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From the Task statement:
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 a TL of 31 years there has been many changes in this area over time. You might think that 30 years ago there was no digital storytelling but during my Bachelor of TL course at Melbourne Uni, which I started in 1988 (what?!) we completed a module where we used the HyperCard program (1987) to create ‘stacks’ that told stories or played a game. I’ve just asked my husband, who completed the same course, if he remembered and he did. He also recalled that the stacks kind of worked like powerpoint slides. Good times!
If you’d like to learn more about HyperCard stacks, check out this awesome video from Gruz on YouTube:
Rad!
ARPANET. MILNET. Interest groups run through LISTSERVs. Internet (capital I) or internet (lower case I)? It’s really fascinating to see that Powerpoint is essentially the same as a HyperCard stack – slides which can be hyper-linked to create a non-linear journey through information, images, or story – although people hardly ever use Powerpoint to jump around these days. Back in the day, libraries and librarianship courses were very quick on the update of all the new technologies that the internet provided.
If anyone is on OZTLnet (worth it for the ongoing PD you get), it started life as a DOS (disk operating system) listserv.
So, I guess what I’m saying is, there’s nothing new in this world, except the platform which we use to create and read information and stories.
This from the readings for Module 1.2 Emerging Experiences:
Wästlund thinks that scrolling—which requires a reader to consciously focus on both the text and how they are moving it—drains more mental resources than turning or clicking a page, which are simpler and more automatic gestures.
Oh, the absolute irony of this statement being read on a scrolling, digital version of Scientific American. LOLZ.
References
Classic Mac Gaming. (2022). Exploring HyperCard Stacks #1. Www.youtube.com. https://youtu.be/FT_4_OoxlNI
OZTLnet. (2018). About | OZTLnet. About; OZTLnet School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. https://oztlnet.com/about/
Wikipedia Contributors. (2019). ARPANET. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
Wikipedia Contributors. (2020). HyperCard. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperCard
Wikipedia Contributors. (2021). MILNET. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MILNET
Wikipedia Contributors. (2022). LISTSERV. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LISTSERV
Thank For writing such an entertaining post. I really enjoyed it. I agree with you. The playing surface has certainly evolved, but the name of the game remains the same: teaching the kids how to become cool like us.
Haha! We are, indeed, cool, Joe!
Very fortuitously I am leading a Game Design camp this term and I’m looking forward to trying some student constructed ‘story games’.
Hi Miffy, this was a lot of fun to read. I really appreciated the call backs to original digital literature platforms and tools. I think a clearer definition of digital literature as you define it will help with your critical analysis and reviews. I very much look forward to seeing your thoughts on the literature you choose and how your views of digital literature have changed or stayed the same over your time as a TL. K 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, Krystal. I forgot I hadn’t finished it because I uploaded it to the padlet so that others could see how it looked! 😀 Digital literature definition – if 30 years in libraries has taught me anything, as soon as you define something or say ‘That’s it’ – it will change! Digital literature is anything that can be ‘read’ using a digital device. It could be linear, non-linear, fiction, non-fiction, images only, sounds, voice, story, or entirely randomised. There’s no rules with digital literature innovation other than that imposed by the limits of the software or platform being used to create the text.