Book (collection)

We believe that everything began and shall continue to begin in Poland. In Eden, Adam and Eve spoke Polish, the protong, or the first language, from which all other languages originated (which was scientifically proven by Stanisław Szukalski, Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Polish grandfather”), Christopher Columbus was Polish, and, of course, experimental literature also began in the land upon the Vistula River. “HOW COME”, YOU ASK? It is impossible to talk about experiments and pushing boundaries in literature without King Ubu or the Poles (because that is the full title of Jarry’s play). It is common knowledge that the teenage author set the action of his play “in Poland, that is, nowhere.” As, indeed, at the time he created his work, Poland was temporarily non-existent. We want to borrow Jarry’s metaphor to tell you about the existing/non-existing empire in the field of literary experimentation, literary thought, and digital textuality. The Polish empire. From this booklet you will learn that you have been misinformed about the history of world experimental literature. We want to tell you that it was really in Poland that digital literature was invented, that a Polish artist was the first to introduce spatiality and networkedness into literary art, that Poles rediscovered the medium of the book for artistic expression and called this liberature, invented bioart, wrote a mega-palindrome, and Poles were in the avant-garde of literary trolling. Moreover, Poles are so advanced that they have participated in the creation of a coalition against the dominance of the English language, and our experimental artists simply refuse to be called experimental. Probably most of you, our Readers, know the divide into the center and peripheries. You might think that only the center matters and that you happen to be in it. We want to make this perspective our own. We are writing this book as citizens of the great non-existing/existing empire of King Ubu. In it we offer a selection of projects that we consider to be the first, best and most influential, without looking back at anyone else’s story. Therefore, gentlemen of Poland, forward! Or rather, backward!

(Source: http://www.ha.art.pl/wydawnictwo/nowe-ksiazki/4617-polish-impact)

The Cybertext Yearbook publication series started in 2000. Since 2003 the volumes have mainly been theme based. The main editors are Markku Eskelinen and Raine Koskimaa. There are also guest editors for theme issues. Despite the name, the volumes don't necessarily appear annually.

This collection provides us with landmarks to find our way through histories that took shape parallely by remembering events, journal launches, mailing lists, formal processes of institutionalisation, publications, of creative work, and other happenings, that served as impetus for the communities to form underneath the umbrella of electronic literature in practice. A broad range of research aims and methodologies are represented within the studies published in this book, ranging from an ethnographic approach (Travlou; Biggs), historical approaches based on interviews and a distant reading of the field (Walker Rettberg), research based on archival materials, documents and ephemera (Rettberg), conversations from Listservs and community websites (Glazier; Leishman), in addition to more traditional literary methodologies, and anecdotal accounts from individuals who were active participants developing the communities they discuss. Along with individual practiced-based approaches to community writing practices (Lovlie), we find analyses of particular communities that formed around platforms, or particular wrting practices devoted to authors working with Flash (Leishman), or as part of the Interactive Fiction community (Montfort and Short). A most contemporary outlook on an emergent community of writers forming around a particular writing practice in networked media is Marino and Wittig's contribution devoted to how the collaborative writing genre known as Netprovs emerged.

(Source: Introduction of Electronic Literature Communities, by Scott Rettberg and Patricia Tomaszek)

Electronic (digital) literature is developing in every corner of the world where artists explore the possibility of literary expression using computers (and the internet). As a result, innovations in this genre of literature represent unique developments and there is a growing corpus of scholarship about all aspects of electronic literature including the perspective of digital humanities. Contributors to New Work on Electronic Literature and Cyberculture, a special issue of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture explore theories and methodologies for the study of electronic writing including topics such as digital culture, electronic poetry, new media art, aspects of gender in electronic literature and cyberspace, digital literacy, the preservation of electronic
literature, etc.

Remarks on Poetics of Mad Affect, Militancy, Feminism, Demotic Rhythms, Emptying, Intervention, Reluctance, Indigeneity, Immediacy, Lyric Conceptualism, Commons, Pastoral Margins, Desire, Ambivalence, Disability, The Digital, and Other Practices Edited by Amy De’Ath and Fred Wah Toward. Some. Air. is a landmark collection of profiles of contemporary poets, statements, essays, conversations about contemporary poetry and poetic practice, and a few exemplary poems selected by up-and-coming poet and scholar Amy De’Ath and Governor General’s Award-winning, former Parliamentary Poet Laureate Fred Wah. The over 40 contributors to this anthology are renowned poets and academics from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Toward. Some. Air. is an open invitation to consider the various contours and meanings of Anglophone poetic practice, as a way of interpreting the world around us. An invaluable critical resource with unprecedented scope, this is a book that speaks to the future of contemporary poetics and writing poetry. Contributors: Caroline Bergvall, Anne Boyer, Sean Bonney & Steve Collis, Andrea Brady, Dionne Brand, Nicole Brossard, Louis Cabri, JR Carpenter, cris cheek, CA Conrad, Maria Damon, Amy De'Ath, Jeff Derksen, Liz Howard, Peter Jaeger, Reg Johanson, Justin Katko & Jow Lindsay, Larissa Lai, Peter Manson, Roy Miki, Nicole Markotic & Michael Davidson, Daphne Marlatt, Fred Moten, Eileen Myles, Hoa Nguyen, Sina Queyras, Lisa Robertson, Steven Ross Smith, Kaia Sand, Dale Smith, Christine Stewart, Keston Sutherland, Keith Tuma, Catherine Wagner, Fred Wah, Darren Wershler, Rita Wong & Kateri Akiwenxie-Damm, Rachel Zolf

The term algorithm , most commonly associated with computer science, may be used for any effective ff procedure that reduces the solution of a problem to a predetermined sequence of actions. In software, algorithms are used for performing calculations, conducting automated reasoning, and processing data (including digital texts)—but algorithms may also be implemented in mathematical models, mechanical devices, biological networks, electrical circuitry, and practices resulting in generative or procedural art (see code, computational linguistics, procedur al). In common usage, algorithm m typically references a deterministic algorithm, formally defi fined as a finite and generalizable sequence of instructions, rules, or linear steps designed to guarantee that the agent performing the sequence will reach a par ticular, predefi fined goal or establish incontrovertibly that the goal is unreachable. The “guarantee” part of this description is important, as it diff fferentiates algorithms from heuristics, which commonly proceed by “rules of thumb.” Like algorithms, heuristic methods can be used iteratively to reach a desired end state and may be responsive to feedback from external sources. However, the heuristic process is fundamentally one of informal trial and error rather than of constrained, formally algorithmic activity according to a set of predefined fi rules. (Nondeterministic algorithms are a class of algorithm that attempts to solve harder problems by finding fi the best solution available with a given set of constraints. They do not guarantee to fi find a single, best solution and may, on repetition, present radically different outcomes.)

(Johns Hopkins University Press)

The book is concerned with narrative in digital media that changes according to user input—Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN). It provides a broad overview of current issues and future directions in this multi-disciplinary field that includes humanities-based and computational perspectives. It assembles the voices of leading researchers and practitioners like Janet Murray, Marie-Laure Ryan, Scott Rettberg and Martin Rieser. In three sections, it covers history, theoretical perspectives and varieties of practice including narrative game design, with a special focus on changes in the power relationship between audience and author enabled by interactivity. After discussing the historical development of diverse forms, the book presents theoretical standpoints including a semiotic perspective, a proposal for a specific theoretical framework and an inquiry into the role of artificial intelligence. Finally, it analyses varieties of current practice from digital poetry to location-based applications, artistic experiments and expanded remakes of older narrative game titles.

(Source: Routledge catalog copy)

1. Introduction: Perspectives on Interactive Digital Narrative Hartmut Koenitz, Gabriele Ferri, Mads Haahr, Diğdem Sezen and Tonguç İbrahim Sezen Section I: IDN History Section I Introduction: A Concise History of Interactive Digital NarrativeHartmut Koenitz, Gabriele Ferri, Mads Haahr, Diğdem Sezen and Tonguç İbrahim Sezen 2. The American Hypertext Novel, and Whatever Became of It? Scott Rettberg 3. Interactive Cinema in the Digital Age Chris Hales 4. The Holodeck is all Around Us — Interface Dispositifs in Interactive Digital Storytelling Udi ben Arie and Noam Knoeller Section II: IDN Theory Section II Introduction: The Evolution of Interactive Digital Narrative Theory Hartmut Koenitz, Gabriele Ferri, Mads Haahr, Diğdem Sezen and Tonguç İbrahim Sezen 5. Narrative Structures in IDN Authoring and Analysis Gabriele Ferri 6. Towards a Specific Theory of Interactive Digital NarrativeHartmut Koenitz 7. Emotional and Strategic Conceptions of Space in Digital Narratives Marie-Laure Ryan 8. A Tale of Two Boyfriends: A Literary Abstraction Strategy for Creating Meaningful Character Variation Janet H. Murray 9. Re-considering the Role of AI in Interactive Digital Narrative Nicolas Szilas Section III: IDN Practice Section III Introduction: Beyond the Holodeck: A Speculative Perspective on Future Practices Hartmut Koenitz, Gabriele Ferri, Mads Haahr, Diğdem Sezen and Tonguç İbrahim Sezen 10. Interaction Design Principles as Narrative Techniques for Interactive Digital Storytelling Ulrike Spierling11. Post-Hyperfiction: Practices in Digital Textuality Scott Rettberg 12. Emergent Narrative: Past, Present and Future of an Interactive Storytelling Approach Sandy Louchart, John Truesdale, Neil Suttie and Ruth Aylett 13. Learning through Interactive Digital NarrativesAndreea Molnar and Patty Kostkova 14. Everting the Holodeck: Games and Storytelling in Physical Space Mads Haahr 15. Narrative Explorations in Videogame Poetry Diğdem Sezen16. Artistic Explorations: Mobile, Locative and Hybrid Narratives Martin Rieser 17. Remaking as Revision of Narrative Design in Digital Games Tonguç İbrahim Sezen