Creative Writing and New Media

Unit Code: HAM422

Credit Points: 12.5 Credit Points

> Related Course/s
> Teaching Methods
> Assessment
> Aims & Objectives
> Generic Skills Outcomes
> Content
> Reading Materials

Related Course/s:

Aims & Objectives:

As new electronic modes of writing develop, new opportunities for creativity and expression also arise. In the context and framework of cultural convergence, this unit allows students to experiment with possible paradigms for writing in a hybrid environment that incorporates online and fixed, distributable media (CDROM/DVD), installation and traditional print publishing. In this unit students will be introduced to the possibilities for creative writing and expression associated with new media technologies. Students will gain experience in writing and publishing in a range of media.

Teaching Methods:

Lectures, workshops and tutorials

Assessment:

Presentation, collaborative project and major project

Generic Skills Outcomes:

Students are expected to develop a number of graduate attributes, resulting in graduates who are:

• capable in their chosen professional areas
• entrepreneurial in contributing to innovation and development within their business, workplace or community
• operate effectively and ethically in work and community situations
• adaptable and manage change
• aware of local and international environments.

Students are expected to develop the following generic skills:

• Research skills
• Logical and critical thinking skills
• Thinking in theoretical terms
• Appreciation of the history of ideas
• Awareness of personal and ethical values
• Written communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Competence to use library and other information sources
• Public speaking skills
• Teamwork skills
• Ability to elicit information from others
• Planning skills
• Time management skills
• Ability to use computers
• Preparation for thesis work

Content:

This unit explores the following areas of practice in new and emerging creative forms of writing associated with new media: hypertext as a creative medium, the writer as publisher, hypertext fiction and hypertext poetry, Webzines and animated text, understanding and designing interactive texts, audio, video and animation in hypertext, online collaboration, generated texts – the limits of literature?

Reading Materials:

Aarseth, EJ, 'Nonlinearity and Literary Theory', in Landow, GP (ed), Hyper/Text Theory, Johns Hopkins UP, Baltimore and London, 1994.
Bonime, A, Writing for new media: the essential guide to writing for interactive media, CD-ROMs & the Web, J. Wiley, New York, 1998.
Yellowlees, DJ, The end of books -- or books without end?: reading interactive narratives, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2000.
Hocks, M & Kendrick, M (eds), Eloquent images: word and image in the age of new media, Cambridge, MIT Press, Mass, 2003.
Joyce, M, 'New Stories for New Readers: Contour, Coherence and Constructive Hypertext,' in Snyder, I (ed.), From Page to Screen, Routledge, Londong, 1988.
Ulmer, G, Heuretics: The Logic of Invention, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1994.
Wardrip-Fruin, N & Harrigan, P (eds), First person: new media as story, performance, and game, Cambridge, MIT Press, Mass., 2004.
Montfort, N, Toward a Theory of Interactive Fiction, http://nickm.com/if/toward.html in The Electronic Literature Directory, http://directory.eliterature.org/ The Electronic Writing Research Ensemble, http://ensemble.va.com.au/