Conference

The Electronic Literature Organization’s Future of Electronic Literature Symposium at MITH at the University of Maryland, College Park was an event that brought e-lit writers, scholars, and an interested public together for an open mouse/open mic, a daylong symposium, and an ELO board meeting. Highlights included Katherine Hayle’s keynote (nicely summarized at jilltxt), considering the idea of “literary” vs. “literature” and providing very intelligent close readings of a variety of works of electronic literature, readings from new works by Stephanie Strickland, Rob Kendall, Nick Montfort, Deena Larsen, and others, as well as three very good panel discussions. The process-intensive panel looked at the idea of process from several different angles ranging from process-intensive collaboration, to natural language interface processing, to story generation. The international panel featured demonstrations of electronic literature from around the world, including works in Spanish, French, Catalan, and Nordic languages, and also highlighted the fact that electronic literature is a global movement—ELO isn’t the only organization concerned with this work, but has shared interests and opportunities for collaboration with organizations including nt2, Elinor, Hermeneia, and others.

The Future of Electronic Literature panel was also an engaging discussion of how new technologies might effect electronic literature, and how new ways of organizing material and collaborating might effect the way that we shape the field.

(Summarized from Scott Rettberg’s post on Grand Text Auto)

The conference focused on the dialogue between forms of digital literacy connected with recent technological developments in networked and programmable media in relation to human expression and forms of representation. We seek to put in conversation digital artists and digital critics in order to examine the "state of the art" of digitally mediated practices and to envision possible futures for the current overlapping platforms, software, formats, hardware and artistic processes through which we experience digital culture. The two-day conference's thematic focus on the 'literary' in the digital age was integrated with a fundamental attention to visual art, music and sound, computer science, and other aspects of digital culture through an art exhibit and a concluding roundtable videoconference session with an international group of participants.

Digital Arts and Culture 2009 is the 8th in an international series of conferences begun in 1998. DAC is recognized as an interdisciplinary event of high intellectual caliber. This iteration of DAC will dwell on the specificities of embodiment and cultural, social and physical location with respect to digital technologies and networked communications.

(Source: DAC '09 site)

The Second Annual Digital Arts and Culture Conference (DAC '99) will bring artists, media practitioners, scientists, theorists, and members of industry to Atlanta, Georgia to explore established and evolving forms of digital culture.

Keynote speakers and performers at DAC '99 include: Robert Coover, Elliott Peter Earls, N. Katherine Hayles, and Michael Joyce.

Participants in the DAC '99 program include more than 100 scholars, artists, and performers from nearly a dozen countries.

Many of the presentations and performances during DAC '99 were audio- or videotaped for later "webcast" over the Internet (NOTE: files now offline).

(Source: Conference website)

On April 4-6, 2002, many of the leading writers, critics, publishers and readers working in the field of electronic literature gathered in Los Angeles for the first Electronic Literature Organization Symposium. Titled "State of the Arts," the symposium featured three nights and two days of readings, demonstrations, and concentrated discussions on the state of the arts of electronic literature. Major Sponsorship of the State of the Arts Symposium was provided by the Ford Foundation. Keynote speakers for the event included novelist Robert Coover, critic Katherine Hayles, and author and publisher Jason Epstein. The event was a "Symposium" in the truest sense of the word: each panel featured experts engaging in a lively interchange of ideas. These moderated discussions allowed the panelists to share their insights and engage in dialogue about their specific topic.

(Source: Conference website, archived by the Electronic Literature Organization).

In(ter)ventions — Literary Practice At The Edge: A Gathering is a conference unlike any held previously in Canada. Over the course of four days, thirty six forward-thinking literary artists will create a context for the demonstration and discussion of cutting-edge literary practice. In a mixture of panels, papers, readings, performances, and more, participants will explore digital literature, interactivity, collaboration, cross-disciplinary work, formal innovation, “uncreative” writing, new modes of dissemination, and literary pedagogy.

Within the rapidly changing landscape of literary practice and dissemination, technology has rocketed forward, putting more power into the hands of writers and other artists. New literary modes have appeared and continue to develop, and the ability to share information rapidly across disciplines has resulted in exciting and challenging cross-pollination. In(ter)ventions will explore the edges of literature, where technology, innovation, and literary practice meet.

This conference is open to writers, new media artists, students, critics, educators, and others who want to contribute to, or listen in on, the conversation taking place with regards to innovative modes of literature. Participants will come away from this cutting-edge conference with a better understanding of the future of literary practice and inspiration to further explore emerging trends in the discipline.

From the original call for papers and works: "The Fall 2008 Bergen Seminar on Electronic Literature in Europe will build upon the work of the e-poetry seminar held in Paris in February 2008 at the University Paris 8, the 2007 e-poetry conference in Paris, the 2007 Remediating Literature Conference in Utrecht, and other recent activity in the field of electronic literature in Europe. The goals of this gathering are: 1) To provide an opportunity for European researchers to share and discuss their current research on electronic literature, e-poetry, and digital narrative forms. 2) To provide a forum for European authors of electronic literature to share, demonstrate, read, or perform their work. 3) To discuss and explore the foundation of a European research network focused on electronic literature, funding opportunities for such a network, and network activities."