USLA04: Representing the Interface

Contents

• Introduction and Description
• Objectives
• Readings
• Assignments and Assessment
• Policies: attendance, deadlines, requirements.
• Syllabus

Introduction

We are currently witnessing an explosion of media convergences in the entertainment industry as novels are adapted into films, computer games and comics, and literary characters such as Harry Potter are marketed as collectable cards, toys and dolls. Recent films such as Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy demonstrate that computer games can also be adapted for films (although the quality of these films is open to debate). This convergence points to a juncture between the emerging discipline of cyberarts and the study of literature, a juncture that requires us to pose a simple, though challenging, question: What's the difference between being lost in a novel and being lost in a computer game? To address this question, the module Representing the Interface explores the difference between reading novels and short stories, reading interactive fictions and playing computer games. How do fictional worlds created by novels differ from those created in computer games? What kinds of narratives do we find in computer games? What are their genres and how are their narratives sustained and developed?

A unique feature of computer mediated narratives and games is the presence of an interface. Unlike the novel, hypertext and computer games need to represent an interface in order for us to interact with the work. We need to point, click, select and orientate ourselves in a virtual information space. This course considers the role of the interface in our experience of online texts and computer games and compares that experience with reading printed fiction. Interactive media force us to re-think the traditional roles of author and reader as within interactive media our choices in part determine the outcome of a narrative. Within a hypertext narrative there is a delicate relationship between the choices afforded by interactivity and our sense of being lost or immersed in a fictional world.

We begin by reading one of the most influential fantasy novels of the twentieth century, J.R.R Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. We think about how the world of Middle Earth is created by detailed languages, histories, descriptions of flora and fauna, folktales and songs and how the narrative carries us deeper into the complexities and mysteries of this fictional world. We also consider the role of Middle Earth in popular culture with particular reference to Tolkien 's influence on the development of Multi-User Domains (MUDs) and computer games.

After leaving Middle Earth, we read a variety of hypertexts including Michael Joyce's seminal Afternoon and Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl as well as a number of adaptations of short stories to hypertexts. We then consider computer games and read theorists working on the relationship between interactivity and narrative to help us in our study of computer game narratives. Finally, we reflect on the position of games within contemporary culture and discuss the artistic and aesthetic qualities of games.

Throughout the module we concentrate on connections between literature, digital arts and computing. New technologies such as virtual reality lead to the possibility of new art forms, new interfaces and new forms of storytelling. To experience and experiment with new technologies, students are taught basic HTML and are encouraged to employ multimedia authoring tools in the creation of their final projects. These projects are then placed online on The Interface Web.

Objectives

The course aims to impart and develop the following key skills:

• Appreciation of the complex dynamics at work in changes in technology, culture, society and the arts with special regard to the interplay between dreams of technology and actual technological change.
• Ability to perform close readings of diverse literary texts including poetry, fiction, hypertext, online fiction.
• Experience writing and developing arguments and interpretations.
• Ability to understand the aesthetic components of human-computer interaction.
• Experience with the fundamentals of design: developing a concept, producing a visual (mock-up) then evaluating the work.
• Practical experience in multimedia authoring involving photography, digital photography and other multimedia tools deemed appropriate by the design group.
• Experience working within a group environment on a research project.

Required Texts

J.R.R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring (available at NUS bookshop).

An assortment of various hypertexts available in the cyberarts studio.

A packet of class readings for you to read in the Reading Room.

Packet of Readings

• Aarseth, Espen J. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1997.
• Darley, Andrew. Visual Digital Culture: Surface Play and Spectacle in New Media Genres. Londown: Routledge, 2000. 147-166.
• Davis, Erik. 'The Ring of Power.' Wired Vol 9. No. 10, October 2001. 116 - 132.
• Gibson, William. Neuromancer London: Voyager, 1995. Chapter one. 9-36.
• Haraway, Donna J. 'A Manifesto for Cyborgs' in The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. Gill Kirkup, Linda Janes, Kathryn Woodward & Fiona Hovenden (eds). London: Routledge, 2000. 50 - 57.
• Landow, George P. Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1997. 1 - 32.
• Laurel, Brenda. Computers as Theatre. Addison Wesley: Reading, Massachusetts, 1993. 1 - 22.
• McCaffery, Larry (ed). Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk & Postmodern Fiction. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991. 1 - 16.
• McFarlane, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 1 - 23.
• Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1999. 126 - 153.
• O'Riordan, Kate. 'Playing with Lara in virtual space' in Technospaces: Inside the New Media. Munt, Sally R (ed). London: Continuum, 2001. 124 - 138.
• Ryan, Marie-Laure. Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2001. 121 - 139.

Short stories

• Borges, Jorge Luis . 'The Garden of Forking Paths,' 'The Aleph' and 'Borges and I.'
• Coover, Robert. 'The Babysitter.'

Hypertext Fictions

• Joyce, Michael. Afternoon.
• Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl.
• Adaptations of 'The Garden of Forking Paths' and 'The Aleph.'
• Lars Hubrich. ""Killing Me.""   http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/landow/cpace/theory/hubrich/kill1.html

Digital Media

• Will Wright. "The Sims". Interactive Computer Game.
• A number of games selected by students.

Film

• Existenz (1999) / Dimension Films ; Alliance Atlantis ; Serendipity Point Films ; produced by Robert Lantos, Andras Hamori, David Cronenberg ; written & directed by David Cronenberg.
• The Great Train Robbery (1903). British Film Archive. Directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter.

Recommended Reading

If you have time, read the entire text from which an extract we study is taken. Then you might consider these works:

• Baudrillard, Jean. 'Xerox and Infinity.' In The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena. Trans. James Benedict. Vertso. London: New York, 1993. pp. 51-59.
• Cobley, Paul. Narrative. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Gelernter, David. Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology. Basic Books: New York, 1998.
• McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction. London and New York: Routledge, 1987.
• Mullet, Kevin & Darrell Sano. Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Orientated Techniques. Mt View, California, Prentice Hall, 1995.
• Raskin, Jef. The Human Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley, 2000.
• Springer, Claudia. Bodies and Desire in the Postindustrial Age. Austin: Texas UP, 1996.
• Vitanza, Victor J. (ed). Cyberreader. (2nd edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.