Right na na, NO.

This isn't literature. I'm sorry, maybe I come off as some uber conservative (which I'm pretty sure I've made quite evident to the entire class is completely not the case) who can't get away from the "old school", but seriously. What is this? Why are we even giving this the time of day, questioning whether it is literature? Art? Sure. Communication? Why not. But literature?! You must out of your mind. Steinbeck didn't have little people dancing around on his pages, Fitzgerald's Gatsby wasn't a picture, and if you had even considered to tell Poe that his writing would have come across better as anyform of binomial reproduction, he most likely would have either killed you, or himself, on the spot. I can't respect this with any formal definition I have of the concept of literature. And you want me to open up my definition of literature? Uh, no. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that in that case, the dictionary really isn't of much good anymore since any definition can just "open up". Forget that. Literature is themed and plotted prose that contains an element that many people can relate to. I don't even consider poetry literature, because half the time no one can relate to what the hell a poet is talking about anyways. End of discussion - this website, as nifty as it may be, is not a product of a literary mind.

Interesting

When I first logged onto the website I was kind of confused about what it was but I thought it looked really cool. I began to play around on it and clicked a few of the boxes. The first one I clicked on was carving in possibilities and as I moved the mouse quotes would pop up and the sculpture of David became clearer and clearer. I then clicked on the landscapes box and that one was really weird. The text was scrolling by sort of through windows which made it really hard to read and the sound effects were really weird. The third and final one that I clicked on was storyland. I really liked the sort of circus music that it had as its intro and I actually liked some of the stories that I read on it. I think this website is really cool. It presents literature in a different way then just on paper. It really brings technology, images and literature together and the result is very innovative and interesting. Some of the things on the website were a little weird and it was kind of hard to make the connection between the literature and the images that they used.

The New Literature

When I first clicked on the site I thought to myself, “what is this?” There were so many links to choose from it took me about 3 minutes just to figure that out. I finally decided upon the classic Little Red Riding Hood. I read the description and realized it was exactly what we discussed in class the other week, a different and innovative type of literature. Just as we had discussed, it was definitely more entertaining and fun to read and use rather than reading from the typical book. With every scene you clicked on an item, it was like turning the page with my laptop’s mouse. I consider this a composition just like any other literature. I definitely think there is a lot less reading and imagination involved with this composition. Perhaps maybe using traditional and innovative literature is a good idea for academic curriculum. Especially younger children in school, they should definitely start with traditional textbook reading. There is no doubt that the websites different literature are a lot more entertaining but I’m not sure if they serve their purpose and that is to teach children literacy. Sometimes we have to just bite our tongues and read what we have to even if it the most boring book (my bio book).

electronic literature say what?

It looks like literature online not like boring words like most people such as I would think literature to be. It’s like a bunch of icons put together of pictures, words, and phrases. This is a composition in my opinion because literature does not have to be expressed just by using words and sentences. I think it can also be expressed using visuals such as photos. I think this is highly effective and more interesting than just reading words because you can actually see it and get a picture of what is being expressed. I think expressing literature through visuals such as through this electronic literature adds variety to what most people think what literature is. I know I used to think that it was only words and sentences that you would read in books. When I first went to the website, all I saw at first was a table of what seemed to be icons put together. I also noticed the colors and they definitely got my attention. So I looked closer and noticed each one expressed something different, whether it was through a couple words or phrase, or just a picture. It was appealing to the eye and it drew me in. I wanted to see what each little icon was about. I think expressing literature through visuals is a composition that I like because it interests me and through using pictures and just a couple words to express it, it can captivate.

what's the point?

After a good five minutes of staring at this seemed to be pointless site, I figured that each of the squares were hyperlinks to other website, and each site had to do with a product of what we deem as literacy. Each box would be opened and explained when clicked upon. And when you browsed the titles the box titled “electronic literacy volume one” would pose as a mini viewer of what was yet to come. This is composition per say but in a very peculiar method. It shows different types of literature works all under one site. As for the meaning of each square I did not care to uncover. But I am sure after staring off into the pointless website for a couple hours you can find some sort of pattern or relevance to it. Each box has a picture, which serves as a sort of title page before actually viewing each link further. After clicking each box there is a description that is written by the author and another link to begin the journey into rhetoric composition of whatever it is trying to do. Personally I don’t really like this site, but I am viewing it through the eyes of a pessimistic student who is forced to view the website and write a blog about it. But maybe if I was surfing the web and came upon it myself, then I would probably appreciate the type of art that it is portraying. The electronic literature collection also has quick links at the bottom to take you the about it section, all the titles, all the authors, and all the keywords. And by keywords I have no idea what it is talking about. Also at the bottom right the site is not one hundred percent copyrighted which could mean that some of the stuff that is being used is already being used within anther source.

Expression

When I first opened this website I had no idea what I was looking out. Then I stared clicking on some of the different collages  and it still didn't make to much sense. Until I found one that I liked and put the reason we were looking at these together. I was thinking about how we were using text to portray messages and thats exactly what a lot of these different collages were doing. The one that I like started out with an argument with the words yes and no going back and fourth at each other. Then maybe was thrown in. I felt like it gave you the feeling of an argument without having anyone speaking.  I thought about how if I was told to portray an argument without speaking how it would have taken me a long time to think up someone like that. Then I decided to not look at the bottom where it said what it was about till I had time to think about it myself first. The next one the word you and me were moving around the screen gently hitting each other as the slide by. It reminded me of an actual relationship and the stage were it seems like there is no one else around when your together. I couldn't believe how I could get all of that from just those two words you and me. This has showed me just how much you can make words on a screen mean something a lot more then just two words. I think this helped to shown me other ways to present my end project and how using words could help to make my project project my message in a stronger way then just talking about it.

Confusing

The website has some kind of electronic collage or something, idk. I mean i think it is kind of cool the way everything its together and the fact that obviously this meant enough to one person to put it all together in the first place. Yes there are words in the different boxes and i guess it could be considered literature given today's broad definition of it, but personally i would consider this more to be art and not so much literature. When i think of literature i think of something readable, and while the words in the boxes are readable they are just kind of random and dont really make sense together. Maybe if i continued to look at it and look deeper than just surface meaning i could find reason for the whole thing but there are also a lot of just random pictures and i am just not really sure how, meaning wise, it would all fit together. Like i said, maybe it could be considered literature but i, personally, would just consider it another way of expressing personality in art form. Not to say that it isnt good, i just dont necessarily think it fits my definition of literature. And i realize that the title box in the collage says "Electronic Literature, Volume 1" but I just dont agree with that, but then again maybe i have the totally wrong defnintion of literature in the first place. I dont know. But thank God this is the last blog.