Electronic Literature: A Critical Making and Writing Course
Are you an artist? What about a poet? Do you think computers are cool? Do you play with code? Are you a Facebook freak? Come work with Prof. Saum-Pascual!
I am looking for a graduate student interested in working with me in the teaching and research involved in an experimental undergraduate course on electronic literature, i.e.: poetry and narrative created on a computer, meant to be displayed on a computer (hypertext novels, generative poetry, social media fictions, etc.). This is a Mellon award funded project, part of the DH program at Cal.
The course would be structured as a workshop, and most of the instruction and all lectures will be carried out by me, selected consultants from the D-Lab, Digital Humanities at Berkeley staff, and invited guest professors. The GSR would be in charge of helping students identify the tools they need to create their digital artwork, and assist them in their production during workshop time.
Class schedule is yet to be determined, but the course will probably meet twice a week (1.5hrs x2), dividing sessions between lectures and making workshops. The class will be cross-listed in the department of Spanish and Portuguese, and the Berkeley Center for New Media.
The ideal GSR should be familiar with (or have an strong interest in learning about) most of these tools and skills:
1. Hypertext, interactive fiction: Twine (http://twinery.org/), Inform 7 (http://inform7.com/), Undum (http://undum.com/)
2. Generative grammars, Twitter bots:
a. Tracery (http://www.brightspiral.com/tracery/) Cheap Bots Done Quick (http://cheapbotsdonequick.com/)
b. Chatbots: ElizaScript (http://elizascript.net/)
c. JavaScript and RiTa for NLP (http://rednoise.org/rita/)
d. Python for NLP
3. Kinetic poetry: Flash
4. Social media protocols (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest)
5. Creative usages of PowerPoint and Office Suite
6. Knowledge of Spanish is strongly preferred, but not required
7. Interest in Latin American and Spanish literature and culture is also highly preferable but not required (pero… who doesn’t like Borges??)
If you are interested in collaborating in this awesome new course, please send me your CV before September 25 at saum-pascual@berkeley.edu. Questions are welcomed anytime!
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Also, you might be interested in joining us THIS FALL (as in, NOW) at >>>
The E-Lit Critical Making Group
In preparation for the spring exhibit, No Legacy || Literatura electrónica, we will gather to explore tools for electronic literature and use them for creative work. We will play with tools such as Twine, Inform 7, Undum, Flash, generative grammars, and bots. Participants will receive an applied, rudimentary introduction to programming. Using the Python Natural Language Tool Kit, we will learn how computers read poetry and how they write poetry. We will gather at the end of the semester to share work in a digital salon. If you are interested, please fill out this form and indicate your availability. No experience with programming or digital tools is required, but interest in the subject matter is key.
