ENSP 482: Theory and Practice of Hypertext

Syllabus

John Unsworth
F 12 - 2:30
Wil 308
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/courses/ensp482-S96/

Office Hours:
9-11 a.m. Friday (304B Bryan Hall)
jmu2m@virginia.edu

1/19: Introduction

Goals and Structure of the Seminar
Concepts of Hypertext
Basics of the Web (Demonstration)

Recommended:

• Please consider signing up for either the basic or advanced HTML short course offered by the Library. More information is available at: http://poe.acc.virginia.edu/~libinstr/

1/26: Tools

Hands-on introduction to the World-Wide Web and MOO; demonstrations of Storyspace, Shockwave, Director, Java

Required:

• Michael Sperberg-McQueen and Lou Burnard, "A Gentle Introduction to SGML"
• Hypertext Terminology
• Hypertext Systems
• NCSA's HTML Primer
• Shockwave
• Rayme Jernigan, "Java Executive Summary"

Suggested:

• A Beginner's Guide to URLs
• Netscape Extensions to HTML 2.0

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Graham, The HTML sourcebook. (N.B.: this book may not have arrived yet)

2/2: History

Historical backgrounds of hypertext

Required:

• Plato, Phaedrus
• Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think" (July, 1945)
• A Hypermedia Timeline
• John Tolva, Hypertext Before Computers
• Jones Multimedia Encyclopedia, History of Printing
• "Literary Formats from Manuscripts to Electronic Texts" from The Electronic Labyrinth

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Bolter, Jay David. Writing space. Chapters 1-2.
• ---. Writing Space (Storyspace disk).
• Bush, Nyce, and Kahn, From Memex to hypertext

2/9: Theory 1

Re-thinking the Book

Required

• "Re-Thinking the Book" from The Electronic Labyrinth
• Michael Joyce, "Notes Toward an Unwritten Non-Linear Electronic Text"
• Greg Ulmer, "Grammatology Hypermedia"
• K. Eric Drexler, "Hypertext Publishing and the Evolution of Knowledge"
• Taylor and Saarinen, Imagologies, excerpt

Suggested Reserve Reading

• Taylor and Saarinen, Imagologies.
• Landow, Hypertext.

2/16: Creative Hypertext 1

Non-linear narratives, hypertext poetry. Seminar Guest: Ed Falco.

Required:

• Ed Falco, "Sea Island" from Eastgate Quarterly 2.1 (available in Newcomb Hall Bookstore)
• "The Non-Linear Tradition in Literature" from The Electronic Labyrinth
• Stuart Moulthrop, Victory Garden
• "From Page to Pixel" (FEED Magazine Dialogue)--please read parts 1-4.
• Gareth Rees, "Tree Fiction"

Suggested Reserve Reading

• Moulthrop, Victory Garden (Storyspace disk).
• Douglas, "How Do I Stop This Thing?" in Landow, Hyper/Text/Theory
• Harpold, "Conclusions," in Landow, Hyper/Text/Theory

2/23: Hypertext Design

Technics of hypertext, techniques of writing

Required:

• "Writing and Reading Electronic Hypertexts" from The Electronic Labyrinth
• Jay Bolter, "Some Thoughts on Web Design"
• Kathleen Burnett, "Toward a Theory of Hypertextual Design
• Stuart Moulthrop, "Traveling in the Breakdown Lane: A Principle of Resistance for Hypertext"
• A Manifesto for Hyperauthors
• P.M.E. De Bra, "Hypermedia structures and systems"

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Nelson, Literary Machines, Chapters 0, 1, 2.
• Bolter, Writing Space, Chapters 6-9.

3/1: Class Projects

Each group will present functional specifications for the final project, including participants' roles, theoretical basis, outline of contents and user interface, sample html pages.

3/8: Midterm Exam

In-class written exam on the reading

3/15: Spring Recess

3/22: Theory 2

Hypertext Editions

• John Lavagnino, Reading, Scholarship, and Hypertext Editions
• Hoyt Duggan, Some Un-Revolutionary Aspects of Computer Editing
• Peter Robinson et al., "The Canterbury Tales Project"
• Jerome McGann, "The Rationale of HyperText"

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Landow and Delany, The Digital Word.
• Landow, Hypermedia and Literary Studies.

3/29: Critical Hypertext

The Hypertext Essay. Guest Speaker, Stuart Moulthrop. Class meets on IATH-MOO.

• Stuart Moulthrop, "The Shadow of an Informand"
• Jerome McGann, "Radiant Textuality"
• Nancy Kaplan, "One Beginning -- E-literacies: Politexts, Hypertexts, and Other Cultural Formations in the Late Age of Print"
• Greg Ulmer, "Metaphoric Rocks: A Psychogeography of Tourism"

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Lanham, The Electronic Word.
• Landow, Hypertext.

4/5: Theory 3

Hyperculture

• Steve Shaviro, Doom Patrol, Ch. 12 (Bill Gates)
• Hakim Bey, T.A.Z., "The Net and the Web"
• Kroker and Weinstein, "The Hyper-Texted Body, Or Nietzsche Gets A Modem"
• Oliver Hockenhull, Towards a Furious Philosophy of the Discrete
• Marie-Laure Ryan, "Immersion vs. Interactivity: Virtual Reality and Literary Theory

Suggested Reserve Reading:

• Taylor and Saarinen, Imagologies.

4/12: Creative Hypertext 2

Web-based fiction

• Mark Bernstein, "Conversations with Friends: Hypertexts With Characters"
• Judy Malloy, Love One
• Edmond Chibeau, The Meaning of "The Desert"
• Myriat
• WaxWeb
• Martha Conway, Girl Birth Water Death

4/19: Class Projects

Final Draft Critiques: Each student is responsible for putting up a page of substantive critique of each group project other than his/her own.

4/26: Class Projects

Final Presentations: Each group will present final projects, compare final product to midterm specifications, and respond to final draft critiques.

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