Strasser and Coverley’s visual poem is a multimedia meditation on the nature of memory. By choosing pulsing dots as if from behind a veil, the reader activates collages of photographs and ambient sounds, representing the process of trying to recover lost memories, which surface and fade in and out of intelligibility.
The more I looked at this E-Lit example the more it grew on me. When I first started clicking around with it I got really frustrated, but then when I understood the system a bit more I realized it was really in-depth. I think it is a good example of Multiplicity because it references different memories from someone’s life. It also incorporates a lot of different elements. Even though it doesn’t play in the screen recording, there were ambient sounds that would appear when prompted. I like that there was this inclusion of elements from different media types.
Handwriting is rarely seen in works of electronic literature, or on the screen at all. Dan Waber’s delightful Strings presents a scrawl that has a life of its own, embodying certain human activities (arguing, flirting, laughter) in the form of animated lines of handwriting that pull themselves into the shape of ideas.
I chose to only show one of the examples from the Strings set because I didn’t really care for any of the other .gifs. They all demonstrate Visibility well I just didn’t like the concept of the other ones. But I thought that “argument” was the best out of all of them and was the best choice of E-Lit for Visibility. I think that “argument” does a good job of illustrating that the image follows the words. When you watch the back and forth motion in “argument” from yes to no, you really get a sense for the meaning of those words.
The landscape of Deviant: The Possession of Christian Shaw is presented in a visual and almost entirely non-textual way, although the piece has a textual basis and its narrative and defamiliarizing aspects can easily be seen. The piece’s effect arises from how it cuts off possibilities, putting the reader at the mercy of her exploration history. An interface offers tiny “active” portals, which may or may not carry the story forward; a world changes scale, and unnerving events take some effort to figure out.
When I first saw this E-Lit example I was officially creeped out. It reminded me a lot of the animation from Salad Fingers, that creepy YouTube video from 2007. I think that this is a good example of Exactitude because there is a wide scope within the animation. You can see the “city” from a distance or you can click on elements within the screen and bring yourself into the “active portals.” Also, it takes a lot of precision in order to discover and click on the active portals. If you see in the video below, it took me a lot of time to discover which elements to click on. At the end the animation glitched out and I was unable to click on anything else.
If I had to make one requirement for all of my friends it would be that they need to do some research on Calvino’s quality of Exactitude. Striving for exactitude means that you’re working towards preciseness over conciseness. My biggest pet peeve is bad text language. I’m pretty laissez-faire about the “lol’s,” “omg’s,” and the “brb’s,” but sometimes I get really fed up with the carelessness some people have when they are typing something in a text message. Yes, text messages are an informal way of communicating, but there’s no reason for me to have to read between the lines to figure out what someone is saying. I included this funny video to explain what I mean. Only the first minute and a half-ish of the video is relevant:
So this guy is pretty overzealous but it’s so true! When texting, it’s really difficult to understand what someone is trying to say and to interpret their overall tone. After watching this video I would say that a text that says “K.” would be the really ambiguous end of the spectrum for language. But at the same time, I really hate it when someone doesn’t understand how to consolidate their thoughts and they write 5 text messages that spam your phone. So the perfect text would be somewhere between “K.” and an overly-lengthy response. How about a few sentences that express why you’re upset?! How about some Exactitude, please!
As this poem of less than twenty words runs its course, video of zooming down a road explodes across the screen accompanied by the music of passing wind. Tao is a momentary experience that attains a meditative pace very unusual in computing and in modern life, while at the same time evoking the reality of violence.
Tao is a short poem that is accompanied by a soundtrack of wind with a video that has some sort of fragmented shape that floats through the air. The poem reads as follows:
earth blown out to stars – stars blown down to earth by fast cars – baghdad and addresses of the invisible
I think that this E-Lit piece demonstrates quickness not only because it is short (the poem itself only lasts for a minute) but because the inclusion of the two screens side-by-side make that amount of time pass by very fast. The ability to flip each screen back and forth is distracting in a way that it pulls you closer into the poem. The poem goes by quickly, but the inclusion of the ambient music and the etherial video don’t give the sense that you are rushed.
I am undeniably and unabashedly a huge Harry Potter fan (like almost every 20something born in the early 1990’s). That being said, I best understand Calvino’s explanation of Quickness through the example of Hermione Granger’s Time Turner. If you’re not an HP reader, here’s the back story:
Hermione Granger is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardy. She is feeling overwhelmed with her class load (because she’s an incorrigible overachiever) so she is given a Time Turner by Professor McGonnagall so that she can get to her extra classes on time and get her homework done. She has hidden it from her friends for the entire school year.
Towards the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione, Harry, and Ron are all trying to save the life of Harry’s Godfather, Sirius Black, from death. In order to save him, Hermione must take Harry along with her in time so that they can re-trace their steps and alter the course of time. I’ve included this YouTube video to catch you up to speed:
Harry and Hermione retrace all of their steps and slightly alter the course of time so that Sirius can escape and they can also save the Hipogriff, Buckbeak (an animal) from getting beheaded. Hermione and Harry cleverly evade their past selves.
This scene from HP3 is a great analogy because I think a lot of people my age would be able to relate to it. They’ve likely read the books, or at least saw the movies, so it’s probably somewhat familiar. I also liked it because it involves the aspect of time. Just as in the story of Charlemagne, time passes by very quickly when Hermione uses her time turner. The events in this scene and the ones that follow could very easily have seemed repetitive and droll; however, the reader/viewer is drawn in by the rapidity of the chain of events. It was also very well composed. You’re drawn in and can assimilate with Harry’s character. Hermione succinctly defines the function of the time turner and suddenly they’re zooming through the past, sneaking around pumpkin patches, fighting off dementors and saving the day! 🙂
semestersequestered 