Close Reading New Media

Analyzing Electronic Literature

Symbolae, Facultatis Litterarum Lovaniensis, Series d Litteraria vol. 16

edited by
Jan VAN LOOY and Jan BAETENS
Leuven University Press, 2003

Order: university.press@upers.kuleuven.ac.be
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Appendix: Electronic Literature on the Web

Sara Roegiers (K.U.Leuven)

The following links were selected based on their durability, which is of course always a relative matter when it comes to the Web, and on their merits as starting points for reading and research.

General resources

Voice of the Shuttle. Web Site for Humanities Research.
<http://vos.ucsb.edu>
Founded in 1994, Alan Liu’s VoS is (still) one of the main portals to resources on the WWW on various subjects including: literary theory, cultural studies and information culture. From the homepage you can access pages on: “Technology of Writing,” “Cyberculture,” and “Science, Technology, & Culture.”

Lev Manovich
<http://www.manovich.net>
Manovich subtitles his personal Webspace “New Media Research.” It is a comprehensive collection of publications and projects by the artist/author/ scholar, as well as a portal to resources on new media and visual culture at large.

On-Line Journals

CTHEORY
<http://www.ctheory.net/>
According to the tagline, “CTHEORY is an international journal of theory, technology, and culture, publishing articles, interviews, eventscenes and reviews of key books.” CTHEORY is a multidisciplinary and multimedia resource on critical theory. The site offers articles, books for download and an archive of their print forerunner and source of inspiration: the Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory (1976-91). Also interesting is the homepage of the founding editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker.

Electronic Book Review (ebr): A review forum on new media art & theory.
<http://www.electronicbookreview.com/>
“Electronic Book Review (ebr) is an online scholarly journal promoting print/screen translations and new modes of critical writing on the Internet… Over the past two years, the ebr site has hosted a prominent and largely spontaneous series of debates on electronic textuality, cyberculture, and the value of digital design literacy for scholarship and critical writing on the Web.” Ebr is part of the Alt-X network.

Gamestudies. The International Journal of Computer Game Research.
<http://www.gamestudies.org/>
This Scandinavia-based but internationally oriented scholarly journal under the patronage of Espen Aarseth has emerged as the place on the Net for videogame scholarship. It combines a strong focus on aesthetic, cultural and communicative aspects of computer games with a sound knowledge of narrative theory and media history.

Image [&] Narrative. Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative.
<http://www.imageandnarrative.be/>
“Image [&] Narrative is an academic e-journal on visual narratology in the broadest sense of the term. Beside tackling theoretical issues, it is a platform for reviews of real life examples.” Image [&] Narrative is published by the Institute for Cultural Studies, K.U.Leuven.

JoDI. Journal of Digital Information.
<http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/>
This British peer-reviewed journal publishes “papers on the management, presentation and uses of information in digital environments.” When it started, back in 1997, it was one of the first electronic-only scholarly journals.

Ubiquity: An ACM IT Magazine and forum.
<http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/>
“Ubiquity is a Web-based publication of the Association for Computing Machinery, dedicated to fostering critical analysis and in-depth commentary on issues relating to the nature, constitution, structure, science, engineering, technology, practices and paradigms of the IT profession.” Ubiquity features interviews and papers by pioneers, academics and other experienced people from the field with views on the future of IT and opinions on its present. Interesting to note is that Ted Nelson coined the term ‘Hypertext’ in a paper written for ACM.

E-literature communities.

On the following sites you can find news on upcoming events, on-line workshops and links to e-literature works and resources: ELO. Electronic Literature Organization.
<http://www.eliterature.org/>
“The Electronic Literature Organization emerges from the concerted efforts of writers, publishers, technologists, and non-profit experts to make the electronic space richer by investing in its cultural development.” The ELO wants to promote e-literature and enhance the literary quality of what can be called e-literature. On the Web site, you will find a collection of links to literary hypertexts and multimedia works, and dates for chats and symposia on the subject.

TRACE. Online writing centre
<http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/>
“trAce connects writers and readers around the world in real and virtual space. We promote an accessible and inclusive approach to the Internet with the focus on creativity, collaboration and training.” In the past, trAce co-organized meetings, chats and on-line workshops on current issues in new media literature, art, and writing.

Alt-X Network
<http://www.altx.com/>
“Since Alt-X’s inception in 1993, our primary mission has been to challenge both the art and literary publishing establishments by supporting some of the most iconoclastic voices and visions in the international art world.” Founder Mark Amerika’s Alt-X Network is multi-faceted to say the least. Not only does it host the Electronic Book Review, but also ventures in net art, audio works, hypertext and literature for print.

Eastgate HYPERTEXTNOW
<http://www.eastgate.com/HypertextNow/>
Mark Bernstein’s Eastgate (founded 1982) is the publishing house for hyperfiction and hypertext tools like Storyspace. Primarily an online store, the Eastgate site offers a wealth of information on hypertext authors and works, but it also functions as a platform to many hypertext resources. The HypertextNOW section functions as Eastgate’s journal with essays, reviews, research papers and speculations on hypertext. In Cutting Edge you will find texts on Hypertext Theory. And the Hypertext Reading Room hosts a collection of writing for the Web.

Hypertext Kitchen. Fresh news about the craft of hypertext - on the Web and off.
<http://www.hypertextkitchen.com/>
This Eastgate-sponsored news site tries to serve the news on the latest releases in hypertext writing while it is hot. Hypertext Kitchen presents reviews and opinions, announces gatherings in the field and reports on symposia worldwide.

BeeHive Hypertext/Hypermedia Journal
<http://beehive.temporalimage.com/departments/>
“The intent of the Journal is to provide a venue for creative literary content that explores the potential of network-based creativity.” BeeHive offers an eclectic collection “made up of original fiction, poetry and critical theory titles, hypermedia works, visual poetry and other forms of creative network practice.”

KAIROS
<http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/>
“Kairos is a refereed online journal exploring the intersections of rhetoric, technology, and pedagogy. Each issue presents varied perspectives on special topics such as Critical Issues in Computers and Writing, Technology and the Face of Language Arts in the K-12 Classroom, and Hypertext Fiction/Hypertext Poetry.” Kairos takes a pedagogical approach to electronic literacy. The site features many book reviews, essays and reports on classroom practices.

Net art resources and communities

E.space. SFMOMA’s online gallery.
<http://www.sfmoma.org/espace/espace_overview.html>
“E.space was inaugurated in the spring of 2000 with works from the Museum’s permanent collection of Web sites.” The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Web site offers a selection of Web art that explores the possible uses of the on-line, and the challenges it poses to the conventions that rule museums and curatorial practice.

Rhizome.org. The New Media Art Resource
<http://rhizome.org/>
“Rhizome.org is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1996 to provide an online platform for the global new media art community.” Rhizome.org supports contemporary art that uses new technologies, by way of commissions, email discussions, events and publications. On this site, you can find news and discussions as well as a vast database of artworks with accompanying texts.

Netart
<http://www.tate.org.uk/netart/>
With this part of the museum’s Web site, the Tate tries to present art on the Web on its own terms, framed by critical texts.

Whitney ARTPORT. The Whitney Museum Portal to Net Art.
<http://artport.whitney.org/>
On Artport, The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibits commissioned net art works and links to resources on artists, essays on curatorial issues and galleries for net art.