Comments on: Close Readings http://grandtextauto.org/2003/12/18/close-readings/ A group blog about computer narrative, games, poetry, and art. Wed, 19 May 2010 01:52:58 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: scott http://grandtextauto.org/2003/12/18/close-readings/comment-page-1/#comment-584 scott Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=158#comment-584 Andrew -- now you're starting to make me feel guilty about posting goodies on my site. I promise to share more of them on GTA. A couple posts before Christmas, I swear. I just figure that getting all excited about online scrabble is better noted on my site than over here. Andrew — now you’re starting to make me feel guilty about posting goodies on my site. I promise to share more of them on GTA. A couple posts before Christmas, I swear. I just figure that getting all excited about online scrabble is better noted on my site than over here.

]]> By: andrew http://grandtextauto.org/2003/12/18/close-readings/comment-page-1/#comment-585 andrew Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=158#comment-585 Scott — sorry, didn't mean to make you feel guilty — just trying to direct some traffic your way. Just to warn you, I play a pretty mean game of Scrabble. Played my Dad over Thanksgiving break — my opening move was a 7 letter word on a triple word score, and followed it later with another 7 letter word. Trounced him. I do love the holidays. Lemme know if you want to play sometime. Scott — sorry, didn’t mean to make you feel guilty — just trying to direct some traffic your way.

Just to warn you, I play a pretty mean game of Scrabble. Played my Dad over Thanksgiving break — my opening move was a 7 letter word on a triple word score, and followed it later with another 7 letter word. Trounced him. I do love the holidays.

Lemme know if you want to play sometime.

]]> By: van Helsing http://grandtextauto.org/2003/12/18/close-readings/comment-page-1/#comment-586 van Helsing Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=158#comment-586 Close readings of games are nothing new; see Mary Ann Buckles' 1985 dissertation on Adventure - an oft-forgotten pioneering theory of interactive fiction. (ah, scholarship, who has time for it?) Close readings of games are nothing new; see Mary Ann Buckles’ 1985 dissertation on Adventure – an oft-forgotten pioneering theory of interactive fiction.

(ah, scholarship, who has time for it?)

]]> By: scott http://grandtextauto.org/2003/12/18/close-readings/comment-page-1/#comment-587 scott Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=158#comment-587 Close readings may be nothing new, but I do think that Kirschenbaum's assignment is a pretty good one -- there's a tendency for students exposed to new media art and literature to either a) write in generalities of how a given genre is different from (or better or worse than) print or b) ignore the word bits of a given work and focus exclusively on a given work's media-specific qualities (interface, multimedia enhancements, etc.) or c) try to engage in still more grand theorizing. It's refreshing to see people writing about works of electronic literature, with the work's digital nature in mind, but focused on content rather than just interface and computational properties. That is to say that the majority of these things are literature first and electronic second. So read them attentively, and you'll likely produce useful scholarship. Close readings may be nothing new, but I do think that Kirschenbaum’s assignment is a pretty good one — there’s a tendency for students exposed to new media art and literature to either a) write in generalities of how a given genre is different from (or better or worse than) print or b) ignore the word bits of a given work and focus exclusively on a given work’s media-specific qualities (interface, multimedia enhancements, etc.) or c) try to engage in still more grand theorizing. It’s refreshing to see people writing about works of electronic literature, with the work’s digital nature in mind, but focused on content rather than just interface and computational properties. That is to say that the majority of these things are literature first and electronic second. So read them attentively, and you’ll likely produce useful scholarship.

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