34 | 2005

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10

The Problematic Of Form Transitoire Observable, A Laboratory For Emergent Programmed Art
Bootz, Philippe (2005) , S. 1-16
I will present some conceptions of programmed art focused on the problem of form. I will not explain here the different approaches but only open the question in the perspective of the procedural model. I will start from the basic common point of view of the collective Transitoire Observable and, after an overview of some aspects of the procedural model, I will pose the question of form as a specific management in programming of arbitrary aesthetic constraints that are posed by the author in his management of the situation of communication created by the work whatever the surface aesthetics is on screen. In this sense, we will speak of “programmed forms” as forms in programming and not as forms of the programmed multimedia event.
Principles and Processes of Generative Literature: Questions to Literature
Balpe, Jean-Pierre (2005) , S. 1-8
Generative literature, defined as the production of continuously changing literary texts by means of a specific dictionary, some set of rules and the use of algorithms, is a very specific form of digital literature which is completely changing most of the concepts of classical literature. Texts being produced by a computer and not written by an author, require indeed a very special way of engrammation and, in consequence, also point to a specific way of reading particularly concerning all the aspects of the literary time. In my paper, I will try to present some of the characteristics of generative texts and their consequences for the conception of literature itself. I call "engrammation" the adaptation of expression wills to the technical constraints of the medium used for its mediatisation. For instance, a book needs a fixed writing, and the mediatisation by means of a screen needs other modalities of presentation.
Menschliche Praxis: Wie das Ergodenproblem die Re-Animation anthropologischer Perspektiven in den game studies herausfordert
Furtwängler, Frank (2005) , S. 1-17
Dieser Beitrag motiviert sich über eine Kritik an der Anwendung des Konzepts der ‚ergodic literature’ auf Computerspiele, die auf der von Espen Aarseth explizit genannten Entlehnung aus der Physik aufbaut. Die Verwendung des Begriffs ‚Ergodizität’ ist nach dieser Kritik eine schwerwiegende Entscheidung, die eine geforderte anthropologische Perspektive zu einer rein rhetorischen verkommen lässt und dennoch oder gerade dadurch Relevanz für eine interdisziplinäre Verständigung zwischen Geistes- und Naturwissenschaften besitzen könnte. Das Folgende ist als Ergänzung einer frühen Diskursgeschichte der Disziplin game studies zu verstehen, die eine zeitlich verdichtete Version von Problemen vorgängiger Theorieentwicklungen zwischen technik-zentrierten und anthropologischen Perspektiven auf Medien wider-spiegelt. Es geht hier nicht darum, die Verdienste der Cybertext-Theorie zu schmälern, sondern deren implizite Defizite klar zu be-nennen, die den Erkenntnisgewinn zu Computerspielen nur schmälern können.
Playable Media and Textual Instruments
Wardrip-Fruin, Noah (2005) , S. 1-40
The statement that "this is not a game" has been employed in many ways — for example, to distinguish between high and low culture electronic texts, to market an immersive game meant to break the "magic circle" that separates games from the rest of life, to demarcate play experiences (digital or otherwise) that fall outside formal game definitions, and to distinguish between computer games and other forms of digital entertainment. This essay does not seek to praise some uses of this maneuver and condemn others. Rather, it simply points out that we are attempting to discuss a number of things that we play (and create for play) but that are arguably not games. Calling our experiences "interactive" would perhaps be accurate, but overly broad. An alternative — "playable" — is proposed, considered less as a category than as a quality that manifests in different ways. "Playable media" may be an appropriate way to discuss both games and the "not games" mentioned earlier. The impetus for coming to this term was not a love of terminology, but the author’s need as an artist to situate a set of experiments in creating "instrumental texts" and "textual instruments" within an appropriate context. While it doesn't make sense to discuss all of these experiments as games, what distinguishes them from other electronic texts is their playability — both that they can be usefully considered as playable, and their particular structures of play. This essay discusses, particularly, two "textual instruments" recently constructed by the author in collaboration with David Durand, Brion Moss, and Elaine Froehlich. While both of these instruments operate according to the logic of n-grams (as first used in textual play by Claude Shannon), one instrument is designed to play with known local texts while the other is designed to employ the contents of network RSS feeds and web pages. One composition for each of these instruments — Regime Change and News Reader, respectively — is considered.
Vernetzte Zeichenspiele: Umbrüche in der literarischen Kommunikation
Gendolla, Peter; Schäfer, Jörgen (2005) , S. 1-22
Der folgende Beitrag analysiert Umbrüche in literarischen Kommunikationen durch computergestützte vernetzte Medien. In Computernetzen lassen sich diese Kommunikationen nur als offene, mehrfach rekursive Prozesse zwischen ‘Autoren‘ und ‘Lesern‘ beschreiben, deren Schreib- und Leseprozesse durch ‘autonome‘ Programme, ‘Agenten‘ etc. transformiert werden. Dies wirft jedoch mehrere Fragen auf: Worin liegen die Gemeinsamkeiten, die es überhaupt erst ermöglichen, jenseits der sich historisch ablösenden Medienkonstellation von einem Gegenstandsbereich ‘Literatur’ zu sprechen? Lässt sich die spezifische ästhetische Differenz, die Literatur als ‘Sprach-Kunst’ in tradierten Medien auszeichnet, auch unter den veränderten medialen Bedingungen nachweisen?
Code, Cod, Ode: Poetic Language & Programming or: Pequeño Lector/Klein Leser: Es gibt (See)lachsfilet?
Glazier, Loss Pequeño (2005) , S. 1-10
Mutation or modulation of words manifest orthographic relations between variants but also sometimes suggest more elusive relations. Much importance can be seen in the specificity of language, especially considering the sum of variations of a single word in different languages. The word itself is a solid object at the center of such a set of permutations. The meaning of a sum of such variants can be likened to an array in programming. An array object can be greater than the sum of its parts, a concept that ties into Cubism as well as to poetry where languages mix. Other array poetry suggests geometric structure; this is poetry that creates meaning from empty space as much as from its solid textual areas. This is similar to the way that architecture creates meaning from empty spaces, as seen notably in uses of the arch. The structural strength of empty space can also be seen in a number of postmodern poems, where such space is integral to their expressiveness. These poems also use array concepts to inform the poem. It is useful to look at examples of code in my own work, which uses arrays and empty space as solid material in strings. What is of use in this method is the concept of precise poetic analysis, of the relevance of position, location, and structure as crucially important in reading code as poetic material.
Close Reading und der Streit um Begriffe
Simanowski, Roberto (2005) , S. 1-24
Was kennzeichnet digitale Literatur? Entsteht sie schon durch die Transformation aus dem einen Medium ins andere? Welche Rolle spielen Medienechtheit und Medienrelevanz? Wieviel Text muss ein hypermediales Werk aufweisen, um zur digitalen Literatur zu gehören und nicht zur digitalen Kunst? Wie verändert sich die Rolle des Autors, wenn Leser, Maschinen oder Bakterien an seine Stelle treten? Der Aufsatz verbindet die Diskussion terminologischer Fragen mit den Fallanalysen einiger interessanter Beispiele.
Narrative and the Split Condition of Digital Textuality
Ryan, Marie-Laure (2005) , S. 1-22
With computer games and avant-garde literary experiments, digital textuality has conquered both mass audiences and academic readers interested in theorizing digital art, but it has not yet reached the middle of the cultural spectrum, namely the educated public who reads primarily for pleasure, but is capable of artistic discrimination. This essay explores the possibility of curing this split condition by strengthening the narrativity of digital texts. After examining the conception of narrative that prevails at both ends of the spectrum, I investigate three types of interactive narrative that have been able to reach beyond the traditional audience of computer games and experimental literature: embedded stories, represented by Myst and mystery-solving games, emergent stories, represented by The Sims, and texts with a somewhat prescripted, but variable story, represented by Façade, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern’s project in interactive drama. For each type of text, I suggest how to make the structure more appealing to a reader who engages with the text out of narrative interest, and is more interested in paidia—free play—than in ludus—playing by strict rules for the sake of winning or losing.
Der ludoliterarische Typenkreis: Analyse und Kategorisierung von Cybertexten
Kocher, Mela (2005) , S. 1-20
Der hier vorzustellende "ludoliterarische Typenkreis" dient der Typologie und Analyse digitaler Spiele und anderer Cybertexte wie Hyperfiction, interaktive Filme und VR-Umgebungen. Er stellt ein Modell dar, das von einem narrativen Ansatz ausgehend den medienspezifischen Bedingungen von Cybertexten Rechnung zu tragen sucht. Anhand der Parameter Interaktivität, Perspektive und narrativer Modus können Familienähnlichkeiten (sensu Wittgenstein) als auch Differenzen zwischen einzelnen Cybertexten bzw. -Genres offen gelegt werden. Aus der ästhetischen Gestaltung wiederum lassen sich Rückschlüsse bezüglich der immersiven Einbindung der Spielerin und ihrer kognitiven Sinnkonstitution ziehen.
E-Learning and Literary Studies: Towards a New Culture of Teaching?
Castanyer, Laura Borràs (2005) , S. 1-38
The introduction of digital technologies into the learning processes has meant the creation of new educational spaces that, when they take place in the Internet and are founded in non-presence and asynchrony, are known as VLE (Virtual Learning Environments). VLE constitute new pedagogic realities that must answer to the users’ needs, their educational purposes, the curricula with which they work and, specifically, the formative needs for the people that integrate them. But the key to define “virtual” in terms of human experience and not in terms of technological hardware is the concept of “presence” which is crucial in our pedagogical model and our way of being comparative literature lecturers in a virtual university. E-learning is probably nothing more than a manifestation of e-living. Perhaps circumstances are giving us the opportunity to use the coincidence between the appearance of e-learning as a tool and the need to modify our traditional model of education. After all, learning is learning whether it has an extra 'e' or not and so VLE are only as good or as bad as the ways they are used. Thus, the revolutionary point of their use would not be the technological aspect. We will show the example of a completely virtual university, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), where the learning process takes place in a virtual campus and we will focus on a specific subject: “Comparative literature”. We firmly believe that e-learning is an excellent opportunity for a real improvement of quality if these multimedia technologies lead us to a more humanized teaching process. The possibility to use complex systems in a virtual campus allows and stimulates exchange and collaboration, with remarkable effects in the students’ success and satisfaction. Good e-learning results are reached when there’s a good e-teaching method behind.

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