More Reviews & another guest scholar "Twitter Session"

Our E-lit Review Series continued- 

Susan reviewed "Nio" - a sound poem, a kinetic visualization, or perhaps even a kind of interactive musical instrument in its own right.  Consisting of loops/threads made up of letters and voiced-over sounds that are layered over each other.  The result is a circular synthesis of image, voice, and text.  This piece definitely purports a complexity to the notion of "textuality", although the cohesiveness of any apparent narrative is somewhat difficult to apprehend.  "Nio" seems to provoke a playful consideration of the relationship between sound, sight, and text.  In this piece, the reader is most definitely a "creator", as the interactivity involved is clearly a primary aspect of the work.  Susan experienced some "technical difficulties" when she proceeded with her review presentation, simply because the software needed was not accessible on the classroom computer that was being used with the projector.  Still, most of us had our laptops, so we were able to follow along with her thorough descriptive explanation of the piece.  But that got us thinking - in many ways technology can fail or frustrate us - it can also present significant limitations.  When a reader receives a prompt to download new software, this is sometimes a discouraging break in the momentum/flow of the reading experience.  And what about "error" messages? Susan's "glitch" in loading the text on the classroom computer became an important segue for us to reflect about the way in which we are at the mercy of the technology as e-lit readers, as well as the ephemeral nature of e-lit.  E-literature is bound to technology, and as such, it faces particular challenges in terms of preservation & the longevity of accessibility.  As we all know, software platforms are phased out so quickly with newer software eclipsing the former.  What will happen to the literature (and literary traditions) created on transient platforms?  Must we archive e-texts along with the technology (hardware & software) necessary to run/read them?  The "problem" of e-lit preservation is significant one, and Susan's technical glitch, although frustrating for her at that moment, lead us to collectively contemplate the role of technology and the broad reaching implications of e-lit ephemerality.

Kimberley then took us through the dynamic and youthful text "Inanimate Alice"- a digital and (somewhat) interactive novel. She explained that this work was produced collaboratively, and that it was recognized in the field as "young adult"e-lit.  There are available "teaching guides" for teachers who choose to introduce this text in the primary or secondary school setting.  Kimberley explained to us that children's literature is of future professional interest to her, and she was drawn to this particular piece with this in mind.  "Inanimate Alice" is a serialized digital fiction project tracking the coming of age of a young girl. Alice is an "army brat" forced to move to different military locations as her father is re-stationed in various parts of the world throughout her childhood.  She is of mixed race/cross-cultural identity, and in the first installment of this series, she is seeking her father who seems to have disappeared.  With the sound of a constant "static" din framing her entire story, we enter into a technologically enhanced but fragmented postmodern reality.  The tone of the text is frenetic and fast paced.  Prominent themes seem to include: nature vs. technology, globalization, exile/displacement, the question of home, the question of intimacy and connectedness in the 21st century, etc.  This piece seemed to us more accessible to a broad audience, and it seemed apparent how this would make an fitting introduction to e-lit for younger readers.

For the second half of class we had another fantastic "guest scholar" twitter discussion with Dr. Leonardo Flores.  Dr. Flores, editor of I ♥ E-Poetry, joined us from Bergen Norway, where he is currently a Fulbright scholar.  The topic of our discussion was the e-lit creative process.  I have "storified" some of our exchange, capturing some of the threads of our overall discussion.  I was not able to include all of our tweets (which were quite voluminous), but I think this highlights some of our overarching concerns.  In addition, we were also joined by e-lit author & scholar Stacey Mason, who also shared ideas/resources with us.  A sincere thank you to both of them for contributing to our class.  Here is my "storify" of our twitter discussion.

For next week:

Class will begin with two more reviews -  Esther will review "Strings"  and Stephanie M. will review "Red Riding Hood".

Project 2 is due in class.  Please post the link to your project on your blog, along with your "abstract" and any instructions to your readers.

Be prepared to present your project in class during our "lightening round" presentations - (5-10 minute overview for the class of what you have created, with your text on the overhead screen).

Great class last night everyone.  Have a creative & productive week.  I am looking forward to reading/seeing/hearing your new work next week.