hypermedia novel

Nowadays minds tend to be nomad and bodies tend to have a sedentary lifestyle. We may dare formulate another paradox: if orality went together with nomadism, and writing with sedentarism, perhaps that is the reason why e-writing is using orality as a model for communication. In any case, we should be aware of metaphors we use. Within the process of converting the digital medium to a privileged space for information, communication and culture (in this sequence), we observe that two of the greatest impacts on literature arising from technology have been, in the first place, electronic editions for didactic and scientific purposes, and, secondly, the advent of digital literature, that is, literary works that have been created specially for the computer. The editors, Amelia Sanz and Dolores Romero are both lecturers at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Dr. Sanz has developed theoretical reflections on key concepts of twentieth century critical theory, such as intertextuality, systemic approaches, interculturality and hypertextuality. She is coordinator of the research group Literaturas Espanolas y Europeas del Texto al Hipertexto (LEETHI) and director of the E-learning Programme at the Faculty of Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid. Dolores Romero has published the following books: Orientaciones en Literatura Comparada (1998), Una relectura del fin de siglo en el marco de la Literatura Comparada (1998), Naciones literarias (2006) and Seis siglos de poesia espanola escrita por mujeres (2006). She is Chair of the Research Committee on Comparative Literature in the Digital Age (CLDA) of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) and the Vice-president of the International Commission on UNESCO-EOLSS Comparative Literature in the Digital Age.

Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that there are at least eight different types of intelligence. Due to genetic variation and personal experiences, no two people have the same combination of intelligences. These do not only signal the way we interpret and cope with the world around us but the way we react to it. It is no coincidence that Reader Oriented Theories focus on the role of the reader in processing and interpreting text and not solely on textual perception. As readers and students of literature, the act of interpreting is key to understanding; but limited by outdated methodologies of assessment the opportunity to demonstrate what has been learned is practically bound to their linguistic intelligence. With the change of medium, from paper to screen, literature has undergone a kind of art and media hybridization that far from being something new and original recovers and allows the coexistence of multiple means of storytelling that extend the concept of reading, understanding and expression. In a literary world of "Multiple Intelligences" and "Digital Natives" Electronic Literature offers not only the possibility of re-interpretation but a new approach in assessment methodologies that allow students from any background to express themselves in what Sir Ken Robinson would nowadays considered their "natural element". Some methods are already being put into practice by scholars and teachers of this new literary genre: using Formative Assessment and Project Based Assessment methods, among others, that have been improving academic results in all sorts of subject matters. Domenico Chiappe’s hypermedia novel “Tierra de Extracción” (Electronic Literature Collection Vol 2) covers, thanks to media rhetoric, all the intelligences Gardner mentions by encouraging cognitive development so that the reader as he or she explores, can also interact freely with images, drawings, videos, music, audio and text understanding by means of their intelligence as much of the message conveyed. But, what is even more interesting is that by deconstructing the intricacies of its creation students could re-create and produce their own particular results. Proving, in their own way, what they have learned and understand that the skills they already posses, whether they may be linguistic or not, have not only real world applications but literary ones as well. Tierra de Extracción was created by combining the Intrapersonal and Naturalistic Intelligences of a group of artist whom worked in collaboration to create a multi-plane narrative with a single artistic direction: Hyperphony (Multiple voices: Creative and Narrative) Intermediation / Remediation: *Text (Linguistic Intelligence): First plane of contact with story and content. *Music / Lyrics / Voiceovers (Musical Intelligence): The mood of each chapter is dictated by the soundtrack and its lyrics expose the subconscious of the characters while female voiceovers act as an omnipresent narrator. *Images (Visual Intelligence): Artists linked drawings and photographs to what is said in the text while portraying the cruel reality of “Mene Grande”. Interactive Fiction / Animation / Hypertext: With the collaboration of Andreas Meier Mathematical and Kinesthetic intelligences played a key role in the configuring of screens, interactive mechanisms and animation using programing tools like Shockwave and hypertextual links that puzzled it all together. Collaboration (Interpersonal Intelligence): Writers, Programers, Actors, Musicians and Photographers come together to create an electronic literature narrative adventure only possible on the interface of a screen.