CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN PIGGYDAC WORKSHOP
Please join us in a Digital Literature Workshop. Writers, artists, readers, and system developers will share works in progress and discuss techniques and strategies to improve digital literature and literacy. Digital Arts and Culture will be held from Thursday April 26 through Saturday April 28 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The workshop will be two days after DAC--Sunday April 29 and Monday April 30.
On the first day, we will look at works in progress. These works will be available before the workshop, and participants should come ready to offer suggestions and insights. (You do not have to submit a work to be a part of this workshop--we welcome readers!)
On the second day, we will discuss vital issues in digital literature:
Audience: Who are we writing for? How are we reaching our audience? What do we expect from our audiences? How do we interact with these audiences?
Archiving: How are we preserving the literature? How much needs to be preserved and where?
Technology: What technologies are we using? How does that affect the work?
Writing: How do we incorporate writing techniques into digital literature? How do paper ideas of plot characterization, wordsmithing, and more fit into pixels?
CONNECTION SYSTEM SESSIONS
There will also be sessions on using the Word Circuits Connection System, a free downloadable tool for adding advanced hypertext elements to Web-based poetry or fiction. There will be demonstrations and instruction sessions in which participants can bring work and learn how to add Connection System elements to it.
These are some of the features that can be implemented with the Connection System:
- Conditional links
- Links with randomly chosen destinations
- Text that is displayed randomly or conditionally
- Object-oriented structures (groups of nodes that can be treated as "text components," or narrative objects with behaviors)
- Progress indicators telling the reader what proportion of the hypertext has been read
- Automatic bookmarking (returning the reader to the place where she left off at the end of the last reading session)
For more information on the Connection System, see the introductory page on the Web site and the section on "Using Connection System Features" in the online manual.
IMPORTANT DATES
The deadline for submission of proposals for the DAC conference itself (including art, panels, presentations) is November 1, 2000.
Workshop participants will be limited to 25, and works to critique will be accepted on a first-come, first served basis.
The deadline for submitting works for this workshop is February 1, 2001. The deadline for submitting works for a Connection System session is March 15, 2001. You need not be part of the regular workshop to participate in a CS session.
APPLYING
Send an email expressing your interest to textra@chisp.net. If you are interested in a Connection System session, contact Robert Kendall at kendall@wordcircuits.com.
Include:
- Name
- All relevant contact information (phone, snail mail, fax, email)
- Brief statement about what you would like to get out of the workshop
If you want to submit a work to be critiqued, also include:
- Short description of work
- Plans for making it available to the workshop --e.g., this will be online at... I will send a disk copy to...
If you want to receive instruction on enhancing your work with the Connection System, also include:
- Discussion of the Connection System features you would like to add to the work
- Explanation of how you think these features would improve the work