|
|
Dear Readers,
The texts to be found in
this edition of Dichtung Digital derive from the papers
presented at the International Conference Under
construction: Literatures digitals i aproximacions
teòriques
(Under construction: Digital literatures and theoretical
approaches), which was organised by the international
research group Hermeneia and held at the Open University of
Catalonia (UOC) in Barcelona on 14-16 April 2004. The
results of the marriage of the new digital technologies and
literature are constantly more evident, more interesting and
more eloquent, but at the same time, this new area throws up
a whole range of questions, which have no easy answers.
Therefore, the three days of the conference at the Open
University of Catalonia were taken up with lectures, talks
and debates. The papers presented were grouped into
different thematic blocks, some of which dealt with the
controversial management of the architecture of information;
the critical analysis of digital works by authors in
English, French, Italian, Catalan and Spanish; and the
musical analysis of the most popular videogames or the
presentation of a model to analyse videogames that seeks to
combine ludology and narratology. At the same time there was
room for a certain reflection concerning the role of code in
digital literature, to introduce the subject of collective
creation on the Internet and relate it to the precedents
within traditional Western culture. This led to a
consideration of readers' habits and the preparation for
them to understand this type of texts. On the more applied
side, we dealt with the topic of hypertext as a tool for the
critical editing of texts, and there were proposals for the
use of the new technologies in the classroom. We also had an
analysis of the massive implementation and dissemination of
videogames in society - always emphasising the pedagogical
possibilities contained in these multimedia systems - which
is in part encouraged by the need to involve the player in
the discourse to be found in hypertext. There were also
practical demonstrations of software dedicated to authoring,
(such as MIDIPoet, created by Eugenio Tisselli and used for
the manipulation of texts and images through algorithms).
The articles included here
attempt to delineate a geography specific to the broad map
of the different textualities in digital media, and to
establish the frontiers between digital literature and net
art. To this end, "Concrete poetry in Digital Media. Its
Predecessors, its Presence and its Future", is a text in
which, to use the Faustian metaphor of the two souls (the
meaning-driven soul and the spectacle-driven soul)
Roberto Simanowski introduces the division between
the reader who focuses on content and the reader who focuses
on form; while Joan Campàs seeks to establish
the weakness of these factual frontiers by analysing more
than twenty online digital works and proposing various
distinct categories.
However, we also tended to
want on the assessment of quality in the hypermedia, as well
as a cretive analysis of the evolution from pen to computer
or from book to screen. In "Is this hypertext any good? Or,
how do we evaluate quality in hypermedia?" we find a series
of questions that have to do with hypertext and quality and
an accurate analysis of informational, educational,
fictional and poetic hypertexts by George Landow, one
of the pioneers of hypertext theory. The author also
discusses the characteristics that we should take into
account to evaluate not only quality in hypertexts, but also
their success and effectiveness. In "Littérature
numérique, contraintes et ouvertures de
l'écran. (Du stylo à l'ordinateur ou du livre
à l'écran)" Jean Pierre Balpe sets out
the concept of "engrammation" which deals with the process
of text mediatization. He presents some practical examples,
such as different algorithmic programming, in order to
illustrate the mediatization processes.
We also have room for a
critical approach to a piece of electronic literature and,
of course, for a reflection on cybertext theory and
ludology, currently one of the most active areas in this
field of electronic textuality. Thus in "These Waves of
Memories" Raine Koskimaa explores different aspects
of "These Waves of Girls," trying to combine both the most
technical aspects and the narratological ones. Koskimaa pays
critical attention to Caitlin Fisher's work (ELO 2001 award)
and shows how critics can attempt a "true electronic work"
in an exemplary case. Finally, in "Six Problems in Search of
a Solution. The challenge of cybertext theory and ludology
to literary theory" there are six emerging and related
questions formulated by Markku Eskelinen that try to
show how literary theory and the study of ergodic literature
can be usefully expanded by cybertext theory and
ludology.
In spite of so many - and
such pertinent - contributions, the participants in
Barcelona, more than homos sapiens, continue to be homos
quaerens, in other words, instead of certainties, we keep on
asking questions, to ourselves and to our colleagues, in
order to widen our perspectives. Anyway, we are delighted to
present this issue and we would like that you will find it
interesting. Enjoy the reading!
Greeting from Barcelona,
October 2004
Laura Borràs
Castanyer
dichtung-digital
|
|