Why E-Books and Kindles don’t innovate writing.

Thanks to the recent popularity of the American Chopper Argument meme, I was inspired to create this bit of e-lit geekery (and translated it to Spanish).

If you’re new to electronic literature and curious to learn more, you’ve come to the right place!

This website contains over 700 entries on a variety of works of e-literature. The Resources menu has a a few organized collections and the Categories pull down menu on the sidebar will lead to discovering works created with different technologies and in many different genres. There’s even a page dedicated to defining electronic poetry.

If you have 14 minutes, you might want to watch my TEDx talk and get a quick and friendly overview of the concept. For a longer and more in-depth history of the field that shows ways in which you are already reading and creating e-literature, check out my lecture “Third Generation Electronic Literature.”

And if you’re hooked on the concept and want to start reading some e-lit, you must go read the Electronic Literature Collection and get to know the Electronic Literature Organization.

If you’re interested in my research on electronic literature, visit my blog. Thanks for reading

Invitación: I ♥︎ E-Poetry en la Segunda Cumbre Internacional Los Padres de Ahora

I ♥︎ E-Poetry va para la Segunda Cumbre Internacional Los Padres de Ahora, la cual comenzará el lunes 16 de mayo de 2016.

Mi ponencia “Los Niños de Ahora y la Literatura Electrónica: Preparación para el Siglo 21” será transmitida el martes 17 de mayo a las 12:00 pm (ET). A continuación el video promocional para mi ponencia y la propuesta.

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Ejemplos de Literatura Electrónica

iloveepoetrysquarelogo.jpgLa literatura electrónica tiene muchas modalidades y géneros desarrollados durante su historial de más de 65 años. Aquí hay algunos ejemplos de obras que les mostrarán algo del potencial de este tipo de literatura. ¿Qué es la literatura electrónica? Lea una definición detallada en inglés, o una definición breve en español.

La palabra en movimiento:

  • Seattle Drift – Este poema desea ser liberado de las reglas de la página que lo disciplinan y obligan a ser tradicional.
  • Bembo’s Zoo – Visita un zoológico donde las palabras se transforman en animales.
  • Strings – Palabras en cursivo se estiran y converten en otras palabras para formar poemas divertidos.
  • Word Crimes – Un video lleno de palabras que bailan al compás de una parodia de una canción pegajosa.

Experiencias cinemáticas:

  • Bust Down the Doors! – Una escena violenta descrita una y otra vez nos sorprende con sus cambios de perspectivas.
  • Project for Tachistoscope – Esta obra hipnótica narra la historia de un hoyo sin fondo en medio de los Estados Unidos.

Cómics interactivos:

  • A Duck Has An Adventure – Este cómic te permite explorar muchas historias alternas en la vida y aventuras de un pato.
  • Hobo Lobo of Hamelin – Este cómic presenta la historia del Flautista de Hamelin, pero con un lobo vagabundo y un alcalde sicótico.

Juegos Literarios:

  • The Flat – Tienes dos minutos para descubrir qué sucedió en este apartamento antes de que algo aterrador venga por ti.
  • Game, Game, Game and again Game – Un divertido juego de plataformas en el cual atraviesas espacios locos y poéticos.

Obras Generadas:

Robots Artísticos en Twitter:

  • Glitch [Meta] – Las ocurrencias tuiteadas por este gato provienen de comentarios que la gente hace acerca de sus gatos en Twitter.
  • HaikuD2 – Este robot detecta tuits que se puedan cortar en la forma de un haiku (poema de 5, 7, 5 sílabas) y los revela como poemas.

Obras Multimedios:

  • Memory – Este divertido poema por un poeta boricua está escrito con memes y sobre memes.
  • When I Was President – Este presidente dictatorial toma medidas absurdas y absurdamente efectivas durante su corta presidencia.
  • Nio – Esta obra musical y poética es una herramienta para jugar con sonidos, nuevas letras, y frases musicales.

Children’s E-Literature

Frame from "Bembo's Zoo"
Still image from “Bembo’s Zoo”

As a father of two children, aged 4 and 7, I’m interested in how electronic literature can help them develop literacy beyond the traditional training in paper-based literacy they receive in preschool and school. Let’s face it, while it is important for children to learn to produce legible longhand, they should probably also learn to type without looking at the keyboard. More importantly, I want them to be exposed to works that help them develop digital literacy. In this entry, I will list some works that my children that have enjoyed while they learn to engage language in digital environments.

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I ♥ E-Poetry Games

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I ♥ E-Poetry typographical game
created using Type:Rider Creation Kit

The exploration of the expressive and communicative potential of language in digital media leads to a fruitful conversation with one of its most important native genres: the videogame. The entries listed below (in alphabetical order by author’s last name) all review works that use game or videogame structures to organize language to a variety of effects. A popular use is to recreate or repurpose game engines and the virtual environments they make possible as writing spaces. Another is to create interfaces that encourage play. As generations of gamers come of age, their familiarity with programming, level editors, and open source game authoring software (such as Scratch and Twine) will lead to increased blending of literary and videogame structures and genres.

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Teaching “Entre Ville” by J. R. Carpenter

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Read I ♥ E-Poetry entry on “Entre Ville”

This lesson plan– the first in the E-Lit for ESL series— takes advantage of J.R. Carpenter’s polyphonic approach to the city to introduce the characteristics of e-literature, to provide some reading strategies and to encourage the use of digital tools in writing. The text “Saint Urban Street Heat” and its multiple vignettes that can be explored become a resource for reviewing the use of adjectives and presenting hyphenated adjectives to students.

This resource has been designed for teenagers and adults with at least an intermediate proficiency level. Its activities include:

  • the use of pre-reading strategies,
  • the reading of “Saint Urban Street Heat” in print and then within “Entre Ville,”
  • the reflection of the author’s experiences in her work,
  • the introduction to hyphenated adjectives, and
  • the elaboration of a collage using PowerPoint and digital materials provided by the students.

Access the Teaching “Entre Ville” lesson plan.

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New Series: E-Lit for ESL

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The purpose of the E-Lit for ESL series– a branch of the E-Lit Pedagogy CFP– is to offer teaching resources for ESL based on the works featured in I ♥ E-Poetry. These materials will consist on highly adaptable lesson plans which seek to:

  • develop proficiency in any of the four basic language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking),
  • introduce grammar structures and vocabulary, and
  • integrate digital literacy in high school and college ESL classrooms.

These lesson plans are designed to be modular, describing activities without predetermined time periods, in order to make them adaptable to multiple environments– age groups, proficiency levels, course objectives, and educational contexts. Teachers will be able to select the activities they want to implement and decide whether a task can be performed during a class session or as an assignment.

We welcome feedback and suggestions on how to improve these lesson plans. Please use the Contact form to do so.

I Love Love E-Poetry

I love love epoetryI ♥ E-Poetry is about love – for poetry in electronic and digital media, for poetry on and off the page, for poetry wherever it can be found, and more generally for what happens to language and literary expression in digital media. E-Poetry (using this most encompassing of definitions) is about many things, including love in all its expressions: familiar, romantic, of language, of media, of the self and the other, of the others, of all.

So to commemorate Valentine’s day I have compiled a brief selection of love e-poems reviewed in I ♥ E-Poetry:

There’s more to be found, but this is a fun start. If you’re left wanting more, search this blog for words like “love” and “sex” and you’ll be on the right track.

Share and enjoy!