Twitter Archive

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I wanted to respond to a topic brought up in in V’s post “Twitter as a Primary Source,” specifically the portion that cited this article from the Library of Congress. It is concerning to think that there is such a thing as a “Twitter Archive” and that tweets are being preserved for future generations to see the mundane updates of our day-to-day lives. The Library of Congress article argues “Twitter will be one of the most informative resources available on modern day culture, including economic, social and political trends, as well as consumer behavior and social trends.” Twitter, with its addition to the ranks of the material in the Library of Congress, can be viewed as an electronic nonfiction source. Everything we tweet will be saved forever and will be later used in anthropological studies in order to analyze and classify our generation. V made a valid point by advising “before you tweet make sure it’s something you’re willing to have go down in history bearing your name,” however there are other concerns to take into consideration.

Possibly one of the reasons Twitter is so popular is that it is used by so many celebrities. Twitter users can follow their favorite movie stars and musicians the same way they follow people they actually know. These fans rest assured that these accounts are legitimate because celebrity pages are adorned with a validating blue check mark. What concerns me is that possibly that all the tweets from these certified accounts will forever be preserved in the Twitter Archive as autobiographical statements from these users. How can we be sure that the celebrities are even the ones tweeting? It is equally likely there is some Public Relations person or personal assistant working for the celebrity and posting updates for him or her in order to maintain good relations with his or her fan base.

I’m not bringing up this point to complain about celebrity authenticity but to draw attention to the fact that these 140 characters posts will forever be saved as primary sources from the respective individuals. Reference texts require citation in order to ensure their historical accuracy. I think these same standards should be held for any work of nonfiction. I’m not saying Twitter needs to using citations, I just think if it is going to be included in the Library of Congress it shouldn’t be classified as a primary source and it definitely should not be viewed as “one of the most informative resources.”

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Pottermore

March 29, 2012 By 2 Comments

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of conversations surrounding the Harry Potter E-books which, according to this article, are apparently “game-changers for the digital world.” While I disagree that these e-books are any different from other books that were once in print and have since been redistributed in a digital format, I do believe the additional content that has been added to these books in the new Harry Potter website makes them very unique. Although e-books cannot be classified as electronic literature, websites such as Pottermore may, in fact, be “game-changers” for the literary world.
Last year J.K. Rowling and Sony released Pottermore, which Rowling first introduced with the vague description of it being “a unique online experience.” Pottermore was only opened to a select audience in July 2011 and I, having not been one of the chosen few, have yet to experience it for myself. After spending months wondering what I have been missing out on, I came across this walk through/ field guide which has given me a better idea of the site’s features.
Although Pottermore seems to only be promoting the readers ability to “to purchase and download the digital Harry Potter audio books and, for the first time, the Harry Potter eBooks” the site provides much more than that. On the site itself users have the ability to “explore” through each chapter of the books. The chapters are divided into “moments” which provide opportunities for the user to play with a variety of features which include viewing exclusive content, interacting with user users, and playing with interactive images. There are also several game aspects of the interactive features of each chapter in which the user is required to collect items and can “unlock” things when he or she reaches a certain level of progress. For example, in “Moment Two” of the second chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the user can interact with the Boa Constrictor at the Zoo. By waving cursor over the snake the user “will make him move” and by clicking on the Boa’s sign the user can read more about him. These features are digital born and make this reading experience entirely different from that of a traditional e-book.

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Truth or Fail

March 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I recently discovered there is a channel on YouTube called “Truth or Fail.” The channel’s description is: “An online test of your brain power, Truth or Fail is YouTube’s first game show. Hosted by a variety of YouTube celebrities, Truth or Fail presents you with two supposed facts. All you have to do is click on the true one, or you fail.”

The Truth of Fail channel contains over twenty different videos you can watch, each of which is the beginning of a different game focusing on a specific category. The video will have a person stating two outlandish facts and then asking you which of the two facts is actually true. Each fact shows up as a link leading to another YouTube video. If you click the correct answer the link will direct you to another video. The person will then let you know you have answered correctly and provide you with two new facts.

If you answer incorrectly, the link will send you to a video also providing you with another set of facts, only after letting you know you have failed. This will continue until you complete five rounds. At the end of the video containing the final set of facts you will be given the option to grade how well you did on the quiz. The choices are 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5 and 5/5 and each of these choices links to another video. In the final video the person will respond based on how well, or how poorly, you did on the quiz. The game ends with links to the beginning of another game.

I had previously questioned whether or not YouTube videos, namely videos, belonged in the Electronic Literature canon. I still stand by my argument that the majority of videos, although they possess narrative qualities and are born digital, should not be guaranteed a place in the canon. Standard YouTube videos lack any sort of interactive qualities besides the basic actions of clicking the play button and watching the video. To quote my previous post, “If watching a video were enough than every video would fall into the canon and I don’t believe that is so.”

The Truth or Fail videos differ from the standard YouTube video in that they require user interaction in order to get the full experience of the game. The format of the videos reminded me of the Choose-Your-Adventure games because you could get different results based on the answer you chose. The Choose-Your-Adventure games only worked so long as you continued choosing your own adventure in order to further your progress in the game. Similarly, these game show videos only work if you choose an answer in order to proceed. You could easily just watch one video and not chose any answer, but then the game would just end.

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The 30-Second Bunny Theatre

February 23, 2012 By 2 Comments

After reading the conversations surrounding cmccrzy’s post “Abridged Series” I also began to question whether or not parodied animated web series could be classified as a part of the Electronic Literature canon. The post referenced “abridged” webseries and “How It Should Have Ended” and these references reminded me of another online series, “The 30-Second Bunny Theatre” by Angry Alien Productions. This series also takes popular movies, condenses them into a shorter period of time and presents them in a satirical way. “The 30-Second Bunny Theatre” is very similar to the other two series however unlike the “How It Should Have Ended” the ending or plot from the original are not significantly altered in any way apart from the fact all the characters are played by bunnies.

 

I can see value in both sides of the argument for the classification of these videos. “The 30-Second Bunny Theatre” videos were electronically born, therefore meeting the “born digital” criteria, and possess narrative qualities. In addition, these types of videos hold expectations for those who are viewing them and therefore require something out of the viewers. As cmccrzy stated “They make you really think about what goes on in the show/movie/what-have-you.” These videos are created with expectation that the viewers have already sent the original. For example, if you watch one of these videos and had never seen Inception, the film on which the video is based, you probably wouldn’t enjoy your viewing experience as much.

 

On the other hand I don’t know if these qualities justify the videos being classified as Electronic Literature. Although the videos were undeniably born digitally it is important to remember the basis of the videos was taken from an outside source. As viewers we cannot say whether or not the original films had a digital origin. One cannot argue that they were solely responsible for the birth of a parody piece because their piece would not exist had the idea being parodied not already existed. In addition I don’t think watching a video and having some background knowledge of the plot is enough interaction. If watching a video were enough than every video would fall into the canon and I don’t believe that is so.

 

Something else to think about is what happens to the classification once the projects medium or purpose changes. When Angry Alien Productions first starting making their thirty-second parody videos I’m sure they were unaware of the popularity they would receive. Now instead of creating the videos simply for the entertainment of their viewers or themselves the production team intend to make a profit out of their videos. If you visit the Angry Alien Production website you can purchase a DVD containing a compilation of the “The 30-Second Bunny Theatre” videos. After seeing this I’m not sure where I stand on the Electronic Literature classification argument. Can the videos online be classified as Electronic Literature but the videos on the DVD not be classified as such? Can a piece fall into more than one category based on the way in which it is viewed? I’m not sure where to draw the line.

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Nio and Kinetic Typography

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nio by Jim Andrews is an animated poetry piece from the first volume of the electronic literature collection. The piece incorporates two different mediums, text and audio, and forms what the artist himself describes as “interactive audio” and “visual poetry.” The piece uses a traditional poetry format in that it is divided into two verses but also branches out into hypertext by allowing the user to interact with the piece in an unusual way.

Verse One of Nio has several icons forming a circle set against a black background. Each of these icons are made up of a group of letters layered on top of each other in what seems like a random assortment. The user is able to click on any of these icons in order to turn on the “sound and visual poems” (Andrews’ description). Once you click an icon a box appears around it to show it has been activated. Once activated a series of letters, the same ones the make up the corresponding icon, will become animated in the center of the circle. These animated letters are accompanied by audio, which are sounds voiced by the artist. Each icon activated a different series of animated letters and random sounds. Up to six of these icons can be activated at once which results in a collaborative of jumbled, animated letters and a chorus of corresponding sounds.

Verse Two uses the same sound icons but allows the user to interact with them in a different way. Instead of a circular display the sounds are organized in a grid. The 4×4 grid is organized into four channels with which you can interact. The sound icons are all stored in a bank below the grid and can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the grid. In this verse there are more audio manipulation options such as volume adjustment. There is also a “Loop” option, which allows you to play the audio on a loop. Similar to the first verse, you can play multiple audio and text animation at the same time.

I saw a correlation between Nio and the pieces Guillermo introduced in the blog post “K1NeT1C TYp0gRaPhY.”  In this post Guillermo states, “Kinetic typography artists use selections from all different mediums to produce a work. Clips of film, songs, and pieces of literature are all commonly used for kinetic typography works.” Based on this description Nio is comparable to the examples referenced throughout the aforementioned post and Andrews can be classified as a kinetic typography artist. Andrews’ piece fits into this category because his work incorporated more than one medium. The main contrast between Nio and other works of typography is the difference in narrative qualities. While all the examples of kinetic typography from the blog post tell a straight-forward story, Nio lacks such narrative qualities. However, the absence of these qualities are not to the detriment of the work. Referring to this piece as poetry is appropriate because the various elements, although they lack a clear message, go together very well and produce something that is poetic and aesthetically pleasing.

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Dawn by Reiner Strasser and Alan Sondheim

January 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

Dawn by Reiner Strasser and Alan Sondheim is a visual poem with text set against a nature-themed photograph and nature sounds playing in the background. This piece of electronic literature is made up of three major aspects: audio, pictures and text.

The piece begins with the poem’s title and author. Once the opening text fades out the first line of the poem fades in. This text effect is used for each line of the poem. The background images of this piece rotate between about five different nature and landscape photographs. The rotation of images happens randomly and does not seem to correspond with the break in the poems lines or stanzas. The audio of the piece is nature sounds that play continuously as background noise and do not change. All three of these elements are all in a loop and will continue playing until you close out of the program.

The poem as a piece of electronic literature was interesting compared to a plain text document, however I’m not sure if the extra features actually added anything to the quality of the piece. I enjoyed Dawn more as a poem than as a piece of electronic literature. I understand the correlation between the content of the poem and the nature theme of the audio and photographs however I don’t think this correlation justifies why these extra features are necessary. I found the audio to be distracting and the text difficult to read. The poem’s text is written in a font that is more aesthetic than actually legible. The text effect was also a hindrance because of how painfully slow each line appeared. I think this could be remedied if the piece were more interactive.

Currently after you click once to make the program begin the piece is not interactive in any way. Although there was a pause button, this feature only stopped the pictures and text from rotating the background. Even when the program was paused the audio still continued to play. There was no way to manipulate the appearance of the photographs, audio or text. If there was an option to pause the audio or increase the speed of the text effects I feel as though the entire experience could be more enjoyable.

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