Rebooting Electronic Literature, Volume 4

Social Media Content for Kathy Mac's "Unnatural Habitats"

Twitter 

The Electronic Literature Lab used their Twitter account to post promotional content regarding the traversal of Unnatural Habitats.





















































YouTube Chat 

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  Holly June
Hello everyone!

Andrew Klein
Hi!

Denise McClure
Hello!

Kathleen Zoller
Hello!

Louise Chase
Hello ... is anyone else having difficulty hearing (my laptop is set at maximum volume but I'm straining to hear ... so am wondering...)?

Electronic Literature Lab
Hi folks

Electronic Literature Lab
thanks for coming

Andrew Klein
Sound is fine on my end

Electronic Literature Lab
Louise, check the sound on Youtube to see if it is also turned up

Louise Chase
yes, i have thanks ... going to try another computer ..

Electronic Literature Lab
Here is the link to the ELD and the short essay Asrid just published this morning for us: https://directory.eliterature.org/ind...

Electronic Literature Lab
You saw the loading screen for the work. This is a small work in comparison of some of the others we have Traversed this year.

Electronic Literature Lab
This is the TOC for the work you are looking at.

Electronic Literature Lab
The work is divided into three sections

Electronic Literature Lab
There is a lag due to the remote aspect of our presentation

Kathleen Zoller
I like how certain paragraphs are separated and offset in chunks. It reminds me of launching a rocket, and seeing the pieces fall away as it goes

Kathleen Zoller
The map also appears to be well-organized

Kathleen Zoller
Does .ssp stand for "storyspace project"?

Electronic Literature Lab
i just gave you an impromptu tour of the maps

Electronic Literature Lab
yes

Kathleen Zoller
Thank you!

Astrid Ensslin
Kathleen, yes, the visual aspect is key.

Astrid Ensslin
Flicking through the lexias it even becomes a kinetic poem.

Kathleen Zoller
Agreed Astrid, the text also feels like it is floating in outer space

Astrid Ensslin
Keep that idea in mind as we go through this Traversal.

Kathleen Zoller
Will do!

Astrid Ensslin
that's my favorite part of the cycle.

Astrid Ensslin
It sums up so much of human experience.

Astrid Ensslin
Tapering off ... to the period of annihilation

Andrew Klein
capsule-shape is almost space-invader-esque here -- the shape was instantly evocative of space-craft descending!

Astrid Ensslin
Love the simile, Andrew.

Kathleen Zoller
Pioneers are the people who go to space, go below sea, travel underground, and explore this new (at the time) digital realm of hypertext

Astrid Ensslin
Yes, they leave their "natural" comfort zones.

Astrid Ensslin
patchwork girl, anyone?

Kathleen Zoller
quilting does seem to be a popular analogy for hypertext!

Astrid Ensslin
Marie-Laure Ryan collected all the different metaphors for hypertext, and the quilt was one of them.

Richard Snyder
Where can I see that, Astrid?

Astrid Ensslin
Narrative as Virtual Reality, I think

Richard Snyder
Thanks!

Andrew Klein
cool experiment nonetheless!

A.X. Roads
I haven't been around for the other traversals so this point may have been brought up already, but it's so interesting to see how this structure lives on in digital zines like you'd find on itchio

Astrid Ensslin
Do you mean Twine games?

Astrid Ensslin
Kathy was doing elit of/on elit [smiling face emoji]

A.X. Roads
I'm actually not sure if what I'm thinking of was specifically made with Twine but yes

Richard Snyder
I'm not sure it's intentional, but the visual impression of the arrows here put me in mind of NASA diagrams calculating something like reentry angles, etc. [smiling face emoji]

Richard Snyder
Completely intentional! [smiling face emoji]

Andrew Klein
I've only seen a few Traversals but Kathy's really does feel very self-aware of its concrete dimensions (that is, re: layout of even the lexias).

Andrew Klein
I think it shows the need for Hayles's Media-Specific Analysis when we approach these pieces with students especially

Electronic Literature Lab
Yes, we noticed this ourselves during the rehearsal on Monday, Andrew

Electronic Literature Lab
She also experiments with animating text across screens

Electronic Literature Lab
We saw this same effect in Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story

Richard Snyder
Kathy, thank you for presenting today. Were you influenced in your design for the lexia by any specific examples of concrete poetry or perhaps artist's books?

Electronic Literature Lab
What gets me excited about this work is that way artists push boundaries, as Astrid just said

Andrew Klein
my question, as well, Richard!

Electronic Literature Lab
Good question

Electronic Literature Lab
Textile work is very influential with hypertext

Electronic Literature Lab
So many artists, as Kathleen pointed out earlier, used metaphors of quilting, stitching, sewing

Electronic Literature Lab
Patchwork Girl encapsulates this idea in the title alone

Richard Snyder
What a great answer, thank you! I love that you took this textile metaphor approach to electronic media.

Richard Snyder
Also reminds me of Knit++ in Turbulence, by xurban collective.

Sarah Xerar Murphy
You can feel the physical threads there Kath... But also has the sense of the tragic absence of actual texture...

Electronic Literature Lab
Yes, Richard

Electronic Literature Lab
The notion of natural has been destabilized. Humans fly liked bird; dolphins paint like humans

Electronic Literature Lab
birds, that is

Andrew Klein
Kathy, did you have plans for this project before you encountered Storyspace? Or did exploring Storyspace move you to this project?

Electronic Literature Lab
I love that question

Andrew Klein
Followup: would you/did you conceive of a non-hypertext version?

Electronic Literature Lab
I want so badly to teach a course in the linguistically and structural aesthetics of hypertext poetry

Electronic Literature Lab
D is a dental which punctuates the line

Astrid Ensslin
As with Lust? That's a great work to teach for linguistic structure, Dene.

Electronic Literature Lab
Oh yes, Astrid. on that list

Electronic Literature Lab
The S sound can be soothing or hissing

Electronic Literature Lab
The Sibilant is one of my favorite sounds

Electronic Literature Lab
Sound carries meaning

Electronic Literature Lab
Aporia means gaps

Electronic Literature Lab
gap

Electronic Literature Lab
singular

Electronic Literature Lab
Espen Aarseth talks about this feature in his book Cybertext

Electronic Literature Lab
He suggests that aporia leads to epiphany

Sarah Xerar Murphy
Does sound reconstruct physicality in a digital world?

Electronic Literature Lab
Sonic imagery is all about that, Sarah

Electronic Literature Lab
Imagery is the poet's way of instantiating ideas

Sarah Xerar Murphy
Also hearing it yourself...

Electronic Literature Lab
What I love about sound is that it is only sensory modality hard-wired in our brain

Electronic Literature Lab
It is powerful for that reaosn

Electronic Literature Lab
reason

Electronic Literature Lab
The wonderful structure and linking apparatus of that structure would be lost if it were turned into print

Sarah Xerar Murphy
Perhaps re-embodying the self would be a better way of thinking about it....

Electronic Literature Lab
Next Friday we will host a launch party for the release of the archival version of Richard Holeton's Figurski on Findhorn on Acid

Electronic Literature Lab
If you wish to join us, contact me directly at dgrigar@wsu.edu

Electronic Literature Lab
I'll send you a Zoom link

Electronic Literature Lab
The lab migrated the work from Storyspace to open web lanagues

Electronic Literature Lab
languages

Denise McClure
Thank you for this.

Louise Chase
Wonderful ... thank you all!

Astrid Ensslin
Thanks to everyone in the audience for joining us today.

Sarah Xerar Murphy
Great! Thank you!

Kathleen Zoller
Thank you so much! Such a wonderful traversal

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