Response Assignment # 11

I just found two interactive narrative sites well worth visiting:

Ripples of Genocide and About Life After the Holocaust

For next week, please read:

• How I Was Played by Online Caroline by Jill Walker
• Visit the Online Caroline site by clicking on this link: http://www.onlinecaroline.com (every time you go on, I get an email from Caroline in response to whatever you say or do, which I will post within your responses). Ben said the direct link wasn’t working, so just go into the main site and use the password I gave you.

Interact as much as you can with the Online Caroline site and respond to both the site and article in this response assignment, considering (and discussing) the effect and/or possible effects of this type of interactive narrative.

• What are the drawbacks and potential benefits?
• What about this type of interactive narrative seems to work well or not? Why or why not?
• How does this type of narrative reflect or seem to help inform our understanding of some of the larger cyberculture concepts we’ve discussed in class?

ALSO: for extra credit, write about whatever most took your attention (and why) within the film Deja Vu. In order to receive the extra credit, your response to Deja Vu MUST be in addition to (not instead of) the above post requirement.

Reading Assignment for November 27th

REMINDER: No class 11/20!

You all have until the last class (December 11th) to turn in your final version. Since you are all doing a revision of this paper instead of a second essay, be aware that this version will count as 60% of your final grade! So do the best job you can! I am happy to take a second look at your essay before you turn in your final one, but I MUST receive these second drafts by SUNDAY, December 2nd (so I have time to respond with comments and give back to you the next class). A second draft is not required, but highly recommended for those who did not receive a passing grade on the first draft.

For next week, please read (handout given in class):

* Wardrip-Fruin, N. and Harrigan, P. (2004) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Cyberdrama, p. 1

Murray, Janet. From Game-Story to Cyberdrama, 1-10.

Response by Bryan Loyall, p. 1-9 (not available online).

Optional: Aarseth, Espen. A Riposte to Janet Murray and Janet Murray Responds.

* be prepared to discuss in class; no blog response necessary for this reading (above), but if you are seeking some extra credit, then feel free to blog.

Response Assignment # 10

For next week, please read the handout I gave you all in class:

• Winterson, Jeanette. (2001) The Powerbook. Vintage: London. Read pages 1-97.

Write about whatever most takes your attention in this narrative OR what most took your attention within the film we saw in class: Natural City.

Also, be sure to bring your copy of Winterson’s The Powerbook to class next week, as we’ll be doing some close-reading of her narrative.