Month: February 2019

Tuesday, February 26

• In class
  • Discussion of assigned works:
    • Jason Nelson: “Game, Game, Game, and Again Game,” “Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise” or “A Nervous System.”
    • Christine Wilks: “Fitting the Pattern,” “Tailspin,” or “Inkubus.”
    • Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern: “Façade.”
  • Procedural Rhetoric: GOP Arcade, Grita.
• Assignment
  • Install, read/play one work from each bullet listed below:
    • One of Jason Edward Lewis and Bruno Nadeau’s PoEMM apps (iOS), one of Jörg Piringer’s App Poems (iOS), or #Carnivast by Dreaming Methods and Mez Breeze (Android).
    • Pry by Tender Claws (iOS) or “How to Rob a Bank” by Alan Bigelow (cross-platform).
    • Out There (cross-platform), Voyageur (iOS & Android), or Reigns (cross-platform).
  • Write a post in our Facebook Group in which you discuss the three works you read, and talk about what the interactivity and/or procedural rhetoric (when applicable) contribute to each work. Post your responses before class on Thursday, February 28.

Thursday, February 28

• In class:
  • Discuss 3rd Generation interactive e-lit.
  • Midterm Exam Review
• Assignment:
  • Share your idea for the Major Assignment #1 as a comment on this Facebook post before the end of Friday, March 1.
  • Study for the Midterm Exam (on Tuesday, March 5)
  • Work on your Major Assignment #1 (due Thursday, March 7)

Tuesday, February 19

• In class
  • Discussion of hypertext, interactive fiction, Twine Games
    • Galatea Cheats and Walkthroughs
    • A Duck Has An Adventure
  • Interactivity in electronic literature
• Assignment
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 104-109.
  • Download and play The Stanley Parable Demo (requires PC & Steam. If unable to, watch this playthrough.
  • Watch/Play Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (available on Netflix)
  • Write a post in our Facebook Group in which you respond to The Stanley Parable Demo and Bandersnatch. Post your responses before class on Thursday, February 21.

Thursday, February 21

• In class
  • Discussion Bandersnatch and The Stanley Parable Demo
• Assignment
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 109-117.
  • Read/Play at least one work from each bullet in this list:
    • Jason Nelson: “Game, Game, Game, and Again Game,””Nothing You Have Done Deserves Such Praise” or “A Nervous System.”
    • Christine Wilks: “Fitting the Pattern,””Tailspin,” or “Inkubus.”
    • Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern: “Façade.”
  • Write a post in our Facebook Group in which you respond to “Façade,” one work by Jason Nelson, and one by Christine Wilks. Post your responses before class on Tuesday, February 26.

Tuesday, February 12

Student Assembly & Academic Recess – Class does not meet

• Online Activity:
  • Readings:
    • Read my comments on your responses to Uncle Roger.
    • “My Body: A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson
    • “Entre Ville” by J.R. Carpenter
    • “Queerskins” by Illya Szillak
    • “Pangram (The Quick Brown Fox)” by Alan Bigelow
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to two of the assigned works (above), comparing and contrasting their use of hypertext to structure their works. Post before the end of class on Tuesday.
  • Read at least 2 of your classmates’ responses and comment substantively on them before the end of Wednesday, February 13. Conversations encouraged!
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 87-104.
  • Watch “Exploring Interactive Fiction” by Nick Montfort and this excerpt from “The Big Bang Theory”
  • Play “Galatea” by Emily Short as thoroughly as you can.
  • Explore textadventures.co.uk and play at least one more text adventure.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to Galatea and one more interactive fiction work. Post before the end of class on Thursday.

Thursday, February 14

Class does not meet.

• Online Activity:
  • Play “Galatea” by Emily Short as thoroughly as you can.
  • Explore textadventures.co.uk and play at least one more text adventure.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to Galatea and one more interactive fiction work listed above. Post before the end of class on Thursday.
  • Read at least 2 of your classmates’ responses and comment substantively on them before the end of Friday, February 15. Conversations encouraged!
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 104-109.
  • Read “Patterns of Hypertext” by Mark Bernstein
  • Play 2 of the Twine Games published in the Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 3.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to the two Twine games you read, discussing their use of hypertext to structure their works by placing them in conversation with Bernstein’s essay. Post before class on Tuesday (and we will meet in person, this time!).

Tuesday, February 5

• In class:
  • Discussion of hypertext antecedents
  • Texts to be discussed:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 54-68.
    • “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges
    • Read Wikipedia entry on Choose Your Own Adventure books.Underground Kingdom by Edward Packard
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 68-74.
    • Explore Eastgate Systems website.
    • Read “Uncle Roger, File 1” in the ELC3.
    • Read “Judy Malloy’s Uncle Roger” in Pathfinders and watch Judy Malloy’s traversals.
  • Write a post in your Facebook Group that has a 1-paragraph response to Uncle Roger and a 1-paragraph response to something you learned about it in the Pathfinders project, including the traversals. Your response is due by the end of class on Thursday.
  • Read 2 of your classmates’ posts on “Uncle Roger” and respond to them (substantively) no later than midnight on Friday, February 8.

Thursday, February 7

• Class does not meet. See Feb. 5 assignment for online class activity.
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature, pgs. 74-86.
  • Readings:
    • “My Body: A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson
    • “Entre Ville” by J.R. Carpenter
    • “Queerskins” by Illya Szillak
    • “Pangram (The Quick Brown Fox)” by Alan Bigelow
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to two of the assigned works, comparing and contrasting their use of hypertext to structure their works. Post before class on Tuesday.