Digital LiteratureBeyond Atoms and Bits

Lic. Mariana FerrarelliUniversidad Nacional del Litoral, June

2012

Overview

a. Contextsb. Digital Literature: Towards

a Definitionc. Social Practicesd. Sample Texts

“Por lo tanto, la cultura digital y su entorno siempre fluctuante deben examinarse como un conjunto de prácticas discursivas que tienen sus propias normas y convenciones, que tienden a debilitar y a perturbar las categorías y los valores establecidos.” (Doueihi; 2010)

a. Contexts

a. Contexts

Social Context

TechnologicalContext

HistoricalContext

DigiLit

a. Historical Context 1: Modernity/PostmodernityModernity Progress & RationalityHierarchyMetanarratives: Marxism; Structuralism

Universal Theory which provides a unified schema (Lyotard; 1984)

a. Historical Context 2: Modernity/PostmodernityPostmodernity IrrationalityMultilinearityDestruction of Metanarratives

FragmentationLiquid Modernity (Bauman; 2005)

“Nowherevilles”

a. Social Context:Information SocietyInformation Society

Information Anxiety (Hurst; 2007)Noisy media environment3 options: Stress

RejectionBit literacy

MEDIA DIETActive Portfolio

a. Technological Context:New Media & Digital Natives Traditional Media: Controlled by adultsUnidirectionalHierarchical / Inflexible / Centralised

New Media: Allow for autonomyInteractive / Flexible

Children can inquire, discuss, play, shop, ridicule, inform themselves, interact

a. Technological Context:New Media & Digital Natives

María Jesús Sanhuesa

George Hotz

a. Contexts

Infoxication

Digital Natives

Fragmentation

b. Digital Literature“I recently visited the headquarters of one of America's top five integrated circuit manufacturers. I was asked to sign in and, in the process, was asked whether I had a laptop computer with me. Of course I did. The receptionist asked for the model and serial number and for its value. "Roughly, between one and two million dollars," I said. "Oh, that cannot be, sir," she replied. "What do you mean? Let me see it." I showed her my old PowerBook and she estimated its value at $2,000. She wrote down that amount and I was allowed to enter the premises. The point is that while the atoms were not worth that much, the bits were almost priceless.”(Negroponte; 1995)

b. Digital Literature:Towards a (re)definition Material Support:

ATOMSBITS (Negroponte;

1995) Structure:

LINEARNON-LINEAR

BITS

NON-LINEARLINEAR

ATOMS

b. Digital Literature:Towards a (re)definition

BITS

NON-LINEARLINEAR

ATOMS

b. Digital Literature:Print

PRINT Literature

PRINT Stable: unified / fixed Linear: Aristotelian plot Predictable Writer-centred: tyrannical / individual

Broadcast-like: univocal

BITS

NON-LINEARLINEAR

ATOMS

b. Digital Literature:

DigiLit: Electronic (HYPER)TEXT

Born digital Interactive Multimedia Multisensorial Unstable: fragmented / in motion Multilinear: multidirectional Writer & reader –centred: democratic / collective / participatory

p2p: Multivocal / Maze-like Screen: note - link Unpredictable: Hypertext as Rhizome (Landow; 2006)

DIGITAL

Multiple layers of meaning:

Verbal Language Images (photographs & drawings)Use of colourLightCamera ShotsMovementAnimationSound (diegetic & non-diegetic)

DIGITAL

"Con la cibercultura el lugar de la obra se dispersa. Los roles se reconfiguran y ya no se puede hablar de un escritor y de un lector como entidades separadas, sino de un escrilector, alguien que despliega una inteligencia colectiva y produce sus propios textos en forma casi simultánea con su recepción". Jaime Alejandro Rodríguez Ruiz (2003)

c. Social Practices

“The medium is the message“Wheel CameraNew Technologies

Social PracticesWriting ReadingEducation

c. Social Practices

Transference of authorial power

Shared with Reader & Programmer

Eroded role

Collaborative Writing (Text, image, sound & animation)

c. Social Practices: Writing

Active / Intrusive role - PROSUMER

Merging with Writer’s role Personal & Individual

BUT ALSO Social & Collective Site of choice & empowerment

c. Social Practices: Reading

Learner-centred classroom

P Professions Teacher as facilitator & CURATOR

http://digilit-reflections.posterous.com/http://electronic-art-forms.posterous.com/

c. Social Practices: Education

d. Sample Texts Luke’s Message, by Kate Pullinger & Cris Joseph

Paths Crossing, by Kate Pullinger, Cris Joseph & participants

Entre Ville, by J. R. Carpenter These waves of girls, by Caitlin Fisher

Gone Fishing, by Paul Seymour & Noya Miller

e. Further Research Classification

Signifying Practices

Materiality

Sources & CreditsBarthes, B. (1971), “From work to text” in Modern Literary Theory, Ed. Philip

Rice and P. Waugh. London, E Arnold.Bauman, Z. (2005), Modernidad Líquida, Bs. As. FCE.Foucault, M.(1979), “What Is an Author?”, en Textual Strategies: Perspectives in

Post-Structuralist Criticism, J.V. Harari(comp.), Ithaca, Nueva York, Cornell University Press, pp. 141-160.

Genette, G.(1989): Palimpsestos. La literatura en segundo grado, Madrid, Taurus.Hurst, M. (2007) Bit Literacy (Kindle Edition)Landow, G. (2006), Hypertext 3.0. Critical Theory and new media in an era of globalization,

Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press.Lyotard, F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press. Negroponte, N. (1995) Being Digital.Piscitelli, A. (2001) El Paréntesis de Gutenberg. La religión digital en la era de las

pantallas ubicuas. Bs As. Santillana.Rodríguez Ruiz J. A. (2003) El Relato Digital. La escrilectura.

http://www.javeriana.edu.co/relato_digital Schreibman, S. & Siemens, R. (2008) A Companion to Digital Literary Studies,

Oxford: Blackwell.

www. urbagram.net ; www. theatlantic.com : www. futureofthebook.org www.flora.dempstercountry.org ; www. lordalford.com ;

www.ublawcso.wordpress.com www. rustyparts.com ; www. outandemployed.wordpress.com www. afamousartist.com