multimodal mel @ matx

ELO collection 2!!!

2011-02-09T07:51:00.003-05:00

The Electronic Literature Organization announces the release of the Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 2!

Curveship

2011-02-08T09:32:00.004-05:00

Nick Montfort announces Curveship:
Interactive Fiction + Interactive Narrating

Nick Montfort's Blog

back to the elevators...

2010-12-08T15:43:00.003-05:00

Weird Elevator Installation Stuff

What HTML has been doing lately.

2010-12-02T13:36:00.002-05:00

The Wilderness Downtown by Chris Milk
"We Used To Wait" by Arcade Fire

and on a completely different note...

2010-10-28T16:18:00.004-04:00

The Curse by Josh Ritter. Yes, it's about a mummy. But the lyrics speak to me of pouring your life into your work so that the work comes to life and ends up outliving you. Is that a curse?

And the video has PUPPETS!!! The video was done by Liam Hurley and you can also view it and read more about it on NPR's all songs considered! (Thanks Karl!)

November travel

2010-10-28T16:04:00.004-04:00

Well November is almost here. And I haven't posted since May. Seems November is going to be the month of travel. First, Jen Smith and I are attending the iDMAa 2010 conference on Digital Narrative in Vancouver, BC. I've actually never been to Vancouver but always heard how beautiful it is! And the next week I get to travel to Canada again for the amazing wedding of a dear friend! In addition to a hefty load of grading, a dissertation, and all the usual craziness of life it should be a busy but beautiful adventure!

Cheryl Ball is on TV!

2010-05-05T16:54:00.003-04:00

The Ohio Channel: Writer's Talk

Arcade Fire in an elevator!

2010-03-22T17:10:00.000-04:00

prospectus writing tips

2010-01-26T12:39:00.002-05:00

Guidelines from Harvard University... these are specific to Literature but provide at least a brief description and purpose.

ELO conference at Brown University

2009-11-01T09:11:00.002-05:00

Hurray! June 3-6. Featuring Robert Coover. Submission date is December 15th.

there is hope

2009-10-10T17:59:00.002-04:00

#3 top job: college professor

CNN says so...

HTLit.com

2009-10-07T18:21:00.007-04:00

HTLit at Eastgate

Mark Bernstein says:

"We hope this site will create a community in which hypertext
creators, scholars, and critics can share new hypertext works,
research, and teaching methods.  We'll follow technological trends,
emerging artists, and issues involving publishing, writing, and
digital media.

HTLit takes a broad view of hypertext, and will cover all electronic
literature and narrative new media as well as game theory, nonfiction
hypertexts, electronic poetry, and inventive real-world applications
of hypertext. We seek inspiration wherever we can."

reflections for a new semester

2009-08-12T10:07:00.007-04:00

had a great summer semester teaching English 200 to some great students. and now, look, it is fall already and I haven't updated this blog since March! So in between moving and teaching I've been working on the elevator book (still working on...). Now I'm looking forward to a semester of teaching hypertext, taking art history, and writing my dissertation prospectus. oh and my second comp. exam... there's that. I'm determined to remain calm and zen-like through the whole thing. wish me luck. :)

*This is an Otis hydraulic elevator from NYC now living at the Tobacco Co. in Richmond.

writing is DJing...

2009-03-09T10:36:00.005-04:00

I really enjoyed Rhythm Science and thought this looked interesting (relevant for some of us, perhaps spring break pleasure reading for others...):

Paul Miller's (aka DJ Spooky) Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture

An edited collection. Mostly audio stuff, but applicable to other kinds of electronic media of course.

"Paul Miller is one of the best cultural radars in the world today. He always picks out the most relevant people working today and reveals previously unseen connections. If you want situational awareness about the world of sound, music, performance, computers, and ideas, read this book." —Lev Manovich

Born Digital

2009-02-25T08:42:00.001-05:00

Born Digital by Stephanie Strickland at Poetry Foundation

teaspoons & things

2009-01-19T11:07:00.004-05:00

thinking (and writing) about silverware...

new year new course

2009-01-04T10:24:00.008-05:00

new course as in teaching. postmodern literature with a focus on materiality and structure. while constructing the syllabus I came upon some interesting ideas on mapping lit. here is one.

Stefanie Posavec "On the Map"

(this is fun too, although not related: literature map)

now any brilliant ideas on discussion or assignment structuring for 37 students would be most welcome. :)

poe poe poe

2008-12-16T10:04:00.005-05:00

and done done done! what a semester! this is my final project for Poe & the new media, taught by Dr. Harrison.

"The Masque of the Red Death": Remediation in three parts

and thank you PSV for the most amazing soundtrack!

really big dover elevator at Purdue

2008-12-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

ok, now it's definitely procrastination...

elevators on YouTube

2008-12-05T14:59:00.001-05:00

is this procrastination or research???

this one is an Otis.

elevator photo album

2008-12-04T21:37:00.006-05:00

Some elevators for the documentary book (coming soon). More photos also coming soon. Seattle elevators by Heather Robison. :)

flash-back or back-then flash

2008-11-29T15:44:00.006-05:00

Writing about elevators and Bruce Nauman's Going Around the Corner Piece has me thinking about where we're going (technology-wise) and where we've been (also, admittedly, procrastinating). I stumbled upon this--my very first Flash piece EVER and also the artist statement I wrote to go with it (3 years ago!), back when I was first discovering hypertext. What's interesting is that it's very similar (though not as good) to some of the final projects my students are currently composing. The Flash work is obviously not fantastic but, for me, there's still something charming (and nostalgic) about it. What's funny, too, is that what's crammed into this little poem are bits and pieces of what's still inspiring me today.

So here's a little end-of-semester flashback to Subatomic Love Song (there are rollovers!)

friends in cool places

2008-11-15T16:54:00.003-05:00

Thank you heather heather!

My wonderful friends heather and peter took a field trip to the
Seattle public library to snap some pictures of this elevator!
Isn't it great?

all about elevators

2008-10-20T10:07:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's October already. Not just that, but the middle of October now. Seems the dissertation is all about elevators. I also changed my documentary project to a print collection of elevator photos mixed with history, theory, and creative text. I'll start posting elevator photos soon!

I heart the LHC

2008-09-10T08:51:00.001-04:00

Here's to successful particle acceleration...

the end of summer

2008-08-11T14:05:00.004-04:00

or almost. my summer projects for summer hypermedia and new (sub)domain can be found at she was all like...

I also updated my website though it still needs (lots of) work before e-portfolio time.

it seems fall is in the air. as is my dissertation proposal...

see you all in a week.

Intentional Fallacy

2008-04-26T21:54:00.002-04:00

Collaborative MATX 604 project by Jenn Figg, Jen Smith, Sean Stewart, Kristine Trever, and Melinda White.

Starring Justin Lowenhagen, with Erin Dabrowski and Jon White.

Original score by Patrick Scott Vickers.

elevators

2008-04-22T08:57:00.002-04:00

A video of a man trapped in an elevator for 40 hours in 1999 from the New Yorker. Thank you Patrick. The essay, the lives of elevators is also worth reading. Particularly if you happen to have a slight case of elevator ocd lately. Maybe that's just me. I think it probably is.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators

Back to Dada and pomo lit. *sigh*

multimedia stop-action fiesta/feast/fiesta

2008-02-24T10:20:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tS4OWiozmw

Fionn Regan

2008-02-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

"Put a Penny in the Slot" by Fionn Regan. "Be Good or Be Gone" is a very cool video too (and there's an elevator in it). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj66XgK3NvE&feature=related

Movie ideas for tonight maybe... or just me procrastinating the Laocoon.

... and elevators

2008-01-29T19:40:00.000-05:00

So another idea I had started with an idea for a short story and morphed into a life-like elevator where images are projected on the walls when various buttons are pushed (maybe I just have a thing for buttons?). This may be a more feasible project for 604 as I could control the numbers of floors (again, thanks Katie!). Eventually, I would like to create the entire thing but for now perhaps construct a mock-up of the button-panel (time permitting). At the very least, the story in new media form, with an elevator interface. hmmmm.

typewriters

2008-01-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

I have always been obsessed with typewriters. The idea I had initially (with regards to the one listed for 604) was to create a new media collection using an image of a typewriter as the interface/navigation menu.
After talking to Katie I realized my thinking was restricted (by my lack of technological skills) to a computer, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. What if, she asked, I were to wire an actual typewriter (this is a picture of mine) to a screen? Each key could trigger a different short work of images, text, video, art, some combination of these. Now that I can imagine it "out of my comfort zone" I also see a projector, a gallery. You think I've been hanging out with artists too long? Of course, I still have NO CLUE how I would pull this off. But I think I may work on the new media part of the project during the lab. I think it would be cool too if the (w)reader could type words as they clicked on the letters/numbers. Any thoughts?

hyperrhiz

2008-01-23T08:02:00.000-05:00

hy per rhiz : new media cultures has a new issue available online. I think I may have posted a call for submissions for them or e-mailed it or something. But the ELO sends them out. And they take submissions of new media literature and art. Maybe a good place to send all the brilliant work we're going to make in the lab this semester (whoohooo!). There is also a link for a new journal for teachers of electronic literature if anyone (besides me) is interested.

And hey... welcome back! Does anyone else feel like we are already knee-deep in this new semester? Or diving in head-first? Or already in over our heads? That's probably just me...

Flight Paths

2007-12-17T08:39:00.000-05:00

Flight Paths, a networked novel by Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph.

The project is associated with the Institue for the Future of the Book. Also doing other neat stuff.

And hey... we survived our first semester! I think that makes us all pretty kick ass. :-)

Happy holidays you guys! Be safe.

end of semester digression

2007-12-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

royksopp, what else is there?

because if you're going to procrastinate, say, a textual studies project, it really should involve a floating house.

Thanks Robin!!!

eleven dimensions, new media, and string theory

2007-11-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy to discover that someone is linking physics and new media. Stephanie Strickland (poet and author of True North by Eastgate and several others) has an article called Writing the Virtual: Eleven Dimensions of E-Poetry

Actually, she may not be trying to make that connection... but there are 11 dimensions according to string theory and I sort of couldn't help making the leap regardless.

And if you're interested in string theory you can now watch The Elegant Universe online.

And this is a very cool Flash piece called Imagining the 10th Dimension.

So, just catching up on my link posts I guess. It's been a long, long week (semester?) requiring lots of coffee...

bookbinding makes a comeback!

2007-10-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered that a good friend of mine is making books!!!

Check out her website at handboundbooks... they are beautiful. And this one's my favorite! Thanks Rhonda!! :-)

and she also has a blog.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

2007-10-03T10:37:00.000-04:00

I found this YouTube link in Kairos, a SCHOLARLY online journal (sorry I had to make an argument for this last night) "exploring the intersections of rhetoric, technology, and pedagogy." The current issue 12.1 is on Scholarly Webtexts and this link was just offered up as an example in their call for manifestos section for a future issue--maybe a submission possibility. Dr. Cheryl Ball, VCU MFA Alum is an editor (but I would plug it anyway). :-)

The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch

Visionary Landscapes

2007-09-28T08:51:00.000-04:00

This is the link for the Electronic Literature Organization's 2008 conference, Visionary Landscapes, in Vancouver, WA. They have also put out a call for a Media Arts Sh ow (which offers bursaries for selected work). The conference is not until end of May/first of June and submissions are due November 1st. I would really like to go (I think I've said this before... huh) and will be looking into funding for conference-going and things like that very soon. It would be a great opportunity for us to showcase our work, represent the program, and network with some very cool people. Breakfast with Nick Montfort and N. Katherine Hayles anyone?

Casper & the Cookies

2007-09-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

Casper & the Cookies is an innovative band out of Athens, GA. I heard/saw them open for the Apples in Stereo and they are quirky and eccentric and fabulous. They do clever things with mixing in voice and sound. Just thought I would share. Their most recent album is aptly named the Optimist's Club if you need a little happy in your life.

They also have a myspace page where you can give them a listen.

article from mit

2007-09-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

Poking around for my 602 presentations I found this article Help or Hindrance? The History of the Book and Electronic Media by Paul Erickson that discusses McKenzie (and Darnton) and book history in the realm of new media:

"McKenzie admonished us to remember how marginal, in historical terms, the book is to the history of textual communication, and how mutable the physical form of the text can be. A continued attention to the materiality, and therefore the contingency, of the interaction with print, combined with new attention to the materiality of the experience of electronic text is one direction in which book historians can both continue to expand our knowledge of print culture and contribute to our understanding of electronic culture" (Erickson).

Gunther Kress

2007-09-17T16:24:00.000-04:00

A new book in our field (amazon.com says it's a sub-field but there is a field out there for us, I'm sure), Multimodality: Exploring Contemporary Methods of Communication by Gunther Kress is coming out October 1st. I found this by the most scholarly of research methods, Amazon.com. Here is their quick book description:

"Multimodality is a new and rapidly developing sub-field of communication studies which looks beyond language to the multiple modes of communicating or making meaning - from images to sound and music. Gunther Kress, a pioneer in the field of multimodality and the co-author of the bestselling Reading Images, produces a comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of the topic providing sample analyses and suggestions for further reading. This exploration of this exciting new area in communication will be of interest to undergraduate and post graduate students in the fields of media, communication studies, education, English language and applied linguistics."

Here's the link if anyone wants to pre-order a copy. Amazon apparantly thought I would (I have a little thing for Gunther). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415320615/ref=pe_pe_5050_6688310_pe_snp_615

zen and the art of bibliography

2007-09-11T23:00:00.001-04:00

(thank you Katie)

A week after feeling overwhelmed, a day at the ocean, and 23 hours and 26 minutes into my first day of 34:

I spent a great deal of time in the library last week. Although I was worried about adding hours or assignments (or anything really) to my schedule, I am trying to turn it around. Besides a few hours I spent by the ocean on Sunday, there is nothing that calms me as much as books. I know, I know... and I am devoted to hypertext and new media as an artform. But I also love books, bookstores, bookshelves, book reviews. So I have decided to view my 8-10 hours a week spent in the library among them and flipping through them my meditation time. No theory, no computer, just me and a few thousand hard bound reference texts. Om.

Image: If Ospreys Could Read by Tim Graveson 2003.

slight post-week 1 case of insomnia

2007-09-01T02:04:00.000-04:00

I can't sleep despite having fallen asleep on my couch during the Sound of Music earlier tonight. A good way to ring in a new month... or a bad omen. or just a foreshadowing of what I'm in for over the next 15 weeks.

Besides finally creating my blog, I started my paper for 601. (good thing I threw in the Sound of Music or my friday night might look a little sad. we also went grocery shopping). I noticed some of the other blogs featured photos or art or very good narrative (as opposed to what I'm providing here) and not sure where I want to go with this quite yet (but feeling like I need to post SOMETHING), here are a couple of links I'm rather fond of. The ELO is having a conference at the end of May and I would really like to go. Submissions are due in November I think and I have the call if anyone is interested.

http://eliterature.org/ check out the electronic literature collection volume one
http://www.poemsthatgo.com/ and the poemsthatgo archives. maybe you've seen all this before. but there you go.

week one had its moments but overall I'm optimistic. the courses (and readings) are just what I was hoping for, css hasn't killed me yet, I'm spending less and less time lost in richmond, and I am almost unpacked (yippy!). see you all next week (and the week after that... and the week after that, etc., etc.)

(and maybe I should mention my penchant for parentheticals when I am very tired).