Reading through the introductory and first modules made me realise I have some familiarity with the mechanics of digital literature but don’t yet have the language to discuss or analyse examples. Like many people my age (46), I grew up playing video games, many of which used a lot of text. I was also a kid who loved the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books, and recently re-read some and got some students at my school interested in them. Similarly, I remember talk about ‘hypertext’ narratives back when I was studying English Literature and people like Jeff Noon were discussing it. I’ve also had an interest in what may be called ‘ludic’ fiction, such as Cortázar’s Hopscotch (Wikipedia contributors, 2023), and feel that many if not all stories are ‘meta’ works in that they are layered with references to other texts, from Shakespeare and Don Quixote onwards.

All of which is a rambling way of saying I feel like I’m already into or primed with an orientation for this ‘stuff’ and ready for a deeper exploration of digital literature but… My own recent experience is pretty limited.

I enjoyed using the Yalinguth app (Piantoni et al., 2021), for instance, but that was something I did for my own personal benefit. Within my work I have not yet had a chance or made a chance to use digital literature, mostly presenting eBooks and audiobooks. Although I have also modeled and assisted students with making their own poetry collections in Book Creator and making mystery and suspense podcasts.

Looking to the future, I am involved in helping shape a Y9 Creative Writing unit for T4 this year, looking at including generative AI, and feel that could be useful as inspiration here. I would also like to take some of our units beyond the usual response tasks like writing reviews, making presentations or posters. There must be more ways to include a storytelling response, for example.

References

Piantoni, M., Hunter, C., Woolmore, C., Bundle, R., Nicholls, B., McLean, R., Barker, C., Cawley, K., McGaw & J., Wallis. (2021). Yalinguth (L. Massari, G. Braybon, N. Goodman & T. Buckley, Illus.). Apple Store OR Google Play. https://www.yalinguth.com.au/get-app

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 21). Hopscotch (Cortázar novel). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:43, July 12, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hopscotch_(Cort%C3%A1zar_novel)&oldid=1140795810