“The Dazzle as Question,” first published in frAme, traces the conflict between the left and right brain inclinations of an erstwhile “old school” artist as experienced via an encounter with the digital realm. The Dazzle is a lyrical one; its marks and varied rhythmic emphases are indicative of the questions and confusion underlying the relationship between old and new identities and images. Claire Allan Dinsmore is a writer, artist, and the editor and designer of Cauldron & Net: a journal of the arts & new media. She has an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from Parsons School of Design/The New School for Social Research. Dinsmore has exhibited worldwide and been published as an artist, critic, essayist, and poet. See this work’s Directory entry for links to more works by this author.
Full Professorship in Multimedia and Digital Gaming, Ilmenau University of Technology
Ilmenau University of Technology, located in the central German state of Thuringia, seeks applicants for a full professorship in Multimedia and Digital Gaming in its Institute of Media and Communication Science. English-speaking candidates are welcome; some German language skills are required. For complete information on the position and application procedures, visit (here for archival purposes, link dead: “http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/uni/fileadmin/Startseite/USER/cundl/Stellenangebote/uniintern/Ausschreibungstext_Multimediale_Anwendungssysteme.pdf”)–at present, in German only. Direct inquires to Katrin Raschke.
MACHINE Reading Series at Kelly Writers House: Stuart Moulthrop, April 19
On Wednesday, April 19, acclaimed veteran hypertext writer Stuart Moulthrop will read from early and recent works at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House. Moulthrop’s appearance, part of the MACHINE reading series co-sponsnored by the ELO, will take place at Kelly Writers House at 5:30 p.m. Map and directions can be found on the Kelly Writers House website.
MITH Digital Dialogue, March 7: Scott Rettberg
On Tuesday March 7, Richard Stockton College Assistant Professor of New Media Studies Scott Rettberg will speak at the University of Maryland’s MITH (Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities) on the theme, “Wherefore Genre? Categorizing Contemporary New Media Writing”. Rettberg will show a variety of works submitted to the forthcoming Electronic Literature Collection as he discusses the ways that literary expression in digital environments has been changing since its early Storyspace days.
The talk will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the MITH conference room. For more information on this and other upcoming talks at MITH, visit MITH.
A New Interactive Fiction Trio, in Inform 7
As announced on Usenet, three pieces of interactive fiction have just been released. All are written in Inform 7, the soon-to-be-released IF development system from the creator of the original, widely-used Inform.
Leading IF author Emily Short has released two new Inform 7 games, and Graham Nelson, the author who is behind Inform and Inform 7, has provided a new work of interactive fiction, too. Graham Nelson’s piece is entitled The Reliques of Tolti-Aph. Emily Short’s are Damnatio Memoriae (set in the Savoir-Faire universe) and Bronze (a “fractured fairy tale” based on the legend of beauty and the beast). They come with lavish virtual “feelies” – supplementary items – such as illustrated PDF manuals, a map, and a even a walkthrough in one case. Among these materials can be found Emily Short’s very useful introductory text IF Instruction Manual; there are similar instructions in the Bronze manual, too.
A new container format, zblorb, encapsulates the zcode file along with cover art and metadata. Because of this, Mac users who use Zoom as their interpreter will need the very latest version, Zoom 1.0.5 alpha 1.
Viewing Axolotls
Regina Celia Pinto, a Brazilian artist and writer, is the creator of The Library of Marvels. This online library is a collection of “artist’s e.books” on the web. The library began in 1999, and now contains six volumes: White and Black, Reflections on Fog (1999), the Book of Sand (2001), The Psychiatrist, Net.art / Web.art and other stories (2002), The Newest Song of Exile: Sabiá Virtuality (2003), Viewing Axolotls (2004) and Tales from my balcony / Alice in the “wonderbalcony.” Viewing Axolotls is a multiple investigation into a Cortazar short story updated in gender and media. Please see the directory entry for more about this author.
Diagrams Series 6
In Jim Rosenberg’s diagram poems a graphical notation acts as an external syntax — thereby, as Rosenberg puts it, “allowing word objects to carry interactivity deep inside the sentence.” This interactivity allows each element of the syntax to be occupied by complex clusters of words: layered, multiply embedded, and yet legible. Rosenberg’s earliest experiments with diagrammatic poems date back to 1968, and he has been creating interactive works since 1988, using a variety of platforms. Diagrams Series 6 was developed in Squeak, an environment that allows for reading on a wide variety of operating systems and also enabled Rosenberg to move (for the first time) to composing each poem in the series within the interactive reading environment. See the Directory entry on Rosenberg for more information.
Postdoctoral Research Associate Position, Annenberg Center for Communication
The Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California invites applications for a postdoctoral research position sponsored by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. This one-year position, with the possibility of a second-year renewal, will require the researcher to work as a fieldworker/ethnographer on a project on “digital kids” and informal learning: how children and youth are using information and communication technologies and the internet. The USC project, led by Mizuko Ito, is part of a broader project involving Peter Lyman and Diane Harley at UC Berkeley, and Michael Carter at the Monterey Institute of Technology and Education. Visit the main project website, “Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures” for more information on the project.
Responsibilities will include monitoring and participating in online activity and conducting interviews with kids and parents; analyzing, writing up and presenting results; exploring policy implications of the research. The ideal candidate will have experience in ethnographic fieldwork, collaborative and interdisciplinary research, and experience working with children and families.
This full-time position pays $45,000 plus benefits, and requires residence in the Los Angeles area. For complete information on the position, and application instructions, contact Rachel Cody at the Annenberg School. Deadline for receipt of application materials is April 30, 2006.
Interactive Media Studies Positions at National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore‘s Communications and New Media Programme (CNM) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences invites applications for five tenure-track positions at either the assistant- or associate-professor levels.
Media scholars should have an M.F.A. or Ph.D. and an active research program in one or more of the following areas:
–Interactive Media content design and development
–HCI and evaluation research
–User experience design/strategy and innovation
–Interactive advertising/business/marketing
–Media arts: storytelling, cyberculture and cyberarts, new media arts (theory and practice)
For complete details on position requirements and application procedures, visit CNM’s website. Application review begins immediately for positions to begin August 2006 or January 2007.
“Visual Narrative of the Desktop” at CAA
If you are going to CAA06 in Boston February 22-26, consider attending this New Media Caucus panel: “The Visual Narrative of the Desktop”. Chaired by Alec McLeod of the California Institute of Integral Studies, the panel will include presentations on a varieties of approaches to the desktop interface:
–Juliet Davis, “Fractured Cybertales: Interface Mythologies of Feminine Choice and Control”
–Craig L. Warner, “What We May Want May Not Be What We Need–An Interface Should Face the Inner Need”
–Craig Saper, “Interface as/on Art”
–Sylvia Grace Borda, “The Social Implications of New Media: An Overview of Trends”
–Mary Agnes Krell & Petra Gemeinboeck, “Investigating Imaginary Evidence”
The panel will take place Saturday, February 25, from 9L30 a.m. to noon, in Room 311 of the Hynes Convention Center. For information on all the New Media Caucus’ events at CAA, visit NMC’s website.