A description of the general direction of Sondheim’s work in relation to
codework, the body, "semantic ghosting," and tools; Focusing on the last, we will be thinking about methods and meta-methods.
Extended narratives in electronic literature often take place in a "setting" or series of landscapes that might be real or imaginary. In my work, I have often chosen a template from a "real" landscape (California, Egypt) as not only a narrative story feature but also as a part of the navigation system. In *Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day* the reader is encouraged to become familiar with a "screen" landscape that is schematic map, navigation tool and "register" for multiple points of view. In order to "map" these fields, the early reader is introduced to areas of the screen which recall the conventional organization of ancient tomb paintings and manuscripts and also correspond to land, river, and sky. Each of these areas is also linked to aspects of the narrative voice. Thus, the imaginary landscape is mapped in the storyline, the screen organization, and the navigation.
Digital Oracles" is a work that intends to cause awareness and reflection about the influence and power that the search engines on the web exert in our daily lives—not only online, but also offline—in determining our choices and paths. Privacy, control, trust, where the answers come from, the top10 dictatorship, existence, local filtering, utility and manipulation are among the raised issues.
(Source: Author's abstract, 2008 ELO Conference)
Crossed Lines (2002-2007, Dir: Sarah Atkinson) is a multiform, multiscreen interactive film installation. The piece amalgamates multiform plots, multiscreen viewing environments, interactive interfaces and interactive story navigation forms into one storytelling paradigm. This presentation probes the challenges of designing, authoring and scripting such an ambitious piece, drawing comparisons to traditional approaches to screenplay authoring and traditional modes of fictional production. Practical demonstrations will be included alongside supporting user response data. Various theories and paradigmatic perspectives are referenced whilst reflecting on the extensive creative developmental and production process of the filmic installation.