computing

How do we think about things — like electronic literature — that combine the operational aspects of computing systems with the affective and representational aspects of the arts? We could view them through the frameworks of computer science, the literary arts, or critical interpretation. These can all be valuable. But they are all, inevitably, partial. Wardrip-Fruin proposes that digital humanities frameworks can provide a way of thinking about the dual elements of electronic literature simultaneously. Here he provides a case study: a strand of research that is both in computational approaches to social simulation and in the creation of works that build upon, and guide the development of, these simulations. He discusses the digital humanities concepts of operational logics and playable models that help him and his collaborators understand their work as they carry it out.

"Geographers have been at the forefront of interrogating the changes made possible by the ubiquity of computing and the phenomenon of ‘big data’ in an emerging field known as ‘critical data studies’. In this article, I argue that engagement with the proliferation of computing infrastructures that make these new developments possible in the first place allows critical data studies to gain important historical-geographical perspective, connect to new manifestations of uneven development, and better grasp the role of non-human actors within emerging socio-technical relations. This expanded empirical framing opens up new theoretical implications and opportunities for public engagement with critical infrastructure."

Work in progress, presented at the History of Material Texts workshop at the University of Pennsylvania 23 February 2004 (references therefore are omitted).

Montfort investigates into human-computer interaction before the screen and questions "how early print-based interfaces inform our understanding of print and paper metaphors in current computer interfaces."