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The Jumbled Mess of the Reagan Library

I've been singing a lot of praises about e-literature lately, but there is one piece in particular that I found rather odd and perhaps an example of how not to go about creating digital literature. Reagan Library comes off as simply making no sense, which may be what the author had intended, but it doesn't work. Nothing in the point and click text is connected to each other, which can be confusing and even frustrating at certain parts of the "story." It's difficult to figure out what the plot or theme even is, because of its disconnected pages.
We are first greeted with a splash page containing the logo and several buttons. What happens after that is anyones guess as the website randomly generates one of its pages to give you as a starting point. No matter how many times I refreshed the page, I always got a different beginning. A cool idea, sure, but when none of the new beginnings help to explain to me anything that is going on in the plot it definitely loses some appeal. To progress, viewers simply click on the most random choices of words to go to a next page via hyperlinks. The pages that follow don't even seem to have any connection to the word you clicked; for instance, when I clicked on the word "databases," it took me to a page about the sky and clouds. It seemingly made no addition to whatever semblance of a story there was.
Reagan's Library is just odd. It seems like nothing but a random jumble of words trying to seem interactive but disconnecting at the same time. For this reason, I believe it could be viewed as a prime example of how not to create a digital literary file. Yes, interactivity is there, but interactivity simply for the sake of having it is pointless in itself.

88 Constellations: Stories in the Stars

Ever wonder what stories could be told if the constellations could speak? That's the sort of idea that David Clark plays with in 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein, an interactive "slide show" presentation giving a glimpse into the life and times of Ludwig Wittgenstein, a philosopher living during World War II.
By giving us a literal map of the stars to explore, 88 Constellations is able to simulate a bigger picture than simply what is happening to Wittgenstein. Clicking different constellations gives us brief overviews of important events that happened in Wittgenstein's life, whether it directly affects him or not. The animations and audio cover a variety of different things, from Nazi Germany and Hitler to a simple yet deep conversation over coffee. Clark effectively keeps you interested and clicking, itching to find out as many little things about Wittgenstein as you can.
The correlation between constellations and clicks is an interesting way of expressing the thought process of Wittgenstein. The graphics and topics are subtle, deep, and sometimes provocative, but never dull. While it can be time-consuming trying to remember which constellations you have already clicked on or which stories you've already heard, it does pay to persevere through the entire storyline, as we find out how each mini-story is connected to the rest to create a larger understanding of Wittgenstein's life.
This type of interaction works incredibly well in a digital text that doesn't necessarily have to be presented in a linear fashion. Something along these lines may even be used in history classes of the near future in order to keep students entertained and engaged at the same time, something that could definitely fuel interest for a lot of people.

Deviant: The Eerie Side of Digital Literature

Donna Leishman's Deviant: The Possession of Christian Shaw brings us the crazy story of a girl who was believed to be demon possessed in the 1600s. In a time period dominated by witch burnings, it was uncertain if what Shaw was experiencing were actual signs of possession or her own clever tricks, but nevertheless, her story has now been brought to us in an interactive narrative.

Through the use of colorful environments and harsh user-generated events, we are introduced to the chilling world of Christian, and everything we see or do has some consequence for her. Be it making her fly or breaking her back, we are put into this third person perspective to witness her sad life. As the environment slowly gets duller in color and the trees die away, we begin to see the "demon's" power slowly take more and more control over the girl.
Emotion is conveyed through heavy visuals and a few subtle sound effects. As we interact more with the world, we unveil small clues as to what is happening in Christian's mind at the time. A major feeling you may encounter while playing (yes, this essentially works as a point-and-click adventure game) is frustration, which I find to be good given the nature of this story. Christian HAS to be feeling some amount of fear and frustration for what is happening to her, and putting the audience in that same mindset makes it that much easier to tell your tale. The user sympathizes with Christian at this point, effectively drawing us in deeper. Everything comes together smoothly to give us an abstract yet fully mesmerizing tale.
As I said, interactivity plays a major role here, one of the defining attributes of a digital work. Interaction helps us to understand this story better than words alone could do, since we can visibly see the pain she is going through, as well as hear what she hears. This lets us be in the same emotional state as Christian, something very scary to think about.

In with the New and Keeping the Old: What is Digital Humanities?

As someone new to the concept of “digital humanities,” it would be difficult to give a definition to such a broad topic. In a nutshell, it would be easy to group the field into something as simple as “a collection of videos, eBooks, pictures, and files that we can read on our computers.” But digital humanities expands into something broader than what we look at everyday on YouTube or Facebook. It is a vast pool of social interaction that can define what makes up a culture and can bring us closer together than ever before. 

A prime example of this would be in the music industry. Even with the resurgence in vinyl’s popularity, it is still a dated, pre-digital medium. It is a physical analog media that you can actually hold in your hands. The vinyl IS the music. Compare that to today’s compact discs and even mp3 files. Yes, you are holding a tiny disc of music, or using a computer to scroll through songs, but you are not technically HOLDING the work itself. You are holding something that contains bits and bytes that eventually translate into a song. These two types of media could almost be described as a blend of dated analog and modern digital mediums. There is a very definite “real” versus “unreal” feeling here. 

This leads to one question: what IS digital? What can we define as purely digital content? In order for something to be pure, it cannot be have any signs of outside material in it; in this case, the work can’t be created by humans or analog devices in any way. By this definition, only a computer can create a purely digital work, which leads us to the idea of artificial intelligence, a science fiction plot device that is quickly becoming a reality.

As we continue into the future, I believe the field of digital humanities will grow immensely as technological advances come along. It’s almost as though we are in a period of struggle between old and new. Pencil and paper are fading fast with the invention of tablet devices and smartphones. The Internet is quickly taking the place of libraries as a research tool for students. Anything we could want to know about our culture or our world can be learned in seconds thanks to our constantly connected lives.