Blog post 9: Interface and E-Lit

    

Blog post 9: Online interface, E-Lit, and its future in an increasingly online society

    Chapter 10: Interface

The chapter begins by defining interface as "a zone of exchange" that can "connect a person with a computer" or that can connect "a network of multiple systems and agents with each other". It makes sense, then, that the chapter focuses further on ways to craft interface, and names factors the creator must consider such as how a visitor may move through it, how the project displays the content in it, and how to maximize functionality of it. Two key terms that are later introduced include structural components, which refers to the layout and organization of the interface, and activity oriented components, which refers to the display of digital content which allows the viewer to enact a certain function within the interface (such as a button or drop down menu). The creator must consider these components because they come together in creating the bigger narrative of the project, and they aid in navigating around cultural and ethical issues that surround interface. It was really interesting to see some issues that I probably wouldn't have thought about as a novice viewer be presented in the text, such as a project's need to be compliant with the Americans Disabilities Act (be ADA compliant) or a project's need to represent certain concepts of cultural value (like linguistics) with care.

    E-Lit

The definition from Hayles' article about e-lit felt slightly ambiguous, but in a respectable fashion. The article firstly states that e-lit "is generally considered to exclude print literature that has been digitized, and includes content that is 'digital born' or a first-generation digital object". The article goes on to further encompass e-lit as a hybrid term combining digitized content with text, and it says that e-lit is "typically created on a computer" and is usually "meant to be read on a computer". It seems that, much like the field of digital humanities, this definition pushes itself to become more broad and to include more contemporary works as more projects are published in the e-lit field. The strictly print field, in the 2020s, already has pressure forced onto it from other forms of mass media (such as social media and digital publications), and the nature of technological innovation seems to offer a more advantaged space for the digital industry than the print industry. The article raises a certain question for the reader, where it explicitly points out that the reader may ask themselves, "is electronic literature really literature at all?" However, as I explored the various e-lit projects assigned to us, I began to ask myself, "is e-lit's connection to print literature really important at all?" This relates to Marshall McLuhan's theory about media, which asserts that the medium (a print medium vs. digital medium) in which we consume content actually shapes the way that we think about not only that content but its relation to our view of the world (he coined the words "the medium is the message" to express this). As we as college students can see, digital media are claiming more and more significance in both academia and in the culture of the world, so it would not be hard to imagine a world in which e-lit becomes an equally popular (if not more popular) field when compared with its strictly print counterpart. To me, e-lit feels a lot like a hybrid of a book and a game, where the interactivity of its basic format might engage the contemporary viewer more than, say, a long book would.   

    "My Body"

I found this project really intriguing. The opening shot, which I've included in a screenshot here, plays with color to establish mood.  The opening "About section" offers information about the author, but not really about what to expect from the game. Though its being brief encourages the viewer to jump in and explore the game for themselves, it would be nice to learn a bit more about its context. I didn't finish the entire narrative, but still I picked up on some themes that I believe the creator was trying to push (such as the narrator's feeling of being gender androgynous paired with the narrator's struggling with puberty). The color scheme as well as the general navigation aid in the reader picking up on this feeling of confusion about one's body/ self-consciousness, as the black/ white background/ text creates high contrast (is a bit distressing). Also, the viewer is often left in the game to figure things out independently, as there doesn't seem to be a set path to go through. This need of having to navigate blindly, and of not being sure what these little pieces mean in terms of the bigger picture, seem to fit within the bigger theme of the project. I do wish I knew how the story ends, though, and which parts of the story were literal and which were metaphorical.

    "Depression Quest"

    Though I didn't go through all of this, I feel like I might find myself coming back to it on a rainy day. It really felt like a game, to me, and it felt somehow nostalgic even though I've never played it before (it feels like something I might've accidentally discovered on Steam in the 2k10-20 years). I think it applies itself to textbook's checklist about concepts to consider when designing interface really well, as it is clearly thought out and guides the viewer through its narrative in a linear fashion. It also has links built into it which the viewer can click if they want or ignore if they want-- when clicked, it drops some "bonus" information about the story and includes a link back to the previous page. "Featured" materials are hyperlinked (underlined and blue) but, other than that, the barebones presentation makes it feel like a book or perhaps an indie game to those more familiar with digital content. It seems to me like the creators were thorough in thinking about their design, and I think the execution is engaging (especially when considering that it's an application that can be launched simply in a web browser's window). The screenshot I attached shows its greater capabilities in presenting its narrative than that of a text medium; it can play with color (blue text and black text in a gray shadow) and with presentation (having a crossed out piece of text) in a way that a text medium might not be able to as well.