through the voices of different instruments, possibly allowing for improvisation -- offers indications for possibilities of "con-versation" typically absent from poetry alone. For example, from the perspective of avant-garde composer Vinko Globokar, consider the implications, as a metaphor for group operation of his following description of a piece of music generated through the improvisation rules he provided (Drama and Correspondences, Harmonia Mundi 20 21803-1). Correspondences are based on the principle of mutual psychological reactions and attempts to 'join' the four participants with each other and to make them increasingly dependent on each other. There are four levels:

1. The musical material is entirely fixed, but the choice of instruments is left open.
2. Each musician possesses only incomplete instructions. In order to be able to play, each musician must search for missing material in the performance of the neighbour (pitches from the first, length from the second, etc) and react to it in different ways: imitate, adapt himself to it (if need be, further develop), do the opposite, become disinterested or something else (something 'unheard of').
3. The composed material is completely substituted by the description of the possibility arising from the reactions of the performers to their neighbours.
4. On the last level, it is left up to the performers whether to cease playing or to continue; for not even the selection of reactions is now necessary

The possibilities have been discussed separately in relation to polyphony (Clues to patterns of dialogue from song, 2011). In the case of poetry, such possibilities of multiple voices (and improvisation) are more commonly explored in some folk traditions (cf. Strategic Dialogue through Poetic Improvisation: web resources and bibliography, 2009). No equivalent is to be found in global discourse (cf. All Blacks of Davos vs All Greens of Porto Alegre: reframing global strategic discord through polyphony? 2007).

Of great potential interest is the extent to which "versification" as a metaphor could become a driver for search engine development and its capacity to engender memorable transformative conversation. Development of search algorithms, most notably that of Google, is recognized as being highly competitive because of its ability to generate advertising revenue. Engendering transformative conversation might well be recognized as being only an incidental objective of social networking, as could be contrasted with earlier possibilities (Group Questing or Twelving, 1976). With the intense cultivation of short-termism, enhancing integrative collective memory may indeed be of the lowest priority.

It could however be argued that in a period of rapid erosion of collective confidence, consequent on its abuse, transformative conversation could constitute a new kind of vehicle for the confidence required to engage meaningfully with the future (as discussed below ***). How then might search engines and groupware enable forms of conversation recognized to be dynamically integrative as "strange attractors" -- in ways transcending the preoccupation with commodified products?

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