RMIT University Digital Writing Lab notes and exercises
- Cody
- Luka
- Emily
- Christien
- Ruben
- Sharnin
- Isabelle
- Tarn
- Bronte
- James
- Dahlia
- Tony
- Olivia
- Amelia
- Mackenzie
Read (on top of the weekly readings):
- The kinetic poem "Taroko Gorge"
- The electronic poem "The Gathering Cloud"
- The hypertext fiction "First Draft of the Revolution"
- The interactive fiction work "Shade"
"Shade" is much more difficult to interact with so do read the "How to play IF" (link in the top right corner of "Shade") and look at the "Play IF card".
In the slides, there are links to RMIT resources and you will also see a breakdown of the weeks on what we will cover.
We went through a list of expectations everyone has for the class and we will revisit this list at the end of the semester.
In class we created a GitHub account and did the "Hello World" exercise. We then created a GitHub repository called digital-writing-folio added two files, readings.md and exercises.md. In exercises.md we answered the questions:
- What types of writing do you do (ie fiction, nonfiction, poetry, other)?
- What tools (or techniques) do you use to write?
- Why do you use these tools (or techniques)?
- How do these tools shape the way you write (e.g., constrain the way you write or facilitate your writing)?
You should return to the last three questions throughout the semester as you use new tools in your writing practice and as you think about your final project.
The readings.md file you should use to keep notes on your readings of the essays/chapters in the reading list and any works of electronic literature you read.
We read either "Taroko Gorge" and "The Gathering Cloud", "First Draft of the Revolution" or "Shade" and briefly discussed initial impressions of the work. In week 2 we will discuss them in more detail and in relation to print works.
Look at the works in the Electronic Literature Collection and read at least 3 that you find interesting (make sure to note the works you look at in your digital writing folio). You must pick one of these works for your Individual Case Study to present in week 4. The selection should be finalised with me by the end of class week 2. You'll likely have more success with the works in later volumes. The only work you can't select is "The Durham Poems" in volume 4.
Read (on top of the weekly readings):
- The fiction game Depression Quest
- The Bitsy story Under a Star Called Sun
In this week's class, we discussed how the works of electronic literature read in class convey meaning in ways different to print literature. We talked about how the movement in "Taroko Gorge" added to the poem's meaning and how interacting with the other works was important in understanding them, how the different kinds of participation affected how the works were read, and what might constitute a game (which we will revisit in week 8).
In the discussion, we addressed the questions:
- What elements of the works ("Taroko Gorge", "The Gathering Cloud", "First Draft of the Revolution", and "Shade") do you read?
- How are those elements meaningful?
- How are the works read differently from print literature?
- How is electronic literature different from print literature?
- What are the qualities of the works we might consider as qualities of electronic literature?
These questions are important for you to consider as you should try to ask similar questions regarding your case studies. Try to answer them in your folio and ensure you're keeping it up to date. If you need any help with it, see me in class, as it is better to get it right early rather than leave it until later in the semester.
For the Individual Case Study, you should have already picked the work you want to present on. If you have not, you must select a work from the Electronic Literature Collection and send your selection to me. Ensure not to pick a work already chosen.
We then discussed how algorithms and constraints have been used in print literature and digital poetry. We looked at the following:
- Tristan Tzara, To Make a Dadaist Poem (1920)
- Oulipo (1960–), N+7, Lipograms
- John Cage, Mesostics
- Jas Duke, "Fortran Two Love Song" (1966)
- John Tranter, Different Hands (1998)
- Google as a Method
- N-grams, jGnoetry
- ChatGPT
Next, we created Glitch accounts and used Tristan Tzara's “To Make a Dadaist Poem” and N+7 as methods by remixing those processes on Glitch (see the week 2 exercises).
Finally, everyone was given a remix of “Taroko Gorge” and asked to answer the following questions and record the answers in their folio:
- What aspects of the remix are the same?
- What aspects of the remix are different?
- Is the remix successful (why or why not)?
If you missed the class, select any of the remixes and try and answer those questions.
- Cody: The Dead Tower
- Luka
- Emily: forgotten nights
- Christien: UFO Poems
- Ruben
- Sharnin: The Infinite Woman
- Isabelle: Blackout Poetry Tool
- Tarn: Dwarf Fortress
- Bronte: How to Rob a Bank
- James: Dial
- Dahlia: Redshift and Portalmetal
- Tony: The Vine and the Fish
- Olivia: Everything is going to be OK
- Amelia: c-ya-laterrrr
- Mackenzie: Please Answer Carefully
No class this week due to the Labour Day public holiday but you should be working on your Individual Case Study which is due week 4
Prepare your Individual Case Study that is due and should be presented during the 11:30 class.
The majority of week 4 was taken up with the case study presentations. At the end of the second class we remixed "We Walk to You".
After remixing "We Walk to You", I gave an overview of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Each can be broadly thought of as addressing different aspects of how a webpage comes together:
- Structural: HTML
- Presentational: CSS
- Behavioural: JavaScript
Mozilla Developer Resources:
Make sure to submit your slides from your presentation to Canvas.
Read (on top of the weekly readings) Mark Bernstein's Patterns Of Hypertext
Install GitHub Desktop and Visual Studio Code.
- Interactive Fiction Database
- Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation
- Interactive Fiction Wiki
- Get Lamp
- Game, Game, Game and Again Game (note: because of how the poem is accessed, it is a little laggy)
- The Jason Nelson Collection
Prepare your proposal for your developed creative work, which will be presented in class in week 8.
There was no class this week as I was unwell. We will have an optional class in week 13 to make up for the missed class.
In class for week 12, there will be an opportunity for you to get feedback on your developed creative work in progress and folio. We will only have one more week of class (the optional week 13) before the projects and folios are due.