Hacking Electronic Literature is a full-day, hands-on workshop on the tools used in creating electronic literature (e-lit). It is the first of its kind ever offered in the Arab World specifically aimed at teaching digital tools used in creating electronic literature (e-lit). It is divided into two parts: Part One introduces the field and provides examples of works and genres that constitute it. Part Two guides participants toward producing their own works of e-lit. At the end of the workshop, participants will have a good understanding of what e-lit is and how it is produced. As such, this workshop fills an important knowledge gap for Arabic artists and scholars about the emerging field of born digital literature.

Structure of the Workshop:

10:00-12 noon
Part One: Introduction

Understanding What is Electronic Literature?

10:00-11:30:  What is e-lit? Examples of e-lit; led by Dene Grigar
11:30-12:00: Programming in Arabic and Western e-lit; led by Reham Hosny

Break for lunch
1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Part Two: Hands-On Production

1:00-2:20 p.m.: Writing stories with Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories; led by Reham Hosny

2:20-3:20 p.m.: Memes, Tracery, and Twitterature

3:20-4:00 p.m.: Scripting and Prototyping for E-Lit NetProvs & Video Essays

4:00-5:00 p.m.: Sound & Electronic Literature

 

Setting

  • Classroom
  • Free WiFi for all the trainees
  • Data show
  • Access to computers for participants

 

Language: English, Arabic or both according to the nature of the trainees

Duration: Six hours on the day before the conference

 

The best way to understand Electronic Literature is to experience it first hand. Below is a list of work, exhibits featuring works, and organizations that provide access to databases of this emerging form of experimental media art form.

 

Examples of E-Lit

  1. Mohammad Sanajleh, http://sanajleh-shades.com/
  2. Alan Bigelow, “How to Rob a Bank, Part 1”
  3. Nissmah Roshdy, based on a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, “The Dice Player”
  4. Crows, Crows, Crows, “The Temple of No”
  5. Serge Bouchardon, “Loss of Grasp”
  6. Kate Pullinger, Inanimate Alice
  7. Sasha West, “Zoology”
  8. John Barber, “Heard from Space”
  9. Ingrid Anderson and Megan Sapnar, “Cruising”
  10. Philippe Bootz, Retournement
  11. Jason Nelson, “Game, Game, Game, and Game Again”
  12. Jason Edward Lewis, The POEMM Cycle
  13. Stephanie Strickland and Ian Hatcher, “Vniverse
  14. Jody Zellen, “Spine Sonnet”
  15. Dene Grigar, “The 24-Hour Micro E-Lit Project” 

 

Electronic Literature Exhibits:

  1. The Library of Congress: Electronic Literature & Its Emerging Forms
  2. British Computer Society: Beyond Grammatron
  3. Vancouver Downtown Library: Anthropoetry
  4. Nouspace Gallery:  Touch: The Art of the Mobile App
  5. Illuminations Gallery (Maynouth, Ireland): Moving Words

 

Other Resources:

Storyboarding Example: Andreas Muller’s “For All Seasons”
NetProv: What is NetProv? 
Twitterature Defined

literary-genres