This is the fourth of a series of collaborative resource building documents for NetNarr 2018. Contributors were asked to add to an open Google Doc any open article, blog post, video about Electronic Literature

Contributors:  @rissaverona, @cogdog, @tiffsanto, @nessacastrii,  @helterskelliter, @JasmineDA18,

What is E-Literature?

Electronic Literature: What is it? (N. Katherine Hayles, Electronic Literature Organization) 

https://eliterature.org/pad/elp.html 

A comprehensive overview of the historical development of e-lit from 19080s hypertext fiction to now (2007 when this was written). Covers genres defined as: hypertext fiction, network fiction, interactive fiction, locative narratives, installation pieces, “codework,” generative art and the Flash poem.  The author covers the relationship and overlap with print literature and is meant to provide an overview for the Eliterature Collections(@cogdog).

The Role of the Electronic Literature Organization 

https://eliterature.org/what-is-e-lit/

Sometimes it’s best to go back to basics, and this explanation from the Electronic Literature Organization is a straight-from-the-horse’s-mouth explanation of the field of E-Lit. They express that literature is traditionally thought of as words on paper, but the digital age has opened the world to endless possibilities. This openness draws upon the visual nature of literature, and allows people to experience stories in new ways. (@rissaverona)

The Importance of E-Lit (Anastasiia Vasileva)

https://humx.org/net-literature-and-its-importance-5600fdaf6bd

In this article, the author expresses that E-Lit pulls upon digital sources to bring stories into the 21st century. She notes that certain effects, such as sound, can easily be drawn into digital work, enhancing the experience for readers. She also expresses the divided reaction toward E-Lit, noting that some love it, and some critique it extensively. Either way, it is a new and exciting addition to the canon of literature. (@rissaverona)

Bots 

With in-article chat bots, BBC is experimenting with new ways to introduce readers to complex topics (Ricardo Bilton)  

http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/02/with-in-article-chat-bots-bbc-is-experimenting-with-new-ways-to-introduce-readers-to-complex-topics/

This article discusses how BBC wants to incorporate chat boxes as a new way to introduce readers to complex topics. It is trying to reach to readers who are not engaged or who don’t understand complex stories so they can be informed. They much how they are trying to get it going but there have been some complications. (@tiffsanto)  

Bots, explained (Recode, Kurt Wagner)

https://www.recode.net/2016/4/11/11586022/what-are-bots 

For a student who missed class last week, this article caught me up by answering my questions about BOTS, the purpose of them and what it does to our society. It gives you an inside scoop on who uses them and how similar they are to apps. (@nessacastrii)

Innovative Ways Brands Can Use Twitter Bots to Revolutionize Customer Engagement (Nidhi Singh)

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312442

In this article, Singh expresses that bots can bring customer/brand engagement to new levels in interesting ways. They can be used in customer service relations, to instantly interact with customers and assist people with basic questions– reducing the need for physical manpower. They can be programmed to give advice, recommendations, and suggestions which, although cannot replace an actual human, can offset the burden on real customer service agents. (@rissaverona)  

Generative Fiction

This is how you will die (Jason Nelson)

http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/nelson_thisishowyouwilldie.html

Kind of a “happy” medium between generative fiction and kinetic poetry, Nelson’s work subjects “readers” to his absurdist worldview via a slot-machine interface that predicts how you will die. “Rather than providing the reader with innocuous, ambivalent fortune cookie-like predictions, Nelson takes the protagonist, you, and subjects him/her to fortunes and misfortunes that would frighten a test-crash dummy, and tops it off with a coda in the form of an important “post-death” event.” (@helterskelliter ^.^)

Hypertext Fiction / Choose Your Own Adventure

Interactive marginalia (Liz Daly, medium.com)

https://medium.com/@liza/interactive-marginalia-f39424877d73

The author shares the back story and development of her entry into the International Fiction Competition http://ifcomp.org/ a hypertext story called Harmonia where the story part takes place as annotations in the margins (@cogdog)

With Those We Love Alive (Porpentine)

http://collection.eliterature.org/3/work.html?work=with-those-we-love-alive

A hypertext work created using Twine that invites “readers” to mark up their own skin with symbols as they navigate the work which is meant to be a kind of articulation of/exploration of trauma and its lasting effects. “As a Twine game, the work relies primarily on text and audio along with backgrounds of shifting colors to draw the player into a disturbing science fiction landscape. The game opens with a level of customization that invites the player to become connected and even embedded into the game, choosing their month of birth, element, and eye color. As the player becomes a servant to a monstrous larval queen, the stage is set for a dystopia of dream-like and vivid yet mundane violence. After playing, the reader has a tangible record of their own choices and identity beliefs in the drawings on one’s skin.” (@helterskelliter) 

Kinetic Poetry

What is E-Poetry (Leonardo Flores)

http://iloveepoetry.com/?p=11968

This is an entire site created by Leonardo Flores that is dedicated the E- Literature and E-Poetry, and exploring the many functions of both.  He started first a solo project where he was expressing himself and his views while gaining an audience. It became bigger as his audience widened and he realized how many others felt the same as him, and even saw some people who disagreed with him, which all made for better content. Now he has added others to his literature conversation and it has really proven to take off. (@JasmineDA18)

Ask Me For the Moon (John David Zuern)

http://collection.eliterature.org/3/work.html?work=ask-me-for-the-moon

Mainly a work of kinetic poetry as well as a work of some hypertext, Zuern’s piece explores his own experience of working in Waikīkī. This piece attempts to create a kind of dialogue about the history and politics of Hawaii and how they intersect with industry and colonisation. “The text of the piece plays over the faded gray landscape of the island, while the moving pictures depict fragments of labor moving through like waves along the shore. The visual poetics serve as a poignant reminder of how much work is done at night, out of sight of the tourists who swarm the island.” (@helterskelliter)