Joe reviewed the intriguing interactive fiction entitled "Whom the Telling Changed". Joe described that from the beginning of this textual experience, the reader/player does not know him or herself, doesn't even know his/her gender, but he/she is immersed in a community that he/she must interact with in order to gain knowledge of oneself and the surrounding world. He also noted that you have a choice whether to enter into this world by reading the instructions, or choosing to forgo the instructions. The reader also has a choice of whether to read through the interactive fiction with a specific words tagged and highlighted, or to skip this emphasis. The text is prompt based - you type in your response, and you move forward in the narrative. Joe described this text as "a story about stories" in a sense, with all points leading to "the telling" - a mythical/timeless account at the center of the community you find yourself in the midst of. He also noted that there is a clear emphasis on reader response and reader control, and he shared with us the extensive data driven research the author did in order to understand the reader experience of his text. This seemed to pose new questions about an "e-lit" approach to reader response. To sum it up, Joe suggested that this text was profound, and an effective "exploration of the human condition".
Andria reviewed the flash narrative entitled "Girls Night Out". She explained that she was personally drawn to the pastoral images of elegant horses that make up the opening interface (as she herself was a rider when she was young). But she soon revealed to us very effectively that this story is not what initially meets the eye. It is in fact a dark account of unsolved mysteries involving open land in Texas where several young women disappeared while horseback riding. The poem is effective in that it uses the flash effect to fade out a calm scene of riding through the woods, transformed into the dark fragments of a sinister murder - all through lexia. Andria highlighted how the three primary entry points into the narrative (entitled "poem", "author's note", and "shards") seem to be connected, and yet disjointed, just like the mystery of these real life murders themselves. This text is like a puzzle with many pieces missing, enhancing the overall invocation of a murder mystery with vague clues and only traces left behind. Andria also noted that the flash transitions increased the experience of suspense. Andria did a great job exploring the provocations within this haunting narrative.
After the reviews, we briefly discussed Project 2 this evening which has a deadline of April 16th. We will spend he second half of class next week discussing your progress and process with this assignment. The following are some resources to explore when considering what tools to choose in developing your second piece of electronic literature:
- Here is a video that gives an overview of three free animation/video programs - animoto, photostory 3, and Windows movie maker:
The link for this site is: http://youtu.be/iIkn2pl4krs
- This video explains how to animate a story using Powerpoint:
Here is the link for this site as well: http://youtu.be/PihHZF732BY.
- PowerPoint, Animoto, and Keynote will allow you to make words and images dance across a screen, and Prezi is another excellent and free option to play around with. Think of Prezi ("The Zooming Presentation Editor") as PowerPoint 'on steroids'.
- Here is a link to the electronic literature "Authoring Software" site - a resource for teachers and students of new media writing, who are exploring what authoring tools to use. In particular, the "Tools & Applications" page has an excellent list of links to the most popular and accessible digital authoring applications.
- Here is a link to a site which features free "text generator" software (Xara 3D Text Generator). If you are thinking of developing a poem with flash animation and 3D effects, this might be one way to go. And remember, if you google "free text generator" you will see many options to play around with. There are also many flash tutorials, so remember to "google it".
- Here is another comprehensive digital story resource entitled "How To Create Simple Digital Stories" that provides links to tutorials and descriptions of different software platforms including - iMovie, MovieMaker, Photostory, and Audacity.
- Remember everyone - TAKE TIME TO TINKER!
For next week:
We are honored to have Dr. Leonardo Flores, Associate Professor of English at The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, join our class next week for our second "connected learning session". Check out this short video as an "introduction" - Dr. Flores is currently Digital Culture Fulbright Scholar based in Bergen, Norway. He will be tweeting with us (from Norway) from 6:00 to 7:00pm EST during our next class period (Tuesday April 9th). As you know, the former twitter session with Prof. Gould was very exciting for all of us, and I am sure you will agree that it "opened up" our conceptual/theoretical engagement with e-lit. With that in mind, for our next "guest scholar" twitter round we will speak with Dr. Flores specifically about the e-lit creative process. I asked Dr. Flores to offer us some guidance on the more "nuts & bolts" aspects of creating e-lit, and he has graciously agreed to give us some some pointers and resources. He knows that you will be in the midst of working on Project #2 for class.
Be prepared for next week's class workshop on Project 2. For your blog next week:
1. Choose the software you would like to use in creating your next piece. Write about that choice explaining briefly why you decided to go with that application. "Play around" with the software, and develop some initial foundation for your project that you may build upon in the week before deadline (April 16).
2. Write an early outline of the narrative/text/poem you will be creating. Describe the intended content for your piece, along with the style and design features you would like to invoke.
3. Prepare a question (or a few) to pose to Dr. Flores during our twitter session.
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