first contact
Reader nine is the only reader to address the notion of “artful manipulation and skilful honesty’ that was set out in the initial call out. Reader nine is interested in the relationship between the writer and herself, in pushing through comfort zones. She is interested in intimacy. Reader nine wants to lose and re-find herself in the narrative.
Reader nine sends her email address, full postal address, mobile number and web address.
Action: Assign reader nine an anonymous writer, furthering her interest in manipulation and honesty.
Action: Assign reader nine a character.
Reader nine’s character is ‘the cynic’.
second contact
Reader nine is glad to be part of the project, though she is unnerved by not knowing the identity of the writer. See calls herself ‘The Reader’ (capitalised) and addresses the Writer (capitalised) similarly.
third contact
Reader nine emails a reminder to the writer that the project has started and she is waiting for the writer to contact her. She offers excuses as to why the writer has not contacted her.
fourth contact
Reader nine replies in the style of the writer, using the same sentence structure. Reader nine has imagined the writer and offers a mild insult in her framing of her imagined correspondent.
Reader nine sends two documents with her reply – one image of a window with net curtains and another shot that could be a park or the view from the window.
fifth contact
In this correspondence, the writer has indicated some knowledge of reader nine (collated via google). Reader nine reacts strongly to this, disengaging from the story telling, and asking direct questions. Reader nine asks “the rules, how long we’re playing, are we playing with other people, your name, whose technology your using and where it is”. Reader nine states the power dynamic is “ a bit cliché”.
This creates an interesting dilemma – whether to answer her questions directly or to continue the story.
Action: as reader nine is still interested in where the narrative is going (she asks a question at the end of her email about the story), decide to attempt to answer/assuage some of her questions within the narrative.
sixth contact
The sixth response from reader nine is detailed in its critique of the project and mirrors the device of using the narrative to address the problems in the process. Reader nine has also ‘re-written’ the initial invitation, siting that the project was also looking at “preconceived notions of ownership and conceptions of what it is to be a man or a woman”. This was not stated in the initial invitation to engage in the project.
Reader nine offers excuses as to why the writer is not behaving in way she expects.
seventh contact
Reader nine engages again with the form and rules of the project, responding to the story and adding to the narrative in the same way the writer is doing.
eighth contact
Reader nine does not respond to the eight contact.
ninth contact
All readers were sent an email signalling the end of the exchange. Reader nine does not reply.
tenth contact
11 May 2010 – all Readers are sent an email asking them to comment on the information contained on the ’skilful honesty’ webpages. It is the first time they have seen the story in full, been made aware of the other readers and been informed about the other covert aspects of the project. The Readers will be invited to suggest ways to continue/discontinue the project.