Dr. Dean Taciuch
George Mason University

Summer 2021

English 377: B01

Course Syllabus

Catalog Description

Combined workshop and studio course in technological and aesthetic issues of reading and writing digital interactive texts with emphasis on poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, mixed genre, drama, or performance. Explores how genre meets technology in original creative work. Includes techniques in authoring interactive digital projects using HTML and other open source resources.

Prerequisite

ENGL/ENGH 396 or permission of instructor.

Texts

All of the course materials are online; we have no textbook.
The readings are listed in the course schedule; in addition, we will read and review selections from several online collections:

Electronic Poetry Center
Electronic Literature Collection (volumes 1-3)
Interactive Fiction Database
Internet Archive

Resources

We will make use of several tools and resources as well:

Text Generators from SourceForge and UPenn
(Local install of the SourceForge generators)
Public Domain material from the Internet Archive
GMU Web Development resources
W3CSchools
NeoCities
Twine (Interactive Fiction tool)
Calibre (ebook editor and organizer)
Information and Licensing tools from Creative Commons

Methods of Instruction

This course is an online hybrid: A traditional Summer B course would meet twice per week for 8 weeks. We will meet once per week (virtually) on Wednesdays from 4:30 – 7:10. In addition, there will be materials uploaded to the course site which will make up the second week's meeting. These asynchronous sessions will require reading and exploring some of the materials and tools on your own.

For the virtual Wednesday sessions, we will meet using Zoom. The Course room link is available on the BlackBoard course site. I will record the sessions and upload them to a class archive on BlackBoard as well, but virtual attendance is far better than watching the archived video. We will use the synchronous sessions for demos, questions, and workshops,

The asynchronous material will be availabe on BlackBoard. Assignments should be posted to BlackBoard; although most of the projects will be uploaded to your own websites, the links should be posted to the BlackBoard assignments.

The tools we will use in this course are open-source and platform agnostic (Mac, Windows, Linux should all work).

After a brief introduction and overview of digital creative writing and some of its antecedents, the course will cover two areas of digital creative writing:

• Made Digital: These works make up the vast majority of texts today. Even printed texts are written and published digitally (Almost all print books are printed from digital files). But for this class, made digital works are those which are presented or distributed digitally. Such works include webpages, ebooks, and digital presentations.
  
  The Made Digital projects are an ebook and a webpage (the later will be used to present your final portfolio)
  
  
• Born Digital: These are works which only exist as they are viewed, either online on in a performance space. Such works cannot be "printed out" into hard copy without losing something essential. Examples include multipath narratives, generative texts, interactive fiction, and other forms in which author intention is less important that reader engagement.
  
  The Born Digital project is a multi-path interactive text.

The class ends with a Final Portfolio which should include (at least) your ebook and your interactive text, as well as a short artist's statement.

Assignments

Made Digital: These will be "conventional" digital works (word processor, for example) made into a fully digital format: website, e-book, etc. Another way to look at this is as digital distribution--a work that is published in a digital format.

Digital distribution makes every author a publisher, which brings up very important issues of copyright, permissions, free speech/free press. We will address these issues as well.

Tools:
Creative Commons
GMU Web Development resources
W3CSchools
NeoCities
Calibre

Born Digital: This should be an interactive, multi-path text which could only be experienced, or at least is best experienced, as a digital work. Such works may be along the lines of "Choose-Your -Own-Adventure" stories, games, generative texts, etc.

Digital works can include images, video, audio, and other multimedia content. For this course, we will focus on text, though other media can be included.

Tools:
Twine
W3CSchools

Other Assignments: The other assignments in this class include a generated text (cut-up), two reviews of digital works, workshops, and a website to hold your portfolio materials).

Course Policies

Grading:

Text generator exercise, reviews of ebook and digital text, workshops, and website: 50%

Final Portfolio: ebook, interactive text, explanatory essay (and anything else you want to include, such as the generated text/cut up): 50%

• A grade of A requires attention to the details of the exercises, thorough descriptions of your drafts, prompt and meaningful workshop comments, and critical and creative engagement with the digital techniques presented in each section.
• A grade of B requires attention to the details of the exercises, prompt workshop comments, and meaningful engagement with the digital techniques presented in each section.
• A grade of C requires completion of the exercises, prompt workshop comments, and some evidence of engagement with the digital techniques presented in each section.
• A grade of D indicates some shortfall in one of the areas described above (for example, missing exercises or workshop comments)
• A grade of F indicates shortfalls in several areas (for example, missing exercises and major projects)

Late Assignments: Late assignments will lose 5% per day unless you make prior arrangements with me.

Revision Policy: Revision is built in to the course; the Final Portfolio should contain revised versions of the earlier assignments.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the ethical failure to properly credit one's source material. This course, like all courses at GMU, will follow the provisions of the GMU Honor Code. Since this course will also utilize techniques of reappropriation and re-use, we will address issues of proper attribution of source material.

As in satire and parody, always "punch up," never "punch down." Reach up for your sources; don't reach down. Borrowing from a well-known work is within the tradition of literary allusion. Borrowing from an unknown work is not.
Reappropriate / remix / borrow ideas and texts from better-known artists (or from peers, if in a close-knit community), not from lesser-known (or unknown) artists.

Attendance: Although attendance is not graded, regular attendance and participation are requirements for citizenship in academic and creative communities.

Students with disabilities: If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at 703-993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS.

GMU Nondiscrimination Policy: George Mason University is committed to providing equal opportunity and an educational and work environment free from any discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or age. GMU shall adhere to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity/affirmative action statutes and regulations.

GMU Email: Students must activate their Mason email account and check it regularly. For privacy reasons, all class-related emails will be sent only to students' official GMU email addresses.

Important Dates

Course Schedule