Electronic Literature Organization

The electronic literature meetup at the MLA convention was great fun, and a perfect first celebration of the new partnership between the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH).

We hope everyone in the electronic literature community has a great 2006 - and at the end of the next year, we hope to see many of you at the next e-lit MLA meetup, at the MLA convention in Philadelphia.

Jay Clayton, William Warner, Neil Fraistat (director of MITH), and Kari Kraus.

Nick Montfort (ELO vice-president) announces the new partnership between the ELO and MITH.

Rita Raley and Carl Stahmer (associate director of MITH).

Steven Jones and Alan Liu (who serves on the ELO board of directors and is head of the ELO’s PAD project).

Jason Rhody and Charles Tryon.

Not pictured is the photographer, Matthew Kirschenbaum (who serves on ELO’s board of directors and is an associate director of MITH).

At today’s MLA event the Electronic Literature Organization and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities announced that we have agreed on the principles of a wide-ranging partnership. Plans in the works include research projects, conferences, and a move of the main ELO office to MITH in mid-2006 (while the UCLA ELO node will continue to organize its highly successful events). A joint press release will follow in the new year.

Adam Cadre’s “23,040 Bridges” provides a combinatoric explosion of different stories, asking the reader to rank how culpable each of five characters is in the death of the main character. Read and rank the characters; Cadre is collecting statistics now on how people assign guilt in the many different versions of the story. The statistics from readers’ judgments will be made available soon.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is seeking a full-time, tenure-track, Assistant Professor to teach narrative in digital media. We welcome interests in story telling for games and interactive media, digital writing and rhetoric, information design, multimedia authoring and new media studies.

The successful candidate will be a member of WPI’s Department of Humanities and Arts and will join the staff of the university’s Interactive Media and Game Development Program (IMGD) to develop courses and direct undergraduate projects.

Applicants with an MFA are encouraged; Ph.D. is preferred. Deadline is January 16, 2006. More information here: http://www.academiccareers.com/cgi-win/JobSite/sendjob.exe/ACO/?10921

At the MLA convention in Washington D. C. this year, Nick Montfort and Alan Liu are gathering folks from the electronic literature, new media arts, digital humanities, text-encoding, and related circles for an impromptu happy hour: Thursday, Dec. 29th, 5 pm in the lobby bar of the Marriott Wardman Park hotel. (If it’s too crowded, the swarm may end up migrating) Good cheer and buzz; plus a surprise announcement relating to the Electronic Literature Organization.

http://agrippa.english.ucsb.edu

Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) appeared in 1992 as a collaboration between artist Dennis Ashbaugh, author William Gibson, and publisher Kevin Begos, Jr.

The Agrippa Files is a scholarly site that presents selected pages from the original art book (with the permission of the publisher); a unique archive of materials dating from the book’s creation and early reception; a simulation of what the book’s intended “fading images” might have looked like; a video of the 1992 “transmission” of the work; a “virtual lightbox” for comparing and studying pages from the book; commentary by the book’s publisher and scholars; an annotated bibliography of scholarship, press coverage, interviews, and other material; a detailed bibliographic description of the book; and a discussion forum. (more…)

There’s just one week left to apply for Brown University’s yearly graduate fellowship for electronic writing, the first ever offered in the U.S. (deadline December 15th). It comes with two years of support, three workshops with world-class writers, four other courses at Brown of your choice, and a nice MFA at the end. Last year’s graduate was William Gillespie, and the year before’s was Talan Memmott.

Applications are now being considered for Autumn 2006 entry to the Master’s Degree in Creative Writing & Technology at De Montfort University, Leicester. The course will be taught 95% online, plus one week on campus in Leicester, UK.

The course is devised and taught by Sue Thomas, formerly Artistic Director of the trAce Online Writing Centre, and Kate Pullinger, well-known novelist and new media writer.

The program is designed for writers wishing to experiment with the creative opportunities of technology and the internet and is ideal for those preferring to study online.

For more details and information on how to apply, visit the De Montfort U. Creative Writing & Technology MA Program.

The Communication Studies Department at Pace University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Communication Theory beginning September 2006. The successful candidate should be a generalist with research interests in one or more of the following areas: communication theory, communication and public policy, critical media studies, political economy of the media, or digital media. Experience and facility with digital editing is a major plus but not required. The successful applicant will be required to teach introductory courses and to develop upper-level courses in his/her area of specialization. Ph.D. in communication or closely related field required. Interested applicants should send a letter of interest, a CV, a sample of scholarly work/research, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and three letters of recommendation to the Communication Studies Department, Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, NY, NY 10038. Review of applications will begin January 15, 2006 and continue until the position is filled. For more information, contact Shawn Miklaucic.