Summer B 2004 Hypertext Class
This class meets on Fridays (July 16, July 23, July 30, and August 6) from 12noon-1:45
The Hypertext Fiction mini-class will be a collaborative effort to create one large hypertext work that flows consistently together. The class will explore creating this hypertext work, and then we will discuss how we can teach writing hypertext fiction to our other classes. The eventual goal for this class is the collaborative creation of a hypertext fiction for submission to Eastgate or another publisher, and a collaboratively written article on how to teach this collaborative writing process.
If you find any useful sources for this class or on writing or teaching hypertext fiction, please email me so I can list those here for reference.
Possible Project Elements
- Structured in relation to an object, like a quilt
- Structured thematically based on an existing work (choose your own adventure)
- Structured around different perceptions of a singular event (so the space tells the story, like Joyce's Twelve Blue and like revisionist fairytales where minor characters tell their tales)
- Orienting around an image or metaphor (labyrinth)
- Because the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series is often the simple example given to new readers of hypertext or other interactive works, we could create our own "Choose Your Own Adventure" style story as hypertext.
- baby sun idea - illuminating, drying, making things grow, ruining
them through a magnifying glass
sun focuses like the reader's act of reading - and illuminates
macoroid novel where a brain is launched into space and does readings of things, brain grows new organs and learns new things emphasis on language
sun in a cyclical motion, so light on different parts
mythological stories relating to the sun: icarus (book mumbo jumbo -- sun with only 1 aspect, here baby sun has limited powers, but it adds a plurality)
newspaper and location - where - decentering narrative b/c not following the character, but in the past
video game playing within story
interface of the sun as an interface
multiple days with weather
start with just the sun - music notes played in relation to words on the page
- Before Class:: Homework
- Develop at least one possible idea for the story construction. This could include buying or checking out from the library 2 "Choose Your Own Adventure" style books for background material for the project content. For the hypertext form, check out the titles on Eastgate.com or come to the IMAGE Lab to read/view the titles. Also, be thinking of possible navigation structures and metaphors by which to organize our pages. Also, check out Deena Larsen's Marble Springs hypertext on the web.
- Day 1:: Discussion and Project Planning
- Today we will discuss the books and hypertexts read in preparation
for this class and we will plan the basic premises of our hypertext
and our methods for writing the hypertext. We will decide today of the
theme and basic navigation structure for our work. As we do so, we
will take notes on how we can apply this method to a class.
Homework: Write 6 pages on your section. The sections are (going with the baby sun theme):
Cathlena (dawn)
Aron (midday)
Laurie (dusk)
Jonas (night)
Orienting images: sample 1 and sample 2 - Day 2:: Evaluation and Integration of Pages
- Today, we'll all show each other the pages we've written and we'll
load them into one communal area and then we'll begin hyperlinking
them together. We will also be revising, adding, and removing pages
based on our evaluation of the pages.
Homework: Write 4 more basic pages in a style such that they can all be linked in any way. Bring these for the next class. Incorporate 1 picture into these pages, or make 1 page of only pictures - these pictures must be your own work. - Day 3:: Begin Final Review
- Today, we'll begin the process of suturing all of these pages together and evaluating the project as a whole. We'll certainly need a good deal of revision at this point, but here we'll evaluate our project to see if it's viable as a hypertext. If so, we'll decide what edits are needed before submitting it for publication/linking.
- Day 4:: Project Notes
- We'll use this time to collect our notes on our overall project and to plan our writing schedule for the article on teaching hypertext fiction. We'll also use this time to identify and list sources for our article.
References
- http://www.eliterature.org/
- Selected E-lit works
- trAce
- Teaching Hypertext
- Article on Teaching Hypertext in Kairos
- Syllabi for Teaching Hypertext
- Essays on Hypertext
Submission Concerns
CFP: *LEA Special Issue: New Media Poetics and the Digital Prose*
The Leonardo Electronic Almanac (ISSN No: 1071-4391) is inviting papers and artworks that deal with New Media Poetics and the Digital Prose. This category includes multimedia digital works (image/text/sound) as examined through the lens of writing, specifically any of those concerns central to avant-garde poetry rather than narrative or prose: reader as active participant in the ergodic sense, the use of chance or automatism inherited from movements such as Oulipo (highlighting the literalized metaphor which automatism becomes here), and the complex relations between the author, reader, and computer-as-writer/reader which evolve from that interaction. Any work that foregrounds the medium as such (for example, web poetry that incorporates code) is also welcome. We would particularly like to emphasize the poetic of new media writing as well, that is, the point where aesthetics intersects with politics to create dynamic attempts at social change.
LEA encourages international artists / academics / researchers / students to submit their proposals for consideration. We particularly encourage authors outside North America and Europe to send proposals for articles/gallery/artists statements. Proposals should include: 300 word abstract / synopsis, a brief author biography, any related URLs, and contact details. Deadline for proposals: 15 Aug 2004. Please send proposals or queries to: Tim Peterson
Citations
Participants
- Cathlena Martin (cathlena@ufl.edu)
- Jessica Espinosa (jespinos@ufl.edu)
- Jonas Williams (jonasww@ufl.edu)
- Zach Whalen
- Sean Fenty
- Aron Pease (apease@english.ufl.edu)