Presentations and Call for Submissions

Our goal is to send out a Call for Submissions for our journal as soon as possible (Thursday, Oct 8).  This will require us to know

1. -          deadline for submission: 

We want to give writers enough time to create good work, while still leaving enough time for us to edit/produce this work.

1. -          Method of submission (submittable? Email?)
2. -          Description of work we receive (genres, formats?)

We will use your experience with these journals to inform our decisions. Please post your suggestions to 1,2, and 3 as comments to this post.

Day 3: Barthelme's "The School"

Today, we discussed Barthelme's "The School" and why it was "good literature."
Some elements we liked:
- it did not teach us a lesson
- that it made us think about what it means to be human
     - about grief and loss
     - the meaning of life
- we liked the representation
    - of the experience of loss
    - the experience of triumph
    - the "righting" of world order
    - the students (the author respected these characters, they were all smart and articulate, acting older than normal 4th grade children would)

This was a print story, posted online. It is not Electronic Literature. We talked about ways to make this story Electronic Literature, using hypertext, interactive fiction and digital poetry.
Your best suggestions included:
- linking to similar philosophies about the meaning of life
- including a comment section for readers to respond and interact with one another

We also debated about whether or not these changes would be useful. Many of you felt that such changes would distract readers from the original story. And I agree that many superfulous changes (such as definitions of a term, linking to the author's biography, or images of gerbils) would indeed be distracting. But links to substantive topics (such as philosophical essays that further explore the "meaning of life") could be useful and enrich the reading experience.

Your homework: prepare for journal presentations on Monday

Day 2: Page One

We will be watching the Carr's documentary "Page One" (2011) today. While this is about the New York Times, a print publication, I'd like you to think about the implications it has for electronic literature. I'd also like you to think about the experience we are about to have together in creating Volume 2 of The Lying Cotton Review. What roles/positions would you enjoy [or not enjoy]? What are some problems we should anticipate? What things can we do in order to have the best/most productive experience?

Please think about these things individually and have an online conversation here.

Day 1: Introduction to Introduction of Electronic Literature

We talked about the history of writing and writing technologies, identifying the pattern that writing and production is speeding up and expanding.

With this speed, comes the concern that literature is losing its value, quality, and permanence. The most recent claim is Nicholas Carr's article, "Is Google Making us Stupid?" in which he argues that online literature is distracting (while print literature is consolidating).
This is one of the central questions of this course: is Carr right about electronic literature? Is it devaluing great literature? Or is he simply a part of a larger, reactionary pattern that responds adversely to changes in literature and technology?

Assignment:
I introduced the Journal Review Project (see link to the right). Please sign up for at least two journals.
due Monday, Sept 28.
We also began a collaborative process of defining electronic literature terms (see prezi to the right). - due Monday Sept, 21

We will view a documentary about the publishing process on Thursday. Please be sure to bring your computer/smartphone so that you can participate in the Todaysmeet discussion.

Defining Electronic Literature

"Electronic literature, or e-lit, refers to works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer. Within the broad category of electronic literature are several forms and threads of practice, some of which are:

• Hypertext fiction and poetry, on and off the Web
• Kinetic poetry presented in Flash and using other platforms
• Computer art installations which ask viewers to read them or otherwise have literary aspects
• Conversational characters, also known as chatterbots
• Interactive fiction
• Novels that take the form of emails, SMS messages, or blogs
• Poems and stories that are generated by computers, either interactively or based on parameters given at the beginning
• Collaborative writing projects that allow readers to contribute to the text of a work
• Literary performances online that develop new ways of writing" 

-- ELO (Electronic Literature Online)