Technology allows creators to tell stories in just about anyway they can imagine. They are no longer limited by print and have the opportunity to come up with unique methods that help convey their story the best way possible. These sorts of modern stories oftentimes revolve around various types of hardware and screens. Some stories like Text Rain take the elements our languages have been using for centuries and find unique uses for them. It could even be called a new form of reading, not just playing. The rise of virtual reality has been a slow one. Ever heard of the Virtual Boy Nintendo made in the 90’s? It only had the colors red and black. It was a massive flop and they’re just now getting back into trying out virtual reality. Obviously since the virtual boy, technology has gotten much better. I think there is much potential with placing yourself in a space where you are completely surrounded by the world the story is being told in. I’m looking forward to when VR becomes cheaper and wireless. The less boundaries there are the better. I have seen a bit of worrying going on that concerns people being too intimate with the VR experience. Wearing a VR headset with headphones is a convincing way to remove you from reality. I think if it is done in moderation and users take the headset off every hour or so to check what is going on, things will be fine. AR is something I have had more experience with. I have seen it used in museums to give more info on exhibits. Some even include animations. Pokémon GO introduced many to AR too.
“Virtual and augmented reality have also provided new tools and approaches for the presentation of narrative and poetic works of electronic literature in immersive environments.”
I’ve read through Scott Rettburgs chapter on Divergent Streams and, I have got to say, that the from that really sticks out to me would have to be “Expanded Cinema, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality.” The reason why I felt like that one seemed the most interesting to me is because I have always been the guy that’s fascinated buy tech that can put us into another place without even having to leave your own home. I never thought that we could live in an era that Virtual Reality would be a possibility, you would be able to truly experience the fictional world for yourself by truly being the main protagonist and going onto an adventure that you’ve always wanted to go on when you where just a kid.
“3D or even “4D” cinema experiences are now commonplace. In a somewhat humbler way, expanded cinema has also crossed over into electronic literature, as a number of writers and artists have produced works that apply techniques and approaches common in electronic literature in the construction of cinematic experiences.”
This explains that even things like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as well as Expanded Cinema can work, fantastically, in electronic literature by telling us a story and having to choose your own path or, in Augmented Reality case, play Pokémon Go because It is a great example of Augmented reality which is adding a virtual feature inside of the real world and you progress by catching Pokémon and leveling them up but in order to achieve said goal, you are going to have to actually walk around town which, I think, is an amazing mechanic.
Reality is what we agree on. My shirt is blue because light waves bounces off of it at around 650 THz, and we agree that that color is blue. My perception of this color may not be the same as your perception of the color, because we have no way of knowing if our brains color code these light ranges differently, and anything I point to that’s approximately the same frequency will look like the same color to you. With that considered, if we can’t even be sure about colors, what can we be sure of? Well, while we may have our minor differences in how we perceive our individual subjective realities, we put anyone who deviates too far from the norm in a nice safe space where they can’t disagree with us anymore. Until now, I suppose.
Virtual Reality, GPS, portable computers (or phones as you may call them), and Augmented Reality together have the ability to change our perceived realities. The notion of Virtual Reality and being able to roam in “cyber space” like some separate world is no stranger to popular fiction, and arguably isn’t far off from modern tech. What with products like Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, developers are already playing with creating entirely new virtual 3-dimensional spaces to explore and interact with.
Is this one of those “Oculi Rifts”?
Games like Pokemon Go however overlap these virtual spaces with real ones. With the use of a camera, you can even see the cute little guys appear in your living room. For now, these digital sprites float around unanchored to the backdrop of reality, but don’t expect that to be the case for ever, and while Google Glasses were a flop, smart watches have shown that wearable smart tech isn’t going anywhere. These days, everyone carries a personal computer in their pocket, linked up to a global network, and it seems like you can’t get away from digital assistants like Siri or Alexa. The “digital world” isn’t something that’s separate from the “real world,” they’re overlapping and beginning to bleed together, so who knows what could possibly come about in the future as these and other technologies continue to evolve?
Truly ahead of its time. Who needs a smart watch?
Also I lied, my shirt is gray. Blue just sounded like a better example color.
Interactive installation is a form of Divergent Stream that is most interesting to me. This form can use various styles of storytelling, such as kinetic text and prose. I am a writer; I can see myself working within this genre and using kinetic poetry and hypertext fiction as a way to let others interact with my work to see what they would do with it. From what I have gathered from the text, performance art can be included in this genre. I find it interesting that language can be used as a signifier. The text explains it as an artist applying paint to canvas. This is interesting, I have never thought of language being used in such a way, and certainly not in a performance art setting.
The possibilities are endless in virtual and augmented world. Imagine if one can project a poem at an exhibit where anyone can interact with the poem, such as Tony Stark (Iron Man) interacting with his holographic projector and change line breaks and moving words around so the poem can take on a different meaning. I can also imagine users interacting with the hypertext fiction. For example, if the user can interact with an author’s hypertext fiction in a 3D, or virtual reality environment where words seems to float in midair; with a wave of a hand the users can advance the story. I imagine this being on display in place like Disney World’s Epcot Theme park. This would be a great and fun way for the genre to become mainstream.
By far the most fascinating form of electronic literature discussed by Rettberg in “Divergent Streams” is virtual and augmented reality. VR is a concept I have discussed in previous DTC courses, because of my simultaneous fascination and fear of it. However, I have never looked at it critically as a vessel for writing, which I think is a potentially powerful tool for literature.
VR and AR are possibly the best tools for turning writing into a piece of technology by either creating a world for the text to live or giving the text the ability to live in our world. Rather than using the confines of available software and platforms, VR and AR allow the reader to interact in the most personal way possible by making the text a living entity that stands beside us. Rettberg’s provided examples of writing in augmented worlds, like Pry, showcase the powerful emotional connection that can be achieved via VR and AR.
Augmented worlds have proved to be scary yet exciting training grounds for the future of technological immersion. As Rettberg discusses, electronic literature is no exception. Augmented worlds hold a lot of potential for bringing pieces of poetry and writing to life to further encapsulate their meanings. Using the reader’s interaction to progress a story is a powerful tool for emotional connection, and VR and AR are easily able to do this. What is perhaps most exciting about the use of augmented worlds for electronic literature is the range of the works’ scales. A piece of writing in VR or AR can be short and simple, or it could be an entire world for a reader to explore that takes them out of body and puts them into a sea of text.
The new form from Rettberg’s final chapter Divergent Streams that interests me the most would have to be the Interactive Installations. The reason this form of divergent stream interests me the most is that I love media that play around with its surroundings. When I was a child, there was this little game that was projected on the floor at one of the malls my mom would take me to. Colorful balls would bounce around in the projected area when you touched them. The balls would then leave a trail of paint as they bounced. There are several possibilities in virtual and augmented worlds according to Rettberg. Large works have the opportunity to provide “direct sensory feedback in response to physical movement of our bodies” (190). We’ve seen this sort of response in games for the Oculus Rift, a device that enables a player to participate in a 3D virtual world. With this form, we have the ability to immerse ourselves further into the world that a literary work takes place in by the idea of using color and moving text/images.
Based on the several divergent streams that Rettberg discussed, I personally found expanded cinema the most interesting. This is because I personally have a deep interest in cinema, and the idea of altering cinema to become more and more interactive is very appealing. I also believe that cinema is ever-changing and likely will never die out. A big part of this is because the genre is ever evolving, and the forms of expanded cinema that Rettberg discusses only provides more examples of how the genre might evolve over time. I find it likely that cinema will become more interactive as the years progress, but honestly I doubt mainstream cinema will ever get to the extent that Rettberg discusses. For example, Rettberg talks about interactive films where the viewer ultimately decides which events unfold. This has already happened with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Netflix, and although I can absolutely see a special event showing of a film in theaters where viewers vote on the decisions of the characters, I highly doubt something that niche would ever become a mainstream viewing experience. Some literary possibilities within virtual and augmented worlds could include the viewing of films in virtual and/or augmented reality, which is already becoming somewhat popular, or even a truly interactive story written with the users decisions in mind. An example of this might be like a virtual reality version of those old choose-your-own-adventure text-based games, only hyper realistic. Since text-based games already were extremely popular, I could absolutely see virtual reality version becoming somewhat mainstream as well.
One of the new divergent streams that captured my interest are locative projects, specifically Augmented Reality. In my gaming experiences, there has always been a constant reminder that my world is separated from the setting within the game, and I find it incredibly fascinating that AR can make this difference almost invisible. Though it is still in its earlier stages, I believe that it has the potential to become very immersive as the technology improves.
“Electronic Literature authors have begun to explore how locative technologies can enable us to layer narrative and poetic experiences on the world around us.” (Rettberg 2019)
As Rettberg says in the above quote, there are many literary possibilities within virtual and augmented worlds, possibilities that are presently being explored. The prospect of telling stories in unique and immersive ways is always exciting, and I look forward to seeing them discovered and implemented. As Rettberg pointed out, we will be reframing environments we are familiar with and reimagining them, reigniting out interest in what we may otherwise find to be commonplace. This sort of storytelling will be more engaging than most other modes because it involves—even relies on—the interactors ability to actively navigate a physical space and possibly experiment with it.
In the case of Augmented Reality, the narrative would need to build itself around the player, and it will be interesting to see how creators choose to manifest this idea. Perhaps the story unfolds as the player approaches certain landmarks, or maybe s/he must actively pursue the characters as the narrative is being told? Is the story shared solely through audio rather than animations, so that the viewer may focus more on their actual environment? Is the player a key character in the game, or merely an observer? Can they influence the direction the story takes by physically choosing which direction to go? Will the narrative be shown through an iPhone, tablet, glasses, or some other device? Can the player virtually perform actions, such as digging or moving objects? There are many literary possibilities within virtual and augmented worlds to explore, and I am excited to see where these possibilities take us with storytelling.
The “divergent stream” brought up by Rettberg that interests me most is the use of locative technology in a narrative way. I have always found locative technology to be incredibly fascinating. If I am bored and have nothing to do, one thing I do to pass the time on occasion is just look around and explore the world on google earth, just to see what different locations in the world truly look like from up above. Locative technology has already been gamified in an incredibly successful manner with the mobile game Pokemon Go. But, while pokemon go is a successful venture into the locative technology game market, it is completely lacking in narrative. I have yet to see or hear of any successful mobile game that tells a story by directing users to real-world locations. As Rettberg brought up, locative technology can hold many possibilities in this regard, one of them being the idea of guiding the user along the tracks of a criminal in the real world.
Rettberg also brings up the fact that locative storytelling has been used in a purely audio sense, such as guided tours of a specific location. I myself have experienced this form of locative storytelling when I visited Alcatraz island in 2004. I remember being handed a cassette tape or audio player of some sort and a pair of headphones and being guided through the prison as different stories, facts, and details of Alcatraz were told to me through the audio device. Unfortunately, I was too young to be truly interested in or appreciate the stories being told, but I do definitely somewhat remember the experience. With things such as virtual and augmented reality on the rise, I think it would be amazing to see the “audio museum tour” be taken to a new level. Once augmented reality becomes more commonplace, it would be possible to add amazing visual elements to these audio tours by showing the events themselves unfold right before the user’s eyes. One story I do vaguely remember in the audio tour of the Alcatraz prison is the story of inmates that managed to escape or almost escape. Maybe with the addition of augmented reality, being able to not only hear the story but also see it unfold as it did in the very same location that it originally took place, I would be able to remember it more vividly.
Augmented reality electronic literature is a very exciting divergent stream of electronic literature because it may be the easiest genre electronic literature to immediately see real world applications for, by benefit of what it is. Enhancing reality by making more information available about an individual’s surroundings is one of the most exciting fronts of digital technology as many existing experiences and events can be vastly improved in constantly growing ways by digital technology. 1970’s Oregon Zoo Key
The Oregon Zoo installed their first zoo key system in 1970 and still uses a system installed in 1984 today (I had a lot of trouble finding a reliable source on this, they may have updated their system since). The zoo key program is a collection of audio boxes paired with animal enclosures and exhibits that will play a message containing information about the animal or exhibit upon insertion of the plastic zoo key. The current setup is nostalgic and the physical aspect of having a key and finding the audio boxes is great and shouldn’t be replaced, but the system could be improved and regularly updated by placing unique QR code stickers on each box and allowing visitors to receive much more information than audio on their phones, similar to the “Yellow Arrow Project”s unique numeric identifiers. GPS could be used in this system as well, making information available to users upon entering an exhibit or area of the zoo. The zoo key project is directed at young children, so incorporating children’s stories would be a natural addition to the current system.
Museums, galleries, zoos, and many other destinations have physical placards for information in addition to audio tour systems. Places whose goal is to inform must balance including as much information as they can and making placards easy and enjoyable to read for a wide audience. Many people will leave a placard wanting to know more about a topic or having skimmed the placard and retained nothing because it was too verbose. Making the information available on your phone allows organizations to include summaries, short, and long form pieces of information for each location, to allow the audience to choose the right amount of content for them, as well as being able to link out to outside sources. Audio systems are often expensive to rent or clunky to carry around, depending on how new the system is. Navigating audio tours can be frustrating depending on the system. In art galleries for example, an audio tour could be divided as broadly as 20 minute chunks of audio per exhibit, or two to ten minutes recordings per piece. No matter how minutely a physical audio device divides an exhibit, it still cannot tell you what will be contained in each individual recording and where the information will be in each recording. Parsing through audio recordings is always easier with time stamps and context which can be provided more easily on a phone than on a physical device.
In all the ways augmented reality can be used to increase the dispersal of factual information and nonfiction, it can be used for literature as well. Augmented reality makes room for literature in spaces where space for information is at a premium, physical space or audio wise. Incorporating narratives in spaces such as art galleries and museums allows these spaces to manipulate wayfinding and exploration of their spaces through apps they can update regularly.
Rettberg mentions “dérive, a practice of consciously breaking habits of movement and interaction with (a location)”
A place like the Oregon zoo or OMSI could publish a physical children’s book and/or app about their space that allows visitors to explore the place by following the locations in the narrative along with the location. The zoo could guide visitors through the park based on the level of activity in animals based on the season or time of day, releasing a new narrative every season to attract visitors year-round. Zoolights would be a great opportunity for this as well, a new holiday themed story could be paired with the lights every year. Augmented reality allows organizations to include literature in their spaces in ways they could not while having to prioritize space for information.
Most of these, I started typing in Bing, then completed the sentence with my own idea.
She was powerful, not because she was told.
She was a creature of light, not human.
Humans were fish, and she was the sea.
The sea was angry that day.
The day that music died.
Music was her refuge.
The music of the sea.
The sea of trees
Trees were cut down and made into lumber
