Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary – N. Katherine Hayles
(excerpts)Fashionable Noise: On Digital Poetics – Brian Kim Stefans
(excerpts) The New Media Reader – Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Hannah Weiner's Open House
1. Create works of Digital Literature that promote insight into our process and present them to the Literary|Art communities in which we work.
2. Deepen our understanding of the craft of writing and the significance of its contemporary permutations: What/Why of/is "Electronic Writing".
3. Have theory and discussion/topics inform work and be of relevance to student projects.
4. Develop an appreciation for the scope, intermediality and possibility of Writing Digital Media.
1. Reflect on the writing process: Identify the defining characteristics of a medium and ask what is essential about writing for it.
2. Build a critical vocabulary to talk about our work and understand the traditions it emerges from.
3. Discuss/investigate how theorists and practitioners label their work. Debate the potentially limiting aspects of how new genres come to be defined.
4. Read artists' work, from a variety of media. Reflect on how readings impact our own practice and our notions of the "literary".
5. Learn new tools or improve on current skills, but keep focused on essentials of what is simple, effective and can be done in a timely manner.
This is a workshop and project-based course. A Response to class themes, in the form of a Project developed over the semester, will be the primary marker for assessment. Projects will be planned early and progress throughout the semester by means of class support and Brown's media production resources. Students will also be assessed on effort, participation and the Requirements below. In some cases, students want a personal assessment letter from the instructor at the end of the semester. This is useful for Brown transcripts of S/NC and for a general reflection on your development over the course of the semester. Should you desire this, I would be happy to oblige.
1. Respect Workshop Community
2. Attendance
3. Participation
4. Projects
5. "Readings" + 1 paragraph written or creative responses
6. Meet with me three times to discuss your project's progress, once before each final crit. Come to Office Hours, Make an Appointment, or attend Open Labs.
7. Labs
Especially in EWII, many people are exploring new territory or going out of their comfort zones. Let's have a supportive and respectful semester. Try to offer constructive criticism by considering each colleagues' personal goals of where they are coming from and trying to get to with their work.
I ask that everybody respect the established class time and required lab times. Typically in Literary Arts, missing more than 2 classes a semester could put you in danger of receiving a NC on the course.
*If you believe that you will miss any class time, please notify me as far in advance as possible. If your progress in class is falling behind, I will ask to meet with you at Office Hours to talk about how you are feeling about the class and your current project.
*If you are a part of Disability Support Services and require specific accommodations and/or have concerns about the class, please feel free to speak with me should you need appropriate course support for your documentation.
This course is a fourth of your studies this semester. Please keep the above in mind and put equal effort into this course as those that you take for a letter grade. This way you will get the most from the class and be an active and engaged member of the writing community established therein.
Complete one semester length project based on class themes that shows appropriate effort. Present Project at final public Writing Digital Media reading at McCormick. Engage with small prompt exercises during class and labs. Document project progress on our class blog at specific class milestones. We will have a class tech rehearsal before our final reading.
Each week we will have short reading assignments to fortify the ideas we are discussing in class and inspire our projects. To make sure we are all prepared to discuss the readings: You will be asked to respond to posts about the weekly readings on our class blog. These posts will be referenced in class as talking points and count towards your participation requirement. We are reading to think more critically and reflectively about our practice as artists. As such, the BLOG will serve as a repository for notes for each individual's project as well as paragraph response to weekly readings. Please post to the BLOG by 12noon on the Monday before class. I use these to prepare for class. Some suggestions for responses include: paragraph creative/critical response to weekly and/or 1 articulated point/question you would like to bring to the group.
I ask that you each meet with me individually at least three times this semester. You may meet with me by appointment, at Office Hours or Open Lab. If we can't meet during those times other arrangements can be made. The three required meetings occur at the beginning of the semester, at midterms and before final projects are due.
The Lab associated with this class will also be planned in response to survey's obtained from students. There will be a few required sections to augment class or to make room for guest artists. There will also be optional selections determined by student interest in learning specific media. "Open" labs will take place on days when there is no scheduled lab session. They will serve as an extension to my office hours with a focus on individual meetings to develop projects technically and conceptually. In addition to developing current skills, students are also encouraged to experiment with media outside of their comfort zone.
1. Comparing the writing process for mediation by screen vs. the process of composition for print.
2. What does it mean to "integrate media and message"?
3.Toward "Literary" as a broader definition.
4. Researching History/Foundation of writing practices from illuminated manuscripts to print and digital publication.
5.Examining roots in poetic print traditions of 60s and 70s.
6.Intermedia and hybridity in digital art. The diversity of approaches to Writing Digital Literature.
7.How can writing be "digitally born"?: critical debates in the field.
8.Are we headed towards Digital Literature as a genre?
9. Reflecting on our writing practice as well as that of established practitioners.
10.The transient nature of the medium: dissemination and preservation.
12.Exploring the interface and its relevance to the gesture of reading.
1.Print/Sound works of Stéphane Mallarmé, Jackson Maclow, John Cage,
Hannah Weiner, Caroline Bergvall, Jorge Luis Borges, The Oulipo
2.Hypertext
3."prehistoric" 80's work, Hypercard, Story Space ...
4.net.art, net lit, Flash
5.Interactive Fiction, Games, Forums
6.Code Work
7.Generative Literature
8.Text as Installation/Interaction
9.Video and Sound poetries
10. Online Public "Interventions" as Art