All posts by Hunter Marshall

student blogs

It’s going.

This project is finally going in a direction for better or for worse. After our class workshop, I felt that I had concepts of an idea but still nothing too concrete. Over the long weekend, I really sat down and though about potential ways to tackle this project and the type of story I wanted to tell. In the end, I feel that I now have my main idea fleshed out and ready to go. I want to make this project about people’s online identities and voice within a digital space. To achieve this, I wanted to make two blogs from the same “writer” that showcases their two wickedly different sides. One side is the professional scholar who works in academia, and the other a more casual version of the same writer. I want to showcase their two sides through two blogs from the writer. The quirk is that the “real” blog will be hidden within the “professional blog”.

            After I ironed that out, I began to really focus on building the two web pages. I have begun to work on WordPress to create and publish the two blogs. I am most familiar with WordPress (especially after taking two classes with Dr. Z). The more “casual” blog will take more time to build out since I want to place much more stylistic and personal element into it compared to the other one. I feel like I will be messing with the actual composition of the blog up until the finish line.  

 This week I plan to begin to start writing the actual blogs and building the “narrative”. I have some ideas of what will be in the blogs, and I feel like they will fall into place as I begin to actually write. I want this part to be finished by the weekend, so I am able to begin to edit and fix up the blogs. I feel like I am out of my element for this project honestly, but I want to see where it goes. We will see.

student blogs

Thoughts on the Final E-lit project

While I do not have a full idea of how I am going to pull off this project, I do have some initial thoughts as to what type of story I want to tell. For this project I want to make a story that plays with the relationship between reader and writer.  More specifically, I want to play with the idea of “ownership” of a story’s meaning between the reader and the writer. The project, “writers are not stranger” really inspired me to think about this project. Although I may have not loved its execution, I did like the ideas it had. With this idea, I want to probably use hypertext. Since I do not have a lot of technical prowess with working with programs online, I feel like being simple would work more for me in the long run. Just spit balling, I can see my work being a collection of stories or vignettes that seem very deep or abstract but are really simple in nature. I want to readers disagree with the writers is trying to work with (If that makes sense). Again, I like the idea of the author playing with the reader through their work. Going with the idea of hypertext, I also want to think about using images and even music/ sound for this project. I would need to flesh out my idea a bit more to know for sure want I want to do with the inclusion of visual and audio media. I am not that creative, so I am concerned for this project, but I am excited about the challenge of it all.

student blogs

Blackout Poetry Tool and 200 Castle

This week we covered two pretty cool works of E-lit. To start I want to talk about 200 Castle. This work again goes with the idea of accessibility within the context of E-lit. Augmented Reality works are really cool to experience in person. Much, if not all of their value is based on the interaction between the user and their device’s camera. Since I could only see this work through a video from author Caitlin Fisher, I feel like I am missing the point. It’s the same feeling of hearing a movie that people love to talk about and learning it’s hard to find online. From what I saw through the video, I can say that I am super interested in the work regardless. The work using a real book to flip through is a brilliant way of including a physical aspect into the work. The act of flipping through a book brings another level of immersion rather than scrolling on a webpage for example. The fact that the reader could read it out of order also added a level of control as the reader only interacted with images that they were interested in. The only issue I could consider having with this work is the fact that holding a phone or tablet while trying to see the book could be challenging, though I guess we will never know.

The other work that was covered this week was the Black Out Poetry Tool by Jazer Chand. I have to admit that I initially judged this work too harshly when I first looked at it. I am a poetry hater through and through (honestly, I just do not “get it”). Looking at this, I was kind of put off. The first setting of “Thesis” was pretty straight forward. I took my time to create a work from the first couple lines of Mary Shelley’s masterwork. The “anithesis” setting was off putting in a way. Since I took some time to pick my words, it was kind of a moment of whiplash to see the bot spit out a work almost instantly. It reminded me of my feelings of AI within the realm of writing (that’s a can of worms I do not want to even touch). It was with the “synthesis” setting was great. Working with the bot to create a work was way more enjoyable than I imagined. Rather than spitting out piece, the bot works with the user, vamping off of our selection. I liked how the bot chose words that would naturally fit with the words that the user chose. It creates the illusion of collaboration (only an illusion since the bot is not a real person, just a program). This new back and forth created a pretty interesting experience. Finally, the last setting worth talking about was “symbiosis”. While the user has total control of their word choice, the bot gives a number of suggestions to use. This felt like when word gives grammar suggestions on a paper. It ignores what the writer intends and only spits out what it “thinks” is right. Sometimes I ignored their selections, while other times it chose a word that fit into what wanted to do. This was another interesting option to use. This whole work seemingly looked to explore creatives use of tech. Some people create on their own, some use tech to think for them. But for many of use, tech is used as a tool to help our process. Creators negotiate with this dynamic today now more than ever. Super cool to see it play out through this work.  The visual option was nice if you are into that kind of thing.

student blogs

All Your Time-Tossed Selves and Hana’s Feels

All Your Time-Tossed Selves and Hana’s Feels

This week we had two super interesting works. I want to start with the standout Hana Feels by Gavin Inglis, Erin Rea and Stephen Redman. This work was emotionally captivating in many ways. I feel like the class discussion will be great and fruitful. I loved how this work was organized and presented to the reader. Seeing how different conversations effect future ones help build such a powerful narrative. The main thing that stood out to me was the authors’ notes. He believed that this work was more didactic than literary. After working through this, I fully understand this feeling. For me, this work reinforces the teaching that words cannot be chosen lightly. As the work continued and Hana’s problems and struggles became more apparent, the responses the reader chooses to hold much more weight to them. There were times where I had to sit and think long and hard about how I wanted to respond, regardless of what character I was inhabiting. Hana’s dynamic responses really breathe life into this work and contributes greatly to how the reader interacts with the story. Another interesting thing was the dynamic of power. With Will, Ernie and Christine, the responses were varied, and the reader is seemingly given a “right” and “wrong” way of answering questions. As readers, we have more context compared to the characters so, our answers are influenced by the previous vignette. On the other hand, during Jen’s sections I felt powerless, as her responses all seemed “wrong” given what the reader knows about Hana and the events that have happened. (Side note, if Jen has no haters, that means I have left this earth).

            The other work this week was All Your Time-Tossed Selves by Porpentine. This one was interesting since it pushed google forms platform to its narrative limits. This work uses all possible interactive elements that the platform provides the user with. The most interesting aspect of this work is seeing the stats about other people’s responses. I find this very cool because it adds a community aspect to this work compared to others. Seeing how others put together their respective narrative was actually cool to see. The only other thing worth mentioning here was that the responses were super well written and interesting. I love some good prose and this work had some great one liners. Crafting a story with the lines that were given was a great exercise of creativity.

student blogs

The Vine and the Fish & Ask Me For the Moon

For this week’s readings, I started with Leise Hook’s graphic novel/ short comic The Vine and the Fish. Now to out myself as a bit of a nerd, I love comics and graphic novels. Seeing the bridge being built between narrative and art warms my heart every time. Hook’s work did its job in that regard. I do have to say that weirdly enough, I preferred reading Hook’s comic in its standard format, (the downloadable version) compared to the motion comic that is available on her website. I felt that that animations throughout the work got in the way of the word on the “page”. (I feel like an old man yelling at the cloud in writing this). I do have to say that the animation, and the art especially was amazing and fit into the story she wanted to tell. The use of different shades green to fit into the motif of nature and foliage was a fantastic touch. The overall narrative was compelling. It was a bit less personal that I had initially thought it would be. Despite this, when the author made the connection to the Kudzu plant and herself, the moment stood out very well. When the author wrote, “Because I’ve internalized the language of invasion biology”, my ear perked up a bit. I felt that this was a very powerful line after a lot of exposition about the dynamics of invasive species and the language and actions that surrounds them. Another thing to note about this work is the fact that it did not work correctly on my computer. I had to read the work as a static page (like a traditional comic or graphic novel). I then went on to watch a video of the work to see it in an “E-lit” context. I just thought that it was interesting how comics and seemingly straddle the line between E-lit and more conventual literature. In my personal opinion, nothing hits better than turning the page of a comic but reading them online can add levels of animation and other artistic qualities that can enhance the experience. I will stand on my soapbox all day and argue that comics deserve to be read in their paper format, but this work gave me a bit of a new perspective.

            The second work that I read through for the class was Ask For the Moon, by John David Zuern. I again, want to revel something about myself in this blog (I know it’s crazy). I need to admit that I am poetries biggest hater. A lot of my hard feelings come from the idea that I “don’t get it” a lot of time. As I’ve gotten older, I have started to have more of an open mind about poetry and its many works. I even found a handful of poems that I actually like (Much Madness is Devine Sense by Emily Dickenson comes to mind). I can say this work does not make that list. To give some credit, one line that caught my attention was, “In Frigid kitchens, in fluorescent corridors, all work is night work”. Beautiful stuff, no notes. Moving one, some things I did like about the work was how it was presented to the user. The words come in quick and fade away, maybe pointing to the forgotten and overlooked people who make the tourism industry possible within Hawaii. The imagery was small but was impactful. Also, the detours to more academic writing from other authors was a great artistic touch. One last note I want to make is about the navigational aspect of it. Since the words are fading it black and even overlapping the new words on the page, some of the poetry was hard to read and follow. Overall, this was not one of my favorites, which sucks because I can feel that this author had a really nice story to tell. Also, quick note, this work reminded me of the first season of the first season of the HBO hit show, White Lotus. They talk about similar ideas.

student blogs

Yardley, PA 1997 & Avenue S

This week we covered two wickedly different works of E-lit. First, I want to cover Yardley, PA 1997 by Todd Anderson. This work was pretty cool if I’m being honest. One of the compelling aspects of Anderson’s work is the navigational freedom that he provides in the work. Since the poem and music can be placed in any order, the reader has freedom to navigate the work at their own pace and leisure. The path to the ending is paved through the readers own imagination compared to just the way the author intends. Another aspect of the work is the actual narrative. I loved how the music and the words seemingly matched up. Each line of text works likes a memory, and the music seemingly feels likes a memory coming and fading quickly. The ending really brought the work together for me. The crescendo of both the narrative, and the music both blended perfectly together to illustrate a time in the past we cannot get back. Nostalgia is a topic that is ubiquitous in writing, so it’s always interesting to see how authors use it in their works. In this case, the author uses the interactive aspects of the work to reflect the readers view of the feelings of nostalgia. Reading about the exploits of the speaker and hearing the music did bring back memories from by childhood too. I see this piece as a bit of a literary sandbox. While the author gives their way to work through the piece, they also allow the player to use the piece to create their own work in a way. I really liked this work overall.

            The other work that I covered for this week was Avenue S, by Jody Zellen. This work was way different, though it did provide some really unique and interesting moments as I worked through some of it. With this work totaling almost 400 pages, it was hard to see an actual conclusion when compared to the previous work. In some ways, this work felt endless, with me clicking over and over after seeing each new page. It was cool to see the interactive aspects of this work. For one, hovering over the tab of the window revealed the title of each specific page. These titles provided much needed context to some of the more abstract pages in some cases. While some of the pages felt disjointed, they all stylistically felt connected and consistent. In some cases, this work felt like an art installation at a museum. One of the things I really liked is how the “narrative” builds throughout the work. The way it weaves the feelings of loneliness and isolation while also presenting the backdrop of the pandemic and the social unrest that come with it was fantastic. The imagery, the poetry and the overall organization all came together the longer I worked through the piece. The standout vignette that I loved was “trapped” which consisted of many short repeating animations that outlined the circular nature of the lock-down. People being trapped in their homes, as well as in their daily routines. I can say that this is my favorite work we have covered so far in class.

student blogs

Facade and Welcome Home

Façade was a bit of a mess for me. Since I have a MAC, I was not able to access the game and play it on my own. Because of this I had to watch a number of walkthroughs on YouTube to get a chance to see the game. I feel like I missed out on actually fully experiencing the game on my own, but I was happy that it is still preserved for people to see, even if it is incompatible with more modern systems. I found Façade to be a good time. It was interesting to see how the players interaction can change the dynamic of the overall conversation. In conventional literature, ending can be open-ended but are singular. Here, the player’s (or reader) can create branching paths that actually affect the way the game ends. Another thing that stood out from watching different play throughs was how the characters of Grace and Trip react to what the player chooses to say or side with. This dynamic characterization really made the characters stand out way more than I expected them to. Seeing their gratitude and disappointment when you choose to side with one or another was a really fascinating feature. In seeing how the game can end in different scenarios, I think I can see some of the authors intent. In creating these two dynamic characters, the authors wanted players to pick a side based on their own thought process. Some players might see Trip as the main issue in the relationship, with the same being said for Grace. Some players might want to play peace makers and end up getting both characters to reveal their doubts and infidelities. Façade was a very cool piece of E-lit overall.

Welcome Home was also a great work to see. Lost media is one of the most intriguing things look for. Trying to prove the existence of a piece of work seemingly lost to time and presenting those findings seem to be time consuming but fulfilling. In my spare time, I sometimes go down the rabbit hole in looking into lost media, so Welcome Home and the work that goes into these types of projects was something I have seen before. The work and care it took to build this database, redraw and animate old works and track down old merchandise is crazy to think about. The overall website is very impressive to say the least. The only thing that really surprised me was to see that this can be considered E-lit. I would be lying if I was not confused when I opened this link and went through the website for the first time. Over time, I thought about some of the historical non-fiction books I have read and began to see Welcome Home in a similar light. Although it is not bound and written on paper, Welcome Home must have taken immense amount of research and work to put together this project, in the same way some of the book I have read had. Preservation of older media is an important issue to take up since many works by creative people throughout history can be lost to time. Seeing these older works being appreciated and brought to modern audiences is really cool to see.

student blogs

Blog #3

E Lit Blog #3

Last week, in our discussion of Joyce’s Twelve Blue we touched on the idea of navigation and how it can play a huge part in our enjoyment and understanding. E-lit allows authors to control how the reader interacts with a work. High Muck A Muck is a work that is much more organized and curated. Its set up allows the reader the freedom to choose how they will unravel the complex project. In addition to this, the project makes it easy for the reader to navigate. The ink blots that are used for the reader to click on are easy to see and vary in size depended on their importance. Another thing to point out is the fact that many of the pages include an arrow that puts you into the previous page. I found many of the navigational tools to be way better than Twelve Blue. Now it is important to consider what both works are trying to do. High Muck a Muck much more straight forward compared to Joyce’s work, so the navigation essentially matching up with the presentation.

My experience with High Muck a Muck was a great time overall. I really liked how this work found alignment between its many different facets. Combining art, poetry, music, video, and audio is somewhat of a daunting task for anyone. The collective that worked on this project did a great job of mixing different types of medias to build a story. Speaking of the content, High Muck a Muck felt like walking through the shared histories of many people. The myriads of stories, perspectives and settings throughout Canada presented through different perspective was intriguing. Working through this project felt like unraveling a shared history. Seeing how these Chinese immigrants found their way through Canada and built their own spaces was captivating. And presenting this shared history through the multitude of mediums only served to improve an already interesting topic.

For me, the standout vignette for me was combing through Nelson. Given the fact that you could choose any point of interest when you begin, I chose the Nelson tab since it was separate from the rest.  In looking through this section, I fell in love with the project. As someone who not a huge fan of poetry, I liked the writing and the feeling behind the words. I liked to see how the writers characterized and visualized the many important cultural spaces that their community had built over the years. In addition, the audio files that were present added even more depth to the narrative. The poem at the cemetery was definitely a standout for me. See just nine lines of poetry holding so much cultural and historical context was great. The Nelson section was a standout to mee since it really showcased the creativity and the execution of the project as a whole.

Before the class began, I really did not know the full scope of E-lit. High Muck A Muck has showed me the heights this medium can reach with the right execution. While I did see the value in Twelve Blue and its confusing nature, I overall enjoyed this project since it was more creative and straightforward. Obviously High Muck A Muck was competed more recently so it may be an unfair comparison. In viewing these two projects back-to-back I can guess that more recent projects are easier to navigate while also pushing the medium forward.

student blogs

Blog #2 I don’t get it

Jessica Pressman’s essay, Navigating Electronic Literature was a definitely needed for this attempting to read through Joyce’s Twelve Blue. Before going into Joyce’s confusing story, I want to bring up an interesting aspect of some of Pressman’ s essay. To start, I liked the way she explained the aspects of navigation. In addition to this, she also drew attention to how a readers interaction with navigation can affect the performance of a work. As someone who loves traditional books (physical books are one of my addictions) I find the act of navigation as second nature. The most interaction with a book is reading and turning a page; two things that do not have much impact on the narrative’s “performance”. Though within the context of graphic novels and comics, navigation does play a role. How a reader wades through the myriads of dialogue bubbles, text boxes, art and composition of the specific panels does force the reader to navigate the story to see the intended way to read. I see this as a bit of an unspoken agreement with the reader and writer. The writer paves the road of understanding for the reader to drive on. In electronic literature, there is not much of a guarantee. Instead of paving the way for the reader, and work of E lit gives the reader the tools to find their way through the narrative. This aspect of E lit is something I will have to get used to as the class continues.

Another thing worth bringing up in terms of the Pressman essay was the difference between hypertext and interactive fiction. While I initially though that I did not have much experience with E lit, this essay made me more aware of the types of things that might fit into both categories. In terms of interactive fiction, the work I chose for my presentation, Writers are not Stranger, fits into this genre of E lit. From my early interactions with Writers are not Stranger, I have to say that I really enjoy playing around with it. Being an active part of the story, based on predetermined choices made by the author is really gripping and placed more power in my hands as a reader that I am accustomed to. As the semester goes on, I will play with it much more, but my early thoughts are very positive in terms of the genre of interactive fiction. While I do have thoughts about hyperlink text, I want to share them when talking about Joyce’s story. Overall, Pressman’s article was a nice intro into understanding two genres within e-lit.

Micheal Joyce’s Twelve Blue was interesting to say the least. Before I get into the E lit aspect of the piece, I wanted to give Joyce his flowers a bit. One of my reactions to the work is how good writing can be in this context. Chopping a story up and relying on it into pieces is not new but it is effective. In terms of this story, it was great reading Joyce’s great prose. His writing made me want to continue on in uncovering how to make sense of it all. The repetition of the color blue and its uses throughout the story were a great motif to use.  The overall narrative was compelling despite the fact that I was lost for most of it. I can definitely say that the navigation aspect of the story did not take away how I felt.

 As a reader, I like “boring” stories or stories with normal structure. I find myself gravitating towards classical literature avoiding more contemporary literature because unorthodox stories can be. The idea of a reader having to navigate through a story compared to just turning a page is confusing and a bit dauting to me. Reading Joyce’s story was a struggle for me for the most part. As I said before, a narrative bouncing around is not a new thing, but a story moving rapidly while only giving the reader crumbs was new for me. I feel that the story and its composition were a match made in heaven. It forced me keep tabs on the information that has been presented (characters, setting and the “plot”). It also surprised me many times, as the story would shift in tone, and perspective at the click of your mouse.  One second, we are reading about Samantha and her dream, and the next someone’s father is buying a carnival ride. This narrative wipe lash was just not for me. As we continue through this semester, I hope I see the light in the hypertext genre.

One side note from the story I want to add was a part of the story that I felt got me. One of the parts that I read contained three separate hyperlinks that jumped into three distinct parts of the narrative. While I did struggle to piece the story and its element together, I did really like this little wrinkle. One question for all of you guys was what aspect of this story was better, the overall narrative or the act of uncovering the narrative through the hypertext?

While i may not see the greatness of hyperlinks as a genre, Joyce’s story at least has peaked my interest and has made me a bit more open and exited to see how the genre has changed and improved since the 90s.