Student Interest

ETL533 Assessment 2 Part A: Review 3 – Dracula Daily by Matt Kirkland (2021).

Leave a comment

Dracula Daily (Kirkland, 2021) is an excellent example of a recontextualised or digitised literary text (Lysaught, 2022a). Kirkland has updated Stoker’s original 1897 Dracula for modern readers by recontextualising it as a narrative delivered episodically via a free email subscription. Dracula Daily conforms to many definitions of digitised works (Strickland, n.d.; Hayles, 2007, para.10; Bourchardon & Heckman, 2012, p1; Heckman & O’Sullivan, 2018, para.4), since Stoker’s original was conceived for the print medium. It might also be designated as a ‘paper-under-glass’ text (Allan, 2017, p.22). However, Kirkland’s recontextualisation cleverly utilises many features of the digital environment to enhance readers’ understanding, which is a key consideration when evaluating digital literature (Lysaught, 2022b) and not unique to ‘born digital’ texts.

Firstly, the novel’s content is largely unchanged, but Kirkland enhances the original’s epistolary form by delivering the narrative gradually to subscribers’ inboxes on the date each event occurred (Kirkland, 2022, para.1), helping readers build a sense of time. In the original, it feels like the characters speed through the plot. Dracula Daily is delivered in instalments from May to November, allowing readers to gain a sense of just how much time passes. This also builds on the original’s suspense – a key element of the Gothic genre, since readers must await the next instalment instead of reading ahead. Although this chronological delivery loses some of the original’s dramatic irony, footnotes in misordered entries remind readers of key plot points while the reader’s anticipation of the next portion emulates the characters’ anticipation as they put together the clues about Dracula. While not technically an interactive feature – an element important to digital literature (Lysaught, 2022b) – this digitised recontextualisation allows readers to form a closer vicarious connection to the characters and events than the original. 

Secondly, innovative use of email technology evokes the optimistic modernity present in Stoker’s novel. One of the key tensions in the original is the dichotomy between the modern and the traditional. By updating Stoker’s printed text to a digital environment, Kirkland has recaptured the sense of technological innovation that Mina, Jonathan and the others champion through their use of now-outdated communicative developments such as short-hand, phonographs, typewriters, and telegraphs.

Finally, Kirkland’s daily delivery and recontextualisation of Dracula in a digital format allows the expansion of the novel into other adjacent digital spaces. Towndrow and Kogut (2020, p.14, 148) argue that “digital storytelling is fundamentally an active social process” while Leu et al. (2011, p.6-8) posit that collaborative, social practices are one key difference between online and offline reading experiences. Likewise, Valenza and Stephens (2012, p.75-77) assert the relationship between author, reader, and text is evolving alongside the reading experience due to the rise of socially connected digital communities; Skaines agrees (2010, p.96, 102). Dracula Daily is popular on social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, with discussions expanding into new digital spaces and offering readers opportunities to connect with the text and other readers in ways Stoker could never have imagined. Stepanic (2022, p.2) notes Dracula Daily’s social media popularity taps into modern snark and meme culture. In an age of on-demand entertainment consumption, Dracula Daily harkens back to the days of ‘appointment viewing’ and allows for a flourishing “ecosystem” (Stepanic, 2022, p.2) of online content to develop, further enhancing readers’ engagement and interaction with the text in new contexts. It also democratises Stoker’s classic text, opening it up for interpretation and engagement with new audiences on new platforms.

Discussions about Dracula Daily on Twitter reveals that digital texts can move into adjacent digital spaces to enhance reader connectivity.

Likewise, Dracula Daily’s popularity on Tumblr democratises the original novel in digital spaces and keeps it relevant for modern audiences.

Dracula Daily reveals the potential for digital texts to move into adjacent online spaces and foster connection between readers and other texts, as seen through this meme.

However, this expansion into adjacent online spaces raises further questions around how we define and categorise digital texts. While I categorise Dracula Daily as a recontextualised or digitised literary text due to Kirkland’s transformation of the printed original to a digital environment, Kitson defines electronically augmented texts as ones where online resources expand opportunities for commentary, interpretation, and engagement  (2017, p.59). Dracula Daily could arguably be an electronically augmented text, highlighting the difficulty around defining nebulous digital literature. 

This text is certainly not without criticism. The email format and associated substack archive of past episodes is difficult to navigate, lacking the ability to move easily between posts. Kirkland’s digital reworking of Stoker’s original removes many peritextual elements which enhanced verisimilitude, such as the note explaining that all documents were truthful reflections of actual events. However, new peritextual features are added; each episode features funny captions which encourage the cynical, irreverent tone of the aforementioned online discussions and maintain the narrative’s relevance for modern audiences. 

The substack archive with its snarky, humorous subheading summaries of each episode’s content taps into modern attitudes towards reading.

Dracula Daily could potentially use more features offered by its new digital format, such as interactive maps, images, and sounds which could further enhance readers’ engagement and understanding. However, anecdotal discussions with students in my Year 11 English Extension class reveal it’s an engaging way to explore the original; recently I’ve enjoyed having my students run up excitedly to discuss the latest instalment. Dracula Daily could be a meaningful resource to study alongside Stoker’s Dracula, and can inspire similar recontextualisations with other texts as a learning activity to explore how we value literature and how responses to texts change over time.

 

 

814 words.

Reference list:

Allan, C. (2017). Digital fiction: ‘Unruly object’ or literary artefact? English in Australia, 52(2), 21-27.

Bourchardon, S., & Heckman, D. (2012). Digital manipulability and digital literature. Electronic Book Review.

Hayles, K. (2007). Electronic literature: What is it? https://www.eliterature.org/pad/elp.html

Heckman, D., O’Sullivan, J. (2018). Electronic literature: contexts and poetics. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology.

Kirkland, M. (2021). Archive. Dracula Daily. https://draculadaily.substack.com/archive

Kirkland, M. (2022). About. Dracula Daily. https://draculadaily.substack.com/about

Kitson, L. (2017). Exploring opportunities for literary literacy with e-literature: To infinity and beyond. Australian Literacy Educators’ Association. Literacy Learning, 23(2), 58-68.

Leu, D. J. et al (2011). The new literacies of online reading comprehension: Expanding the literacy and learning curriculum. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(1), 5-14.

Lysaught, D. (2022a, August 7). ETL533 2.3: Challenges of using digital literature in the classroom. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/07/etl533-2-3-challenges-of-using-digital-literature-in-the-classroom/

Lysaught, D. (2022b, August 14). ETL533 Evaluating digital literature: Deeper considerations. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/14/etl533-evaluating-digital-literature-deeper-considerations/

Skaines, R. L. (2010). The shifting author-reader dynamic: online novel communities as a bridge from print to digital literature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16(1), 95–111.

Stepanic, S. (2022, May 20). ‘Dracula Daily’ reanimates the classic vampire novel for the age of memes and snark. The Conversation.

Strickland, S. (n.d.). Born digital. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69224/born-digital

Towndrow, P. A., & Kogut, G. (2020). Digital storytelling for educative purposes: providing an evidence-base for classroom practice. Studies in Singapore Education: Research Innovation & Practice 1. Singapore: Springer.

Valenza, J. K., & Stephens, W. (2012). Reading remixed. Educational Leadership, 69(6), 75-78.

ETL533 3.2: Exploring Digital Forms

Leave a comment
Explore innovative digital literature sites. What did you enjoy most? How could you incorporate social networking sites for literature organisation and access, such as Inside a Dog, GoodReads or LibraryThing into your practice?

 

This week I explored a few of the immersive multimedia journalism resources such as K’gari and My Grandmother’s Lingo, and thought that they could be an interesting way to engage students with non-fiction texts and current affairs (typically perceived as ‘boring’ by many teens). I personally found that the multimodal, immersive nature of these resources helped me remember the key points and allowed me to connect the information in the articles to my prior knowledge and experiences very effectively.

I also looked into Beowulf in 100 Tweets, which I thought was a fantastic resource that I could easily incorporate into my Year 11 English Extension program where we look at the relationship between texts, cultures and values. I think that my students would respond well to a similar learning activity where they could take one of the texts we study and recontextualise it as a tweet or social media post to explore the ways that context affects response over time. Beowulf in 100 Tweets also linked really nicely to one that my students showed me this week: Dracula Daily, where the epistolary form of the original novel is harnessed by networking technologies such as email, Tumblr and Twitter. While anecdotal, the conversations in my classroom suggest that these types of recontextualised literary texts can be powerful and engaging learning tools.

There were some resources that I enjoyed less, however. War Horse (the app for the iPad) had a timeline along with some interesting links, videos, and interviews to help readers understand the context, but the text itself was just a digitised version of the print novel (with an accompanying audio version). I didn’t feel that this app utilised the immersive, interactive possibilities afforded by the format to enhance reader experience or support the function of the text as effectively as it could have. Likewise, Alice for the iPad seemed rather gimmicky and its ‘interactive’ elements were distracting rather than elevating my understanding and enjoyment.

I like the idea of incorporating social networking sites into my practice, since it expands my students’ sense of connection to the world of the text and allows them to feel a sense of belonging with other readers. I personally have experimented with tracking my reading journey this year via Instagram, GoodReads and The Storygraph App. While I like the way these resources use my data to help me reflect on my reading preferences and connect me with similar books and readers, I am concerned about the privacy implications of encouraging their use in my classrooms by my students, though it would be a great opportunity to discuss digital citizenship. They also take a lot of time to keep up to date, and you can see from my Instagram experiment that it has fallen by the wayside.

ETL533 Assessment 1: Online Reflective Journal Blog Task

1 Comment

Using your readings and interaction with the subject to date, develop a statement about your current knowledge and understanding of concepts and practices in digital literature environments, tools and uses, within the context of your work or professional circumstances.

As I start ETL533, I’m already struck by its relevance to my experiences as a secondary English teacher. Digital literature is exciting and full of potential, but also fraught with uncertainty due to its complexity and relative obscurity when contrasted with the traditional literary forms familiar to classroom teachers. 

Even understanding the definition of digital literature is more complex than it first appears. Rowland (2021, para.2) notes that digital literature is difficult to determine, while Heckman and O’Sullivan state that it is “ambiguous because it is amorphous” (2018, para.1), evolving as new technologies, forms, and uses emerge. Hayles defines electronic literature as “digital born” (2007, para.10), while the Electronic Literature Organization states it combines literary elements alongside computer technology (Rowland, 2021, para.2) – though this seems outdated, since computers aren’t the only (or even the most popular) tool used to create and access digital resources. I personally like Groth’s focus on digital literature showcasing innovation and creativity via technology (Groth, via Rowland, 2021, para.3). However, users should be aware of the distinction between “the digitised and digital literature” (Heckman & O’Sullivan, 2018, para.4), with traditional printed texts which have been digitised (e.g. eBooks) often not making the cut as digital literature (Wright, 2019, para.2).

Part of the difficulty in defining digital literature is that understandings of traditional literature are also hotly debated (Krystal, 2014, para.1). When exploring this concept with my English Extension students, I often show them a variety of different definitions:

Screenshot from my introductory “Texts, Culture and Values” PowerPoint

We have great fun discussing what counts as “lasting artistic merit” and whose values are evident in the judgment of texts as “beautiful” or “excellent”. I imagine many traditional defenders of the Western Literary Canon would find it difficult to accept that digital literature meets these criteria, despite their potential as tools to engage and extend students in our classrooms (Wall, 2016, p.35). Yet these preconceived notions of what constitutes ‘literature’ also extend to our students. Hayles argues that readers approach texts with expectations formed by their knowledge of print works, and “electronic literature tests the boundaries of the literary and challenges us to re-think our assumptions of what literature can do and be” (2007, para.11). Clearly, the emergence of digital literature requires a paradigm shift as we expand our understanding of literature to include new forms reliant on new technologies and literacies. 

Yet where do we draw the line? If wordless picture books can count as literature, then why not immersive games with textual elements, such as The Witcher 3 or Horizon: Zero Dawn? Hayles notes that the line is far from clear, but perhaps depends on the ways users configure or interpret texts: “with games the user interprets in order to configure, whereas in works whose primary interest is narrative, the user configures in order to interpret” (2007, para.16).

The Witcher 3 allows players to explore and read in-game books – often with cheeky intertextual nods to pop culture. But is it digital literature?

Another challenge in pinning down digital literature emerges from the plethora of potential forms such storytelling can take. In addition to those listed previously (Lysaught, 2022, para.2-5), Rowland (2021) discusses four types of digital literature:

  1. Twitterature
  2. Hypertext
  3. Generators
  4. Video poetry

Several of my Year 10 students have recently raved about Markiplier, who uses YouTube to create exciting, interactive choose-your-own-adventure style narratives. 

As my students’ obsession reveals, digital storytelling can be a powerful way of engaging today’s students.

 

Words: 550

 

Reference list:

Hayles, K. (2007). Electronic literature: What is it? https://www.eliterature.org/pad/elp.html

Heckman, D., O’Sullivan, J. (2018). Electronic literature: Contexts and poetics. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology. https://dlsanthology.mla.hcommons.org/electronic-literature-contexts-and-poetics/

Krystal, A. (2014, March). What is literature? In defense of the canon. Harper’s Magazine. https://harpers.org/archive/2014/03/what-is-literature/1/

Rowland, R. (2021, July 8). What is digital literature? Understanding the genre. Book Riot. https://bookriot.com/digital-literature/

Wall, J. (2016). Children’s literature in the digital world: How does multimodality support affective, aesthetic and critical response to narrative? by Alyson Simpson and Maureen Walsh. An extended abstract by June Wall. Scan 35(3), 34-36.

Wright, D. T. H. (2019, July 10). From Twitterbots to VR: 10 of the best examples of digital literature. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/from-twitterbots-to-vr-10-of-the-best-examples-of-digital-literature-110099