mainstream media

This panel explores the tentative emergence of e-lit in mainstream media, as our decades-old experimental practices begin to trickle into mass awareness. The digitisation of entertainment

This panel explores the tentative emergence of e-lit in mainstream media, as our decades-old experimental practices begin to trickle into mass awareness. The digitisation of entertainment media, from books to TV, has opened the doors for mass media to awaken from its so-called passive mode, into one where the audience can engage and interact with the narrative. Where is e-lit finding a purchase, and what forms does it take when it appears? What does this tell us about audiences and what they’re looking for? And how can we use this analysis as creators of e- lit?

The papers in this panel are all supported by practice-based research in designing digital and transmedia fiction. The first paper will discuss the use of ordinary spaces in transmedia fiction, using social media to tell fictional stories and the implications of doing so; the second paper will discuss the use of self-promotion within online spaces on e-lit and self-published authors, and will highlight methods that authors use to step out of the margins; and the final paper will discuss how a reality television programme uses narrative techniques and digital storytelling methods to influence immersion.

One of the overarching themes that developed over the course of the conference was the gap between the field of electronic literature and mainstream digital culture. In her keynote, Claudia Kozak refered to this as “The Great Divide” between highbrow culture and lowbrow culture, where electronic literature is considered too experimental for mainstream media because of its use of technology. Kozak says we should not abandon the experiment, but rather bridge the gap, for instance through fan fiction, which she considers to function at the intersection of experimentalism, anti-authorship, and mass culture.