Monday, September 11

In class:

• Rettberg, Electronic Literature, Chapter 3: Hypertext Fiction
• Read “My Body: A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson
  • Pair and share: Discuss how you navigated this work and some other ways of reading it. How do we reach a sense of an ending with this work?
• Working on Creative Project #1
• “The Hunt for the Gay Planet” by Anna Anthropy

Assignment:

• Read
  • “Quing’s Quest VII: The Death of Videogames!” by Dietrich Squinkifer (Squinky)
• In our forum, write a brief response to Squinky’s Twine game, discussing some of the strategies they use to shape the reader’s experience.

Wednesday, September 13

In class:

• “Quing’s Quest VII: The Death of Videogames!” by Dietrich Squinkifer (Squinky)
• Jason Nelson’s Flash Games on The Next
• “Thoughts and Prayers: The Game” by Mike Lacher
• Working on Creative Project #1

Assignment:

Materials for Asynchronous Class

• “When Rivers Were Trails” by Indian Land Tenure Foundation & GEL Lab at MSU

Friday, September 15

Asynchronous class:

• In our forum, write a 250 word (approximately) post in which you analyze “When Rivers Were Trails” and discuss what insights you find about the game. What can video games contribute to literature? This is due by Saturday morning.
• Read and respond to one classmate’s postings before class on Monday.

Assignment:

• Read
  • Rettberg, Electronic Literature, Chapter 4: Interactive Fiction and Other Gamelike Forms
  • Work on your Creative Project. It’s due on Monday!

Monday, September 18

• In class:
  • Discuss Creative Work #1
  • Rettberg, Electronic Literature, Chapter 4: Interactive Fiction and Other Gamelike Forms
  • “Lambda Blaster” by Sebastian Bartlett Hernández
  • “Hotel in Limbo” by Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti
  • “A Slow Year” by Ian Bogost
  • Creative Work #1 Due
• Assignment:
  • Play one of these games
    • “Lines of Force” by Eugenio Tisselli
    • “Dwarf Fortress” by Tarn Adams and Zach Adams
    • “Galatea” by Emily Short
  • Write a reaction/response to your chosen game, the ideas the authors want to communicate, and how the game mechanics help express these ideas.

Wednesday, September 20

In class:

• “Lines of Force” by Eugenio Tisselli
• “Dwarf Fortress” by Tarn Adams and Zach Adams
• “Galatea” by Emily Short

Assignment:

• “Experimental Digital Poetics” by Keith S. Wilson

Friday, September 22

Asynchronous Class

• In our forum, write a 250 word (approximately) post in which you analyze two of Keith Wilson’s experimental poems and discuss what insights you find about the work. This is due by Saturday morning.

Assignment:

• Start thinking about what you might want to do for Creative Project #2. Here’s the excerpt from the syllabus:

• • Interactive Work
    • Use Twine, Bitsy, or Squiffy to create a literary videogame, hypertext work, or interactive fiction.
    • Accompany this with a 1-page discussion of your goals with the work, some of the challenges you faced in creating it, and what it helped you learn about interactive writing.
    • I will offer a hands-on workshop in class to help you learn how to use these systems.
    • A brief proposal with your thesis statement, line of argument and will be due 2 weeks before the project is due.