Posted onFebruary 19, 2013by|Comments Off on Project 1: Authoring Activity 1
For this project, I decided to make a video from my computer game that I have been playing over one year with call of duty on my Xbox. This game is crossfire and the reason I prefer to do my project with this game because this game required communication and teamwork to achieve the certain goals. That way, it created passions with inspirations for each player to become better day-by-day. Besides, skills are required for this game; strategies and unpredictable plans are also very important for each team. Crossfire always have 2 sides group of people, one side is terrorist that want to plant the bomb and protect the area until the bomb explode; the other side is police that have to defense and stop the terrorist planting the bomb within two minutes.
By this game, I can visualize that it’s not just a game; it’s somehow created new culture for gamer by communicating day-by-day in Ventrilo or Mumble. These programs are communicated software that my team has been using when we were playing. Also, my point is remediation for my video; they are images, sound, text, animation and video, which can be brought together in any combination. To make this video, I used video maker. First of all, I have to record the game replays by Bandicam; it is game recording software. Then, I put all the replays into movie maker and combine them together. Secondly, I cropped and picked great sample from these replays to make highlight that describe the game’s characteristics. Finally, I downloaded the music and put it into my modified video.
For my Authoring project I decided to use the medium of DOTA 2. This game is what’s known as a “E-Sport” which means that it is played competitively around the world be teams for money. I thought that it would be an interesting comparison to take the commentary from a sport (in this case soccer) and set it over some clips from a “professional” Dota 2 player. I discovered through watching some of these videos that the announcers for actual Dota 2 events sound actually very similar to the announcers for sports, and that the composition didn’t feel wholly out of place.
Adding the sports commentary gives the game a bit more gravitas, conveying and Aura on the piece that’s different than it’s original. ESports are not really recognized as “real” sports, so giving it the same treatment as one changes your perception. This game contains many of the same elements as a “real” sport; for example it’s team based and the players can make a living on it. I discovered that the audio actually managed to line up fairly well when I edited it down, and the similarity to DOTA 2 announcers took me by surprise.
Posted onFebruary 19, 2013by|Comments Off on Shy Boy: Electronic Literature
“Electronic literature, generally considered to exclude print literature that has been digitized, is by contrast “digital born,” a first-generation digital object created on a computer and (usually) meant to be read on a computer. “(Hayles) In other words, it is still print literature but it is modified to become electronic literature by computer programs. With digital technologies, electronic literature thoroughly integrated with printing literature to make new inputs to literature field nowadays. “Shy Boy” is great example for electronic literature and it is a poem that is created by computer with digital production. “Shy Boy” was very early production for Thom Swiss. Collaborating people underneath poems is his work but he’s not a programmer; he’s a language person. He tried to put a team of people to work on single pieces or group of pieces. For “Shy boy”, he used to capture the ideas, which were inside of his head, then he contacted to one designer and one editor. At this point, they worked as the team as combined all their pieces of work together to make new production. Also, “Shy Boy” had soft music that got along with the video and the way that the words were disappearing and appearing. “Electronic text remains distinct from print in that it literally cannot be accessed until it is performed by properly executed code. The immediacy of code to the text’s performance is fundamental to understanding electronic literature, especially to appreciating its specificity as a literary and technical production” (Hayles). With the print literature, we can’t have this process that make the document is more interesting like electronic literature.
Shy Boy is definantly electronic literature. While it may have been paper before, it is now its own work. It would not have the same effect as it does should it be in print. The way that the words appear then vanish makes the piece its own. And the background music helps with creating the mood as you read it. If you took all of that out and made it into paper form, it would not have that much affect, if any at all. It may not have been “born digital” but if it was, then there would be no way that it could become print and carry out all that goes with this piece.
For centuries, people have been writing books down on paper. Now, some authors are starting to create their work on computers. Creators have discovered that the technology now exists to be able to create a piece of art that the reader can actually interact with instead of just observing. Katherine Hayles describes something that is born digital as a “first generation digital object created on a computer and (usually) meant to be read on a computer” (1). This definition is fairly broad and generic but, in the case of the digitally born poem “Shy Boy,” object that are born digital usually implement some type of “running code,” which means that the experience is always changing for the user (3). Using “Shy Boy” as an example, this text is continuously appearing and then disappearing, forcing the reader to read at the pace that the author intended it to be read. This cannot happen with a print book, which, some may argue, is a good thing. The main point, however, is that electronic literature is different than print literature. “Shy Boy” also has soft music playing in the background, which is meant to enhance the reader’s experience. Music has been proven to evoke emotion, and that’s exactly what the author was going for when creating this poem. By making a sad story and then playing a “sad” piece of music behind it, the author is basically manipulating the reader’s emotions. By utilizing technology, people are creating pieces of art that can be enjoyed and interacted with, instead of simply absorbed.
@clonelord #dtcv
I think shy boy is ok but unlike N. Katherine Hayles, I much prefer an old fashion book in my hand as nothing beats the feeling of a hardcover or even paperback in you hands and the texture of the paper. When she mentions that source code should be taken into consideration as part of the art, well code is not really art, it allows the art to happen through construct but is not actually art. Electronic literature has its place and works to help with stimulating people but, having a book in your hand and reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer a great classic should not be read electronically as it takes away from the timeliness of the story. You can’t fold a page in electronic format like you can with a book it is just not the same. Reading a good book can bring you so much imagination, inspire you to other bonds, and make you act and think on things that you dare not even think of before. Electronic literature can do the same but having a book in your hand like the preachers of old holding a bible just wouldn’t be the same as a preacher now in days holding his cellphone or other electronic device trying to preach about the lord. It just doesn’t have the same impact as a real book does, nor does it stir the masses like holding a real book does. I don’t have a problem with electronic literature but it is not the same as a good book.
Out of the three electronic literature pieces I watched I enjoyed Shy Boy by Thom Swiss the most. Shy Boy is definitely a moving piece of electronic literature and could not be nearly appreciated if it was converted somehow into print form. The combination of music, text, animations and color are all key to making Shy Boy an effective piece of literature. However, it is these aspects that also make it not able to be made in print form but require it to be electronic. In N. Katherine Hayles’ article “Electronic Literature: What is it?” she states, “Unlike a print book, electronic text literally cannot be accessed without running the code. Critics and scholars of digital art and literature should therefore properly consider the source code to be part of the work, a position underscored by authors who embed in the code information or interpretive comments crucial to understanding the work” (3). This is very true for Shy Boy concerning the code. All of the multimedia features going on like the music, colors and animations are only made possible through someone putting in code. From HTML markups down to the binary code that makes up the flash animation, these code-based elements are what give this piece of literature more depth and I think more power over the reader. The multiple stimuli of text, music and movement just naturally serve to grab my attention more than just if I were reading it in text in print form. This is why I would say that I enjoy reading electronic literature more than traditional print literature.
Comments Off on Week 7 – Electronic Literature – Justin Oberg
Shy Boy by Thom Swiss is engaging. It is engageing because it manages to pull you in with the dull horns in the background and the falling text accentuated by grey and black elements. While this could also be seen in an old fashioned hard bound book, what cannot be reproduced on a physical page is the way the text moves and fades in and out. The music in the background is also unique to E-Lit. Although you could play music on a separate device while you read, in order for it to be considered E-Lit the device and source of the text must be the one and the same. All of this, the sound, the text decorations, and the massive amount of white space helps make the story more dramatic, just as Hayles said. another way that one could guess that Shy Boy is electronic literature is in the source code. If you use Firefox you can look at the page source and see that both HTML and Flash were used to create Shy Boy. In a book the poem wouldn’t make any sense if it were surrounded by HTML code. In fact it would make it very difficult to pick and chose what is actually the poem and what is in the code. Not only would HTML make it difficult to read in a book, cut the addition of Flash makes it impossible. The inclusion of Flash brings the Shy Boy story to life in a way it could never be in print.
