Writing and the Digital Life

video games and narrative?

Tomorrow, a new kind of art exhibition is going to open in Toronto: Artcade.  This will mark the culmination of years of activisim on the part of people like Toby Grindley (owner of Microplay) and 12 other Greater Toronto artists.  Together, this group has strived to represent video games as not "inferior to film and literature."  The arts on show is inspired by the world of video games.  Objects like the "1 UP" mushroom in Super Mario Brothers that spits spores and lights up are said to be the main attractions.  While Grindley and the other artists agree that video games have not been around as long as other art (their examples are "literature" and film) they still have "credibility" in their own way.  While those involved with this exhibition (taking place at Grindley's store in Toronto) maintain, on the one hand, that video games offer a new kind of window on the art world, while on the other hand explain that games are just "a different way to experience a story." So, in this realm, narrative still plays an important part.  While E.A. asked "can computers make you cry," this lot explain that "good video games tell a story, just like movies and books."  The problem with the industry is that it is driven by profit-making (monetizing) and thus is "less creative at storytelling and more driven by profit."  I wonder now if the question changes from choosing between interaction or immersion to story or money?

For further information about the games exhibition and samples of art check out:  http://www.wire-fu.com/artcade/

Ted Nelson speaking at DMU

Ted Nelson will be a guest of the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University Leicester, UK, at 5pm on Tuesday February 21st 2006 when he will give a seminar about his new projects. There are a few places available to the public by invitation only. To request an invitation please email Professor Andrew Hugill

Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Theodor Holm Nelson (born circa 1939) invented the term "hypertext" in 1963 and published it in 1965, and is a pioneer of information technology. He also coined the words hypermedia, transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people. His motto is:

A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds.

Nelson is currently a visiting professor at Oxford University, and a philosopher who works in the fields of information, computers, and human-machine interfaces. He founded Project Xanadu in 1960 with the goal of creating such a system on a computer network, further documented in his 1974 book Computer Lib / Dream Machines and the 1981 Literary Machines. Much of his adult life has been devoted to working on Xanadu and advocating it.

Watch a webcast of Ted's recent talk at the Oxford Internet Institute

The Future of Writing seminar, 27 Feb, De Montfort University

The Future of Writing
Seminar, 27 Feb 2006, 3pm-5pm
De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Clephan Building 0.03 - 3-5pm
This event is free.

The death of the book has been falsely foretold many times; in this age of proliferating media it is clear that the book will not disappear but will have to fight for its place.  What are the challenges for writers today?  What does the new media have to offer writers?  And, vitally, what does the new media have to offer readers? 

Seminar featuring:
- Christina Patterson, (Deputy Literary Editor of The Independent)
- Michael Powell, (Course Leader for Game Art, De Montfort University)
- Kate Pullinger, (Novelist & New Media Writer)
- Sue Thomas, (Professor of New Media at De Montfort University)
Chaired by Professor Andrew Hugill, (De Montfort University, Music Technology)
More information

Organised by cultural eXchanges, an annual event hosted by the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University. The week long programme includes lectures, performances, debates, presentations and readings from a diverse body of artists, academics, practioners and those working in the cultural industries.

Talk at the Café Scientifique, Leicester, UK, Tue 8th Nov, 7.30pm

I'm giving a talk at the Café Scientifique in Leicester, UK, on Tuesday 8th November, at 7.30pm. Please do come along. I'll be talking about transliteracy, blogging, Web 2.0, and my book Hello World. More information at http://www.cafescientifiqueleicester.com/ Hope to see you there.