-         Simon, N., Bernhardt, N. 2008; Twitter, mit 140 Seiten zum Web 2.0

-         O’Reilly, T., Milstein, S. 2009; Das Twitter-Buch

-         Russell, A., Echaibi, N. 2009; International Blogging, Identity, Politics, and Networked Publics

-         Rettberg, J.W. 2009; Blogging

-         Kantel, J. 2009; Per Anhalter durch das Mitmach-Web

-         Toolan, M. 2001; Narrative, A critical linguistic introduction

-         May, C.E. 2001; Theory of short fiction in: Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Salem Press

-         Winther, P. 2002; What is a short story? : problems of definition. In: Odense American Studies International Series: working paper; 54

-         Henry, Laurie 2001; The fiction Dictionary

-         Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature 1995

-         Martin, W. 2006; Elements of the Short Story. In: The Art of the Short Story. Stories and Authors in Historical Context

-         March-Russell, P. 2009; The short story: An introduction

-         Leubner, M., Saupe, A. 2006: Erzählungen in Literatur und Medien und ihre Didaktik

-         Bond, Ernest L., Michelson, Nany L. 2009; Writing Harry’s World. Children Co-authoring Hogwarts. In: Heilmann, Elizabeth E. (ed.): Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. New York: Routledge

-         Piestrak-Demirezen, Dorota 2009; Hypermediale Fiktionen. Zu einem Phänomen der Digitalen Literatur.

-         Stewart, M. 2009; thefrenchrev. URL: http://twitter.com/thefrenchrev [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Evans, M. 2010; Maureen. URL: https://twitter.com/Maureen[Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Basu, A. 2010; arjunbasu. URL: http://twitter.com/arjunbasu [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Magnati, B. 2003; Belle de Jour. URL: http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Doval, D. 2007; plan B – a blognovel. URL: http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/planb/ [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Wittig, R. 2008; robwit.net. URL: http://robwit.net/ [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Brauer, C.2009; Twitter fiction and short stories. URL: http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/2009/04/twitter-fiction-and-short-stories.php [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Kachelries, K., Smith, S. 2008; What is flash fiction? URL: http://www.365tomorrows.com/03/23/what-is-flash-fiction/ [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Stokke, R. 2009; Face your fear. URL: http://sinober.blogg.no/ [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         McClellan, J. 2004; How to write a blog-buster. URL:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/apr/08/weblogs.onlinesupplement [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Hess, B. 2007; Twaiku. URL: http://twitter.pbworks.com/Twaiku-(haiku-written-in-twitter) [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Pavani 2009; Twisters on Twitter. URL: http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005825.html [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Knight, I. 2009; I’m Belle de Jour. URL: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article6917495.ece [Stand 28.5.2010]

-         Bleuel, J. 2000; Zitation von Internet-Quellen. URL : http://www.bleuel.com/ip-zit.pdf [Stand 28.5.2010]

1. What kind of literature projects can be found on weblogs and on twitter?

There are several  literature projects to be found on weblogs and on twitter. Some are hypertext based like the work of Rob Wittig, some form totally new forms of digital literature, like Diego Doval’s “blognovel” or Arjun Basu’s “twisters”. Generally all sorts of literature can find the way to the web and many writers are tempted to make literature experiments like releasing a novel via twitter, or creating a blognovel without knowing where the path is leading to. The possibilities of Web2.0 stimulate creativity and further artistic inspiration within the literature scene that is also accepted by serious authors within the traditional printed literature scene. Still, it is especially the feature of the possibility to take part, no matter who you are, that web2.0 and its possibilities offer, that characterizes most of these projects. You don’t have to be a professional writer to be successful as a blog- or twitter author. Here different rules apply and it is a continuous process whereas printed literature has its limitations.

This aspect is of importance even at schools, especially with regard to fan fiction. Internet technology can be used as a possibility to enhance literacy and address social problems as young people might find that technology can include, enhance and extend their language and story experience. It also works as a medium to overcome cultural barriers as in the internet communities cultural markers such as skincolour or dress code are not significant for the communication online.

1. How can these projects be categorized and analyzed?

Here these projects have been looked at with the help of a categorization model (tablet 2-3) that brings together certain aspects of digital fiction.

1. What differences are there to printed books?

Generally, all these projects can be read in the printed form, too. They don’t necessarily have to be read on screen. Some might even profit from the printed form, but generally the concept only works netbased. The reasons for this are that it is difficult to present the blog as a whole, even if the original webdesign is presented in colour. This includes the actuality, the regularity and the dynamic of its entries. Otherwise, the reader isn’t kept up to date concerning the author’s thoughts and everyday-stories. The aesthetic attraction of a blog’s authenticity and immediacy is lost. These create a certain atmosphere and allow the reader a quick response and likewise an acknowledgement of the author. Also, the texts of blogs only gain in importance in the context of other texts and the interlinked blogosphere and thus don’t merely have a value on their own when printed. Weblogs are subject to a certain dynamic that is unavailable to books. Moreover, the production of a text for a blog differs from writing a manuscript for a book as a book is normally edited more carefully before being published than an entry in a weblog.  Furthermore, literary activity in weblogs is dependent on the dynamic of a communication between author and reader which can evoke a different kind of literary creativity.

Besides its  form and dynamic communication processes, the style of language is important for literary blogs. There is also a parallel to oral literarity that characterizes projects of digital literature. The style of language does not only concern the texts, though, but also the communication-language of the blogosphere. Most of these features apply also to fictional twitter projects, like a certain form and the implicit dynamic communication processes of communication. Also, the style of twittering is unique in its digital form and only unfolds its purpose fully online.

1. Why do people write blog- and twitterfiction?

Escpecially twitter favours the publishing of short fiction, whereas blogfiction doesn’t have its main focus on the length but more on the immediacy of its posts. Still, most successful blogs are rather short, too. The popular opinion of short fiction is that it is a reflection of the fast-paced modern life. Even though this is not proven, one of the reasons why short fiction as an actually ancient form of prose has found new life in the digital era is surely that – due to its length and easy accesibility- it attracts a certain group of readers. These are those who don’t find the time to read a whole novel but still enjoy short moments of leisure when they read for pleasure. It is a lot easier to click on a link for a “quick read” than pick up a whole novel and sit down with it. Edgar Allen Poe believed that all literary works, with the exception of the novel, should be read in one sitting. In Poe’s time a sitting could be half an hour or more but today it would be more likely to be the time a coffee break takes, the time between bus stops or another short moment within the daily life. This shows that  readers’ needs are changing and short fiction, escpecially in its new digital forms, fulfills these needs and therefore represents an important part of literary offers.

Interestingly, the traditional forms of books have made the step into the new digital era, too. Via eBook  Readers, users can read books on the screen and thus spare the time purchasing a printed version as the eBooks appear in digital form.

The latest eBook Reader to possibly lastingly influence also modes of reception of literature is the iPad by Apple which has received great attention when released in Germany in May 2010. By loading the iPad with the iBook App it becomes possible to read a novel on the screen. Here two eBook pages can be shown at the same time on the screen making it comparable to a real book. Innovative features like unusual graphics, control by gestures and 3D-graphic-effects make this form of reading attractive for many people. Through the multi medial and interactive features of these digital inventions the reading of longer fiction becomes an option even for those who wouldn’t have the time or the desire to read otherwise.

It is not only the reader who pushes the development of digital fiction, however. Writing short fiction and publishing them on the web integrates the fascination with all the possibilities the web offers. This is, for example, the challenge to compose stories that are short but still have meaning with regard to the elements a short story requires. This also means, for example, that when writing twisters and publishing them on twitter the writer has to handle the 140 character limit and at the same time is under the influence of the twittersphere with its rules regarding its specific form of communication. Their success does not depend on their length but on the author’s ability to express something the recipient can strongly refer to in a limited number of words.

Forms of publishing literature will change both in terms of publishing as a business and the increasing proximity of reader and author that is facilitated by the phenomenon of online fiction. Literature and what we understand as such will have to and will respond to changing circumstances. Where it fulfils the function of representing human reality in the form of writing and, as such, becomes relevant to human experience, the increasing expansion of human experience into the realm of cyberspace will surely leave its mark. Twitter fiction (even in the event that it will end up being just a brief intermediary step in the continuous proccess shaping the experience of the written word in human culture) is in this respect a harbinger of things to come. In the way that it challenges and alters the roles of author, reader and publisher, twitter is a mirror of the challenges literature faces by changing its form and its medium.

Arjun Basu, Maureen Evans and Matt Stewart are all authors that use twitter as a platform to publish their literary work. Just as the blog authors they publish different forms of literature. Arjun Basu writes twisters, Maureen Evans twaikus and Matt Stewart releases a blognovel via twitter.

The word twister was founded by Arjun Basu and means short fiction in 140 characters released on twitter.

A twaiku is a haiku posted on twitter. With its limit of 140 characters per entry, twitter apparently is an ideal environment for the brevity of haiku.

Twaiku are mostly meant to tell a story or to get a message across yet can encompass within it the beauty of the brief, intense expression of haiku poetry.

An example of a twaiku:

Black socks being shown/at the 4 seasons cafe/ pure class man. Pure class.[1]

Novels released on twitter stand under the same 140 character limitation as everything else released on twitter, fiction or not. This means, the novel has to be split into small units.

Here likewise, extracts of the author’s literary work are given for further categorization. Each author is introduced with a copy of his or her weblog as it appears originally to get an impression of what the weblog looks like.

For easier reference in the categorization section the same text and signs with numbered lines follow the original copy of the webpage.

12.1. Arjun Basu

Author Arjun Basu of Montreal joined twitter and published some typical tweets. Then he was further inspired and he created his first twister. That’s what he calls his short fiction of 140 characters. Since then he has written over a thousand twisters and become a popular source for readers seeking a regular source of microfiction. Basu publishes each Twister as a “wholly formed” story. In a recent radio interview with Masala Canada he described each one as having a beginning, middle and end with some kind of transformation and read aloud a few of his favorites. His 140-character stories fall into different categories; romantic relationships, family, work and mundane experiences. The character limit poses a challenge each time. Occasionally he engages in “one bit of cheating,” leaving the final period off to prevent them from exceeding the character limit. When he’s not tweeting twisters or working as an editorial director, Basu is writing a novel.

On twitter he appreciates the feedback of his readers.[2]

12.1.1. Twisters by Arjun Basu

1. Content of text

1. Elements of fiction: The elements of fiction include elements of short fiction and as twisters are not longer than 140 signs.  It makes sense to look at elements of the short story in the first place.
2. Elements of the short story: Twisters share characteristics of flash fiction as defined above.This means they have all the elements of a short story like character, plot, setting, theme and style. Still, a story this short must move quickly, which is part of its attractiveness, and either shortens the action or limits the characters’ development – or both.
3. Signals of fiction: Signals of fiction are found in the author’s biography where he says he writes 140-character short stories (line 22-23), short story being the signal of fiction here.

2. Appearance of tweet

1. Dynamic processes: Dynamic processes are especially important here as the twitter community lives on “following” each other. Arjun Basu has currently 31.045 followers and follows 862. The pictures show whom he is following (line 35-37). Line 29-34 show the lists he maintains with different themes.He follows 20 lists and 1.477 lists follow him.  If you have an own twitter account you can send direct messages to Arjun Basu.
2. Elements of multi media: Within the postings you find links as well as twisters. Here it is a link to the youtube platform showing a video of Kathy Landin breaking the news (line 12). On the right hand margin you find a link to Arjun Basu’s webpage (line 21) and you can receive  rss-feeds with tweets by him or of his favourites (line 40). These can be seen also by following the favourite link (line 26)
   1. Elements of digital literature: interactivity and digitality

3. Structure

1. Style of webentry: twister

1. Some days, he felt the dead weight of expectation. He sat hunched over on these days and was ornery. And then he’d go out and eat a burger. vor ungefähr 11 Stunden via web
2. And then came the fateful day he could no longer see his weight on the scale. And so he called his wife and said, Ignorance really is bliss. vor ungefähr 15 Stunden via web
3. It was their anniversary. But he’d had a terrible day at work and a kid puked on him on the subway and when he got home he said, I blame you vor ungefähr 18 Stunden via web
4. The play felt long and the promised nudity was fleeting. Outside the theater, she stops and wants to discuss the play. Just kill me, he says 6:50 PM May 24th via web
5. Did you miss the news this past week? We didn’t. And you can see it right here: http://bit.ly/bCvZHZ 5:50 PM May 24th via web
6. They had people over. He got drunk on bad wine and took out the laptop and showed home movies. Now everyone knows how loud his wife can get. 7:22 AM May 24th via TweetDeck
7. During his morning jog he remembered that “lose loses an o.” And his mother in law’s odd reaction to his email was now as clear as daylight. 6:20 AM May 23rd via Seesmic[4]

• Name Arjun Basu
• Ort Montreal
• Web http://www.arjunb…
• Biografie Author, writer, editor, Shorty Award winner (though I’m not that short), foodie, husband, dad. Creating Twisters, 140-character short stories.(Agent: @mzmaggz)

• 3,294Tweets
• Favoriten

• @arjunbasu/people-i-don-t-understand
• @arjunbasu/time-travellers
• @arjunbasu/sporty-spice
• @arjunbasu/science-and-other-stuff
• @arjunbasu/my-favstar-fm-list
• @arjunbasu/eating-and-drinking

Following

Alle ansehen…

12.2. Maureen Evans

Maureen Evans is a writer and poet and considers herself as an anarchist from the Canadian Northwest. Currently she is an MA English candidate at Queen’s University of Belfast. Her writing has been published by several small Canadian and American Journals. She has acted as editing tutor on teen-written books at a non-profit writing center and did transcription of the oral history of the Sudan. This is partly to make contributions to her communities and to larger society.

12.2.1. Twaikus by Maureen Evans

1. Content of text

The tweets published by Maureen Evans belong to a different genre as they present Haikus published on twitter and thus are not written in prose but belong to the genre of lyric. They are included in this thesis to show a variety of fictional activity among the twitter universe but won’t be discussed with respect to analysing the content of the text with the help of the categorization model of fictional twitter projects. Prose- and lyric oriented projects differ in so far as there are traditionally different origins of the categorisation of the genre between prose and lyric and also a different existence, development and transformation of these forms in new media. Digital narration is mainly based on different forms of fiction and narrative whereas digital lyric includes different forms like animated multimedia poetry or hypertext poetry.

2. Appearance of tweet

1. Dynamic processes: the dynamic processes are similar to those of Arjun Basu due to the fact that twitter has a general appearance for its users’ accounts. Maureen Evans has currently 2544 followers and follows 117. The pictures show whom she is following (line 29-31). There are 112 lists that follow her, she follows no lists. Here as well, if you have your own Twitter account you can send direct messages to her.
2. Elements of multi media: On the right hand margin you find a link to Maureen’s webpage (line 21) and you can receive  rss-feeds with tweets by her (line 33). Line 25 and 26 tell you about the number of her tweets and show you her favourites.
3. Elements of digital literature: interactivity and digitality

3. Structure

1. Style of webentry: Twaiku

1. Found a list of plans for last summer, a season spent instead on love. 8:50 AM May 24th via web
2. Desperately miss the outdoors. Seducing sea light. Scent of baking yams. 12:22 PM May 23rd via web
3. I make a nasty, snarling patient; forget the method’s in the word. 8:07 AM May 23rd via web
4. Scissors to old seams, torn thread piling quietly to my right. Sleep tight. 3:25 PM May 21st via web
5. Coming round after two days down to the same game, with a better score. 4:55 PM May 20th via web
6. “Good evening habs fans from coast to coast to coast and all around the world.” 4:04 PM May 18th via web
7. Feeding the last of my birthday cake to the worms. So s’pose must we all. 2:05 PM May 18th via web
8. Occupational hazards of poets, #12: wilting lilies. 7:35 AM May 17th via web
9. Wait a minute — why aren’t I continually grateful for my life?! 4:57 AM May 17th via web
10. I like radio announcers; they sound alone when disappointed. 5:29 PM May 16th via web

• Name Maureen Evans
• Ort Castle in the fog near Belfast
• Web http://spezzato.org
• Biografie I measure out my life in senryu: haiku of human foibles. Regarding existence as a writer, and the Occupational Hazards of Poets.

• 981Tweets
• Favoriten

Alle ansehen…

12.3. Matt Stewart

Matt Stuart is a novelist and blogger, essayist, writer and , furthermore, regards himself as idea man, technologist, PR ninja and green marketeer. He made headlines worldwide when he released “The French Revolution”, his debut novel, via Twitter in 2009. In July 2010 the novel will be published.

12.3.1. The French revolution by Matt Stewart

1. Content of text

1. Elements of fiction: The elements of fiction include character, plot, theme and style.
2. Elements of the short story: The elements of fiction for a short story don’t apply here as it is clearly labeled as a novel released on twitter(line 24-25).
3. Signals of fiction: In the biography Matt Stewart says that he is releasing his novel on twitter, novel being a signal of fiction here(line 24-25).

2. Appearance of tweet

1. Dynamic processes: The dynamic processes include reader’s responses to the postings via the comment function. Matt Stewart has 966 followers, is following 499 and involoved in 32 listings.
2. Elements of multi media: Here again the elements of multi media include the functions already mentioned above. So far Matt Stewart has published 5.593 tweets (line 26). He maintaines a webpage (line 23) and the link in line 26 gives the opportunity to subscribe the rss-feed of him or his favourites.
   1. Elements of digital literature: digitality and interactivity

3. Structure

1. Style of webentry: other

1. gone yet.” #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 10:40 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter
2. …megastar with pipes of glass. “You’re not gone yet,” she sings with Jalil’s wasted voice, “you’re not… #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 10:25 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter
3. …and the pool-playing girl bobs her head, in agreement that it was Jalil who made us heroes, the Buddhist… #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 10:10 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter
4. …Maggie clasps me tight. She knows how the song stabs me. “If only that assface would listen,” I mutter,… #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 9:55 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter
5. …down, and then Jalil brings it back with his wrenching, longing call that always hurts to listen to…. #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 9:40 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter
6. …hands move on autopilot, notch for notch, a blast of light, everyone in the bar watching me knock it… #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 9:25 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter

…lights dim as the song gains steam; the tequila bottle floats across the room. When the break comes my… #dayofthedead http://3.ly/kAi 9:10 AM Nov 3rd, 2009 via theutah.org book tweeter

• Name TheFrenchRevolution
• Ort San Francisco/Paris
• Web http://www.thefre…
• Biografie Author @mjfstewart releasing my literary novel, The French Revolution, on Twitter!

• 5,593Tweets
• Favoriten

Alle ansehen…

[2] http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005825.html

[3] http://twitter.com/arjunbasu

[4] http://twitter.com/arjunbasu

[5] https://twitter.com/Maureen

[6] http://twitter.com/thefrenchrev

Tablet 3: Categorization of twitterprojects[1]

Twittering is also called microblogging. Microblogging is a reduced form of blogging, meaning the publishing of smallest units of information. Often, this information is limited to 140 characters, the same lengths of a single short message sent by mobile. Also, most of the times it is just about sending short messages without attachments like pictures or videos. Out of these reasons microblogging is predestined to be used with mobile equipment. All of the microblogging services can be accessed via different programmes, platforms or equipment. This variety allows a quick sending and reading of messages which, depending on context, makes it more effective than other forms of communication. The most important platform of such a service is Twitter. There are more services that offer the broadcast of messages but Twitter is the most famous service among these (Simon, Bernhardt 2008, p13).

1.1.        Twitter Fiction

Twitter fiction differs from blog fiction in so far that it is an even newer form of fiction on the web than blog fiction and that the format of twitter requires a different approach towards producing fiction. When you use the format of weblogs to create fiction, the posts may be short but without a set limitation on the number of words, whereas twitter demands every post to be less than 140 characters. In the following chapters we’ll look at twitter fiction and the new styles and experiments twitter has generated among writers of fiction. These include short stories or so called twisters, haikus, or twaikus in the twitter language, and novels on twitter.

1.1.1.        Twitter Fiction and Short Stories

Writing short fiction on twitter demands consideration of aspects that differ from writing short fiction in traditional forms. Chris Brauer, staff lecturer of online journalism at City University, London, raises a number of initial questions.

First, there is the 140 character limit and the decision to make whether to post stories of exactly 140 characters or write stories of 140 characters  or less. Brauer says that this decision has a big practical impact on the process of writing because if you go for the former you might find yourself paying more attention to the strict format than letting creativity take its course and drive the length. He has experimented with both forms and considers the limitation as arbitrary considering there is no history of the form. Furthermore, the software doesn’t dictate such limitation, whereas twister author Arjun Basu, a well known writer of short fiction on twitter, takes the exactly 140 characters approach and even makes it the only rule on the level of writing twisters.

Secondly Brauer says that due to the fact that twitter is a rolling real-time format it contrasts greatly with the typical editing process. Even though this format suits the conversational nature of the form it also means a fiction writer has to face certain challenges. This is because once tweeted a twister, it will remain in its original form unless it is deleted and reposted. This means however, that the editing process is not a secret to the followers. Brauer recommends to craft the tweet in a text editor and paste it in to post when  certain it looks the way it should.

The third aspect concerns the fictional character of the stories. Brauer suggests to keep the short stories fictional because mixing real life and fiction might confuse the followers. On the other hand it might make it more interesting, too.

Last but not least it makes sense to connect with other writers in the format because it might help you shape your own posts and it gives you an idea of alternate styles.[1]

The authors which are presented in this chapter are bloggers who produce blog fiction. I chose them as representatives for different styles of blog fiction.

Brooke Magnati’s blog is a diary style blog with daily entries under her pseudonym Belle de Jour , whereas Diego Doval’s Plan B is a blognovel. Robwit.net is a blog Rob Wittig created and that he and two fictional friends maintain. Though Diego Doval’s and Rob Wittig’s concepts differ in style, they both base their success on the communication with their readers as well as on immediacy which also applies to Belle de Jour. To be able to categorize their blogs, the next chapters hold extracts of their work to give examples of their literary activity and concepts. For better orientation, the lines are numbered, thus the appearance of the text is not the original copy of the webpages.

9.1. Brooke Magnati

Brooke Magnati is a blogger, author and has a PhD in informatics, epidemiology and forensic science. As Belle de Jour she maintains a blog where she originally wrote about her experiences as a London call girl. Her identity was a secret to the public for six years but because her blog was from such high literary quality the question who Belle de Jour really was caused wide speculations among the British literary scene. In 2003 she even won the British blog award as anonymous blogger in the category “best written”. She also published her first book “The intimate Adventures of a London Callgirl” in 2005 and three more have succeeded this bestseller. She kept the blog even though she had stopped working as a prostitute in 2005. In 2009 she decided to reveal her real identity, mainly because an ex-lover had threatened to give her name to the press.[1]

9.1.1. Belle de Jour by Brooke Magnati

1. Content of text

• 1. Elements of fiction: The central element in Belle de Jour is the role of the narrator, because here the narrator has insight into the main character’s emotions and thoughts.  Speech and thought can be presented directly through direct speech. Also, the voice of the character is presented by taking part as a character in the story.
  2. Elements of the short story :  The most obvious characteristic of a short story is that it is short, which is the case with Belle de Jour, but only if you look at the single blog entries. There are just a few characters, it is complete in itself and has limited settings. There is not necesseraly one major conflict or closure in it. It’s not clear if it is fictional, but written in prose and it is a modern contemporary form. Symbols are often used and there is a narrator, a plot and a theme.
  3. Signals of fiction: In this case looking for signals of fiction is interesting, because the author’s identity was not given when the blog started. Unfortunately the blog doesn’t work like a printed text, the signals of fiction are a lot harder to find, sometimes it is impossible for the reader to tell if the protagonist is fictional or not. Belle de Jour proves this to be true as the protagonist’s identity wasn’t revealed until Brooke Magnati decided herself to tell the public about  Belle de Jour’s real identity. Kaycee Nicole’s blog Living Colours in which she presented herself as a highschool student fighting leukaemia and  lonelygirl15 with its protagonist Bree described in chapter 7.2.4. are similar examples, although these two were revealed to be fictional by their readers. Inconsistencies in the story of Kaycee Nicole’s blog caused investigations and finally the exposure as fake. Lonelygirl15 was also revealed to be a hoax after much speculation among her fans. Belle de Jour was different insofar as its author actually wrote about something that was true but hid the protagonist’s identity which made it hard for the reader to find out if the blog was fictional or not. Living colours and Lonelygirl15 both had fictional contents with fictional protagonists but they, too, can be categorized as realistic fiction. Realistic fiction only deals with characters, settings and time relations that would be possible in every day reality, whereas fantastic fiction can use elements that disagree with laws of logic or probability.

2. Appearance of weblog

1. Dynamic processes: dynamic processes describe the communication wihin the blogosphere, meaning the communication between author and readers. Belle de Jour’s weblog doesn’t give the reader the possibility to comment on her web entries anymore, thus the communication between reader and author doesn’t happen in the usual way here.  You can only contact her agent and publisher (line 190-192). The communication is rather one- sided, as Brooke Magnati tells her readers in her most recent web entry about events she gives speeches at and thus might be contacted at. There is no communication within the blogosphere though Brooke Magnati contributes towards creating a blog network  by putting links on her blogs that lead to other blogs or webpages (line 194-234)
2. Elements of multi media:  The multi medial elements are mainly those which link to other webpages (line 194-234). The “monetization” as described by Jill Walker Rettberg above happens here with direct links to Amazon where you can purchase her publications (line 211-218). Other links offer diverse information and include aspects of advertisement (line 219-234). The archive helps to find former blog entries (line 207-208). Most links are permanent links at the column of the webpage and appear independently from their date of entry. There are links in the text itself, too (line 99-102). If you want to read the entries regularly you can subscribe to the RSS feed (line 188-189).
3. Elements of digital literature: the recipient does not take part in constructing the text, therefore there is no interactivity.

3. Structure

1. Style of weblog: Belle de Jour is a personal or diary style weblog, as Brook Magnati logs her personal life under a pseudonym. It is the blog’s primary subject. It is a diary open to public, deliberately written to be shared.
2. Elements of structure: Belle de Jour logs in an episodic form, with each post being a unit in a larger narrative. This means, each post makes sense in itself but read together it presents a larger story. Usually this story differs from a story that forms a narrative whole, like a novel usually does. Instead, it is rather pieced together from fragments, partial and incomplete. Unlike the novel, where we want to find out the ending, a blog reader’s desire is instead always for the next post. He therefore hopes there is no end. Because this would simply be a stop, not making the narrative into a whole like the end usually does in a novel, but an unsatisfying stop to something that is not finished. After Brooke Magnati’s identity was revealed she continued the blog and there are still occasional web entries making the blog an ongoing narration.

N is a bouncer at a gay club. I popped by to see how he was getting on with his cold, and hopefully to raise his stock a little. This ploy might work if we ever met in a place where straight people go.

“Darling, is it wrong to be jealous of a drag queen?” I asked, as the very image of Doris Day slid past me in a white fur capelet.

“Who’s the object of your envy this time?” he asked. I nodded toward the blonde goddess. “Oh, don’t be,” he said. “I hear she spends three hours every day just removing hair .”

Which brings me to hair removal, a subject dear to the breast of many girls and would-be girls. Gents, consider this a public service announcement.

There is no optimal method of depilation. Razors leave terrible stubble, worse when it’s winter. I have clocked the time between smooth skin and goosepimpled hell at about three minutes. Cream removers smell terrible and never quite get all the hair anyway. Those vibrating-coil epilators should be marketed to masochists only (which, dears, I am not) and waxing is usually administered by a sixteen-stone Filipino woman named Rosie. Also, it leaves the most horrible rash for the first day.

This is not a complaint – it is a statement of fact on the condition of being female. Probably something to do with the Tree of Knowledge. In return for all this suffering, we do get a few benefits. Baby-soft nether regions. Easy cleanup. Increased sensitivity. I have to stay on top of it, being blessed with a follicular thickness that is the envy of most arctic animals. My mother by contrast used to joke that she shaved her legs once a year “whether they need it or not.”

In case you were wondering, my own hair removal regime involves a combination of waxing and shaving, largely because of an aversion to having things ripped out of my armpit. Crotch, though, that’s no problem. Go figure.

But gentlemen, the next time you dive into your beloved’s freshly shorn mott, spare a thought for the effort that went into this element of feminine grooming. And thank her with every fibre of your being. Or your tongue.

“Darling, the pictures, they are fabulous,” the manager purred. I’ve noticed she never introduces herself on the phone but launches straight into conversation. Must be a graduate of the same charm school as my mother.

“Thank you, I was worried about not looking relaxed.”

“No, they are perfect. Can you do something for me? Can you write something about yourself for the portfolio? Most of the other girls, I write something for them, but you should do this very well.”

Cripes. I am a tall, luscious… ah, no. Amusant, savoir faire? Save me. Self-motivated, works well in groups… perhaps closer to the truth. Where are the CV clinics for whores?

Met the Boyfriend for lunch. Spoke to him about the agency to check if everything was okay with him. “Of course if ever you want me to stop, I will.”

“You’d be surprised. I’ve been thinking about it and I think it’s okay.”

He was right – I was surprised. The Boyfriend is as straitlaced as a whalebone corset. I kissed him. We had a lovely time, though he did insist on staying to meet the photographer. He dropped me at a hotel and we waited in the lobby for three quarters of an hour. By the time she arrived it was time for him to catch a train.

A stranger photo sesh I’ve never had. My own lingerie were judged unsuitable – which is to say they were far too tasteful. This is how I found myself in colours I’d never wear, with makeup I’d never use, hair ten times normal size, writhing on the hotel furniture. “Keep those legs straight up in the air,” she said, as my thighs shook from the exertion of holding pose after pose. “And… relax!”

We worked through a dozen standard glamour shots. “Are you getting bored yet?” she joked.

“Yes.”

She looked hard at me. “You’re bored? That’s terrible.”

“I was being ironic. Actually I’m not bored at all,” I said, cupping my own breast for the thirtieth time.

She was sharp, she was demanding, she was disappointed when I said that was enough and changed back into my civvies. Righteous indignation is all well and good, but she had kept me waiting, then proceeded to insult my face, my tan and my body. “Was your holiday in France nice? Pity about the bikini lines. So 70s porn star.” This from someone who put me in pink latex hot pants? She did like the Boyfriend, though.

“Next time we see you, I will give you the name of a salon I know, where they do miraculous facials,” she said. Subtlety is not a strength in this one.

Met a client near Waterloo. I decided on top-to-toe white, mainly because I’d just bought a new lace basque, also because all my other stockings had ladders. He’d booked two hours which either means they want something odd or they want conversation.

This was the latter. We drank our way through two bottles of chilled chardonnay, discussed the Sultan of Brunei’s gambling habits and listened to the latest releases from Coldplay and Dido. He had loads of fluffy towels and a giant bath for afterward, and we ate crisps and drank wine a full hour past when I was supposed to go. It’s not often I feel the cab’s turned up too soon. It’s even rarer I give someone my direct number.

Nabbed a nice cabbie for the way home. He was from Croydon, and we chattered about Orlando Bloom, new year’s fireworks and Christmas parties. I told him I worked at a well-known accountancy firm. I don’t think he was fooled for a second.

Do the women of the Southern Hemisphere just have better sex lives? Kylie Minogue and Elle MacPherson are currently battling for the title of my favourite knicker designer. In a fit of enthusiasm yesterday, I spent sixty pounds on underwear at Selfridge’s and was not once tempted by Agent Provocateur‘s idea of sex on legs (their shoes being an entirely different story).

The manager decided we needed more up-to-date photos for her portfolio. We arranged a day for me to meet her photographer. More air kisses and she was away, sticking me with the bill. Luckily it appears we have similar attitudes to food, i.e. admiration from a distance, so it was hardly a burden.

Met N at the gym, who came back for supper afterward. He has a keen interest in porn and the magazine collection to prove it. He’s planning a trip to Amsterdam with a friend from work.

“Why not pick up some girls for a threesome while you’re there?” I asked, knowing this is his longest standing fantasy. After the grannies and horses, naturally.

I feel bad for N. All his previous girlfriends have been well up for it, but finding a third party who’ll do the woman and the man and isn’t getting paid is no small feat.

We discussed prostitution. He is a born socialist who thinks brothels should be legal and taxed to the hilt. Why not? Make the profession safe, clean, give the girls some personal and legal protection and a brand name to operate under. Free tanning beds and a killer wardrobe to choose from wouldn’t hurt either. I feel a pang of empathy for the streetwalkers – at least someone always knows where I am, who with and when to expect me back. It’s not a foolproof system, but then again you could just as easily meet a crazy man on the tube.

“If there were legal brothels, I could hire out all the girls,” he mused.

“Now you’re being greedy,” I scolded. “If I remember correctly, once is usually enough for you.”

“Ouch.” But he was smiling. And when he smiles, I think how sexy I found him, how his eyes crinkle like a film star’s. “Any chance you might-”

“Sorry darling, that train left the station years ago.”

“So now we have to talk about services.” She pronounced the word like it had twelve vowels: suuuuuuuurvices. “Have you done A-levels?”

A-levels? Well, yes, but that was years ago. Besides, I was under no impression that academic fluency was a prereq for the job. “A-levels?”

“You know,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “Anal.” I’m quite sure the waitress didn’t need to refill my coffee right at that moment.

“Oh, right. Yes, I can do that. Provided I haven’t been out for a curry the night before.” We laughed.

I spent all morning getting ready to meet the manager. This involves no small amount of eyelash curling, hair straightening and wardrobe panicking. Sexy, but not slutty? You’ll be wanting the dark silk top, then. Young, but serious? Well-cut coat. As much cleavage as I could muster. Boots, of course – it is autumn in London after all. My nails are an acrylic nightmare but there was simply no time.

On the way to the meeting point, I passed a poster for Intolerable Cruelty and managed to convince myself that I looked not unlike Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Right.

The meeting place was the dining room of a large central hotel. I was early. She rang and asked me to take a table near the window. Was this so she could spy on me, and run off if I didn’t fit the bill? Was it an elaborate setup, some kind of sting? More likely, she was just covering her back. I ordered coffee and waited.

She arrived, as described. Long blonde hair. Horsey face. Tight black dress and killer brocade boots that matched her handbag – my chocolate Zara knee-highs were dull in comparison. “Darling, hello.” Air kisses.

She had to take a few calls during lunch, where I learned she speaks fluent German and Arabic. More than a touch of the domina about her. God, the punters must love that.

Located what sounded like an excellent, small, discreet agency (word of mouth, as they say). After email contact and sending my photos, I finally arranged to meet the manager at the dining room of a central London hotel. She sounded very young and had a very strong Eastern European accent. Polish, maybe? Should I ask? Oy vey.

“How will I know you?” I asked. “What do you look like?”

“When I was younger everyone used to say I looked like Brooke Shields,” she said.

“Ah, you must be very beautiful then.”

“No, I am old and decrepit. Now people say I look like Daryl Hannah.”

Accueil

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Contact

Agent Conville & Walsh

Publisher Orion Books

I read…

• Adventures in Menstruating
• Bish Training
• Diablo Cody
• Furry Girl
• Geek Slut
• Jessica Cutler
• Joe. My. God.
• Mistress Matisse
• Recovering Beauty
• Sexhibition
• Tasty Trixie

Archives

Archives avr. 2010 (3) mars 2010 (5) févr. 2010 (6) janv. 2010 (1) déc. 2009 (1) nov. 2009 (6) oct. 2009 (3) août 2009 (2) juil. 2009 (2) juin 2009 (3) avr. 2009 (1) mars 2009 (2) févr. 2009 (1) janv. 2009 (1) déc. 2008 (6) nov. 2008 (10) oct. 2008 (5) sept. 2008 (11) août 2008 (6) juil. 2008 (8) juin 2008 (6) janv. 2008 (1) déc. 2007 (12) nov. 2007 (14) oct. 2007 (15) sept. 2007 (15) août 2007 (5) juil. 2007 (1) juin 2007 (2) mai 2007 (1) avr. 2007 (1) mars 2007 (5) févr. 2007 (4) janv. 2007 (5) déc. 2006 (6) nov. 2006 (5) oct. 2006 (11) sept. 2006 (9) août 2006 (4) juil. 2006 (5) juin 2006 (11) mai 2006 (8) avr. 2006 (3) mars 2006 (6) févr. 2006 (1) janv. 2006 (2) oct. 2005 (2) août 2005 (3) juil. 2005 (4) juin 2005 (3) mai 2005 (2) avr. 2005 (1) mars 2005 (2) févr. 2005 (1) janv. 2005 (4) sept. 2004 (16) août 2004 (16) juil. 2004 (18) juin 2004 (19) mai 2004 (19) avr. 2004 (8) mars 2004 (16) févr. 2004 (30) janv. 2004 (30) déc. 2003 (32) nov. 2003 (30) oct. 2003 (9)

Secret Diary of a Call Girl: The hit show starring Billie Piper on ITV

Books

• Belle’s Best Bits
• Belle de Jour’s Guide to Men
• Playing the Game [hardcover] [paperback]
• Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl(UK) [1] [2]
• Further Adventures of a London Call Girl
  [hardcover] [paperback]
• Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl (US)

Articles

• What it was like to come out
• Libel Law Redux
• Libel Law
• Anonymity
• NightJack
• Why Men Really Pay For Sex
• A column in the Sunday Telegraph (Nov 05 – May 06)
• The Decadent Handbook

Reviews

• Sylvia Kristel, Undressing Emmanuelle
• Walter Mosley, Killing Johnny Fry
• Jane Juska, Unaccompanied Women
• Katie Price, Jordan: A Whole New World
• Mark Morton, Dirty Words
• The Times Good Sex Awards[2]

9.2. Diego Doval

Diego Doval created Plan B, an episodic office comedy that takes readers into the mind of a stressed cubicle jockey. Plan B went online in 2002 and was invented with the author’s intention to find out what the medium could do: “Plan B is simply an exploration of what weblogs and their constraints do to narrative”[3]. Doval tried to create a story people could enter any time and still make sense of it. He also used links to take readers to details from the back story that possibly could explain the day’s events. Here again blogging’s sense of immediacy is essential because Doval didn’t plan a story in advance but improvised each day. Readers could take part passively via responding to the story by email and therefore probably influenced Doval’s decisions. Again the continuity is important here, because it differentiates blog fictions from short fiction in a printed form you might find in a literary magazine.

9.2.1. Plan B by Diego Doval

1. Content of text

1. Elements of fiction: The elements of fiction include character, setting, theme, style and plot. It is again direct speech and the reader gets insight into the protagonist’s emotions and thoughts.
2. Elements of the short story: As it is clearly declared as a novel, it doesn’t make sense to look for features of the short story.
3. Signals of fiction: Here the signals of fiction are hard to miss. Under the title of the blog its category is mentioned (line 2). Also, on the left hand margin you find a link to “what is plan B”(line 75). When you follow the link it says in the first line, that Plan B is a work of fiction.

2. Appearance of weblog

• 1. Dynamic processes: Here the communication between reader and author plays an important role as readers were able to comment on the author’s entries and these influenced what was written. Diego Doval answered to the question if he would change the story based on reader feedback: “It depends. I suppose if something happens and suddenly a hundred emails appear in my inbox complaining about how stupid/illogical/awful/etc that event was, I’d consider changing it. After all, weblogs imply a more direct connection with readers, and it would be interesting to use that connection.”[4] The comment function is not available
  2. Elements of multi media: The website offers several functions, as well as on the left hand margin as within the text. Here you find hyperlinks that are supposed to help you find your way within the story. By clicking on it, you won’t go directly to the entry where the term was first mentioned, but the closest most important entry in the past related to the term. Then that entry contains a link to the first time the term was mentioned (line 19). Lines 75-77 offer information about the novel, its development and intention (line 75), frequently asked questions (line 76) and information about its history (line76). You can subsribe a feed (line 77) and jump between first and latest episode (line80-81). There are further links to Diego Dovals webpage (line 83-84) and a search function for terms within the novel (line 86).
  3. Elements of digital literature: Interactivity and digitality are again features of this weblog.

3. Structure

1. Elements of structure: Diego Doval explains the structure of  Plan B like this: “Stories usually have a strong element of time built into them, just like a weblog. A weblog, however, is a story where the beginning changes every day: what we see is the last element that was posted. The question that Plan B is trying to answer is: is it possible to create a story that makes sense, keeps the reader engaged, and yet can be “consumed” in bits and pieces, maybe even in any order? This is not the same as a hypertextual story (some of which have been attempted in the past, both in book form and electronically). The idea here is that the time dimension exists –and is relevant– if you look for it (say, by starting to read it from the first entry) but each entry can also be read as an independent element. Ideally (as I mentioned before), you should also be able to navigate the text in different directions, which means that the story will be more ”experiential” than plot-oriented. I hate plot-oriented stories anyway.“[5] Diego Doval still logs in an episodic form, with each post being a unit in a larger narrative. This means, each post makes sense in itself but read together it presents a larger story. But you can also say that the structure of this blog  has a clearly expressed goal (at the beginning he writes that Plan B is an experiment in writing) and it ends when the goal is achieved (the last entry was posted in 2008) which makes it a goal-oriented narrative.
   1. Style of weblog: The content of this weblog can’t be categorized into a certain style as described by Rettberg above.

plan b

a blognovel

<< Previous Episode

If my life was running on Tivo, I would pause playback right now and rewind, just to watch the CEO pick his nose again. Then I would watch it one more time to see the faces of the two VPs that are sitting next to him as they suddenly look the other way, pretending nothing happened.

The image is black and white, and the sound is not good, but at least you can make out what they’re saying. Most video security systems don’t have sound, but this one does. They installed microphones after an executive saw a movie where they used it to snoop in on negotiations.

After it was installed nobody mentioned it again, Ever. As if ignoring something made it go away.

Trust me, that doesn’t work.

The camera is on the thirtieth floor of the building, the sacred ground. The gods in the sky, like some Greek pantheon, looking down on everybody else. I wonder if Zeus also set up shop in Mount Olympus because of the view, and if he also had problems with the elevators.

It took me maybe ten minutes to get into the system, Jordan next to me waiting anxiously.

What we’re looking at is the boardroom, a mahogany table that seems to have a surface of ten acres and ten middle aged white men around it. In a corner there is a sculpture, abstract art. It looks as if someone just smashed some garbage they found on a dumpster and then sold it for a few hundred thousand. Fitting. For a moment, I think of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Was that the original board meeting?

Jordan says, Look at that.

One of the VPs is scratching his ass, and pretending that he’s not doing it.

It doesn’t work. Everyone around him looks the over way.

This meeting has to do with the move? I say.

No, she says.

And how do you know?

Because we called the meeting, she says.

You called it?

Yep, she says.

So, what are we doing then? I say, Besides practicing some good old-fashioned voyeurism.

We’re waiting, she says.

I feel like the proverbial hamster running inside the wheel in its cage, a pile of woodchips and a tiny plastic bathtub with dirty water next to me. I might not think my stupid questions are useful, but Jordan is obviously enjoying them.

For what?

For when they want to leave, she says.

Why? I say, but somehow I already know the answer.

Because the door is locked, she says.

I did know. How did I know?

That’s what I would’ve done, I guess.

And so what? I say.

Well… Jordan starts, but then something catches her eye on the screen, and she says, Wait!

One of the VPs gets up. Is he leaving?

No. he’s going to get some coffee, from the small table we watched Don Cicce set up only a few minutes ago.

Jordan, I say, What’s going on?

We’re taking over, she says.

What about those packages I kept receiving?

That was a side effect.

Side effect?

Some people make a mistake and think for themselves once in a while, she says.

Okay, I say, Look. You are talking, but you’re not saying anything. How about you tell me what the hell is going on?

She looks at me for a moment and smiles, and she seems to be about to say something when another camera, one that is looking at the entrance of the thirtieth floor, shows movement. The doors are opening.

Someone’s walking in.

Jordan frowns.

What? I say.

Who’s that? She says.

All we see is a wad of long, black hair instead of a head, the body that sustains it walking backwards into the floor with all the graciousness of a crab. He is holding a backpack in one hand.

It’s Eddie.

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9.3. Rob Wittig

Rob Wittig created a fictional group weblog that features entries by Wittig and three fictional friends. He responds to reader comments within the story and again we find the continuity as an important feature of this literary project. He is a writer and a designer, the director of TANK20, a Chicago-based literary studio, and is the “concept-and-word person” at THIRST Design. His work includes Invisible Rendezvous; Connection and Collaboration in the New Landscape of Electronic Writing (1992), a book that came out of Wittig’s experiences with the performance group Invisible Seattle, whose participants coordinated the production of a massive collaborative novel using a “literary computer,” Scheherazade II.[7]

Wittig compares blog fiction to 18th-century pamphleteering. “Addison, Steele, Dr Johnson and the rest would invent a persona, the Spectator or the Rambler, who was mostly the author, but partly fictionalised, and then comment on events that were either real, partly fictionalised or wholly fictionalised. The fictionalising was done in part to skirt lawsuits and, in part, as the novelist does, to create a fiction exemplary of fact.”[8] His work is closest to hypertext fiction within the three presented blogs as he works with a lot of graphics and other multi media elements within the blog often found in hypertexts, too. There is also a connection to other web narratives of his and links to authors and projecs of hypermedial fiction.

9.3.1. Blogfiction by Rob Wittig

1. Content of text

1. Elements of fiction: Analyzing the text of robwit.net is at first glance not an easy task as there are many links to investigate before finding out the blog’s constitution. There is not just one blog author but several, and they are all connected. If you want to take a look at Wittig’s blogs and those of other fictional authors you have to follow the link “view by player”(line 10-13). In these texts you can find elements of fiction, but the postings are related to each other and more like a conversation and telling of stories to each other than a story standing by itself. By following the link “view by drama” the single blog entries of each author are brought together and related to each other, gaining sense.
2. Elements of the short story : As the entries are connected, they can be analyzed like a short story but also like a larger piece of fiction.
3. Signals of fiction: It is a fictional project of one person, pretending to be more than one. It is Rob and his fictional friends, even though it doesn’t say so on the webpage. It rather says “Rob Wittig and friends practice the language arts” (line 2-3), which doesn’t give a hint that these friends are in fact fictional. There is no section explaining what the blog is about or what stands behind it, which leaves the reader in uncertainty and in need to find out more on his or her own.

2. Appearance of weblog

1. Dynamic processes: The dynamic processes here are mainly the communication between Rob Wittig and his fictional friends by co-authoring the blog. Within this communication reader comments are responded to however. You can contact Rob Wittig by e-mail (line 100)
2. Elements of multi media: Rob Wittig is not only an author but also a graphic designer, experimenting with hypertext narration, too. On Robwit.net are links within the texts (line 6), links regarding robwit.net (line 9-15, 24-33 and 63-83) and links that lead to external webpages. These lead, amongst others,  to web narrative projects of him and Scott Rettberg (line 18-22). The links under “Rob also plays” (line 45-47) lead to other webpages in connection with literature and writing and under “teaching” to a link of his teaching art and design activities (line 49-58). Line 87-94 show links to literature theme blogs and under “natural habitat”(line 34-43) you find links to artists or writers, some of them creating hyperfiction, others doing something totally different. One link will lead you to Amazon with the intention to show you how to purchase a publication of Rob Wittig. Generally you can say that Rob Wittig works with a lot of graphics and other multi medial elements and is connected to other digital literature projects. On this blog you also find many links to people’s webpages or blogs who are in some way involved in digital literature projects which makes the site also very useful for seeking information about the topic.
   1. Elements of digital literature: interactivity through links and contact facility and digitality.

3. Structure

1. Elements of structure: Here again each post has a beginning and an end and can be read on its own, but if you put them together, the posts create a larger story, just like it is known in episodic narrative.
   1. Style of weblog: This weblog resembles a diary style weblog with more than one author, as the entries are personal and connected to the author’s (fictional) life.

robwit.net

rob wittig & friends practice
the language arts

June 03, 2008

scrollin’

from rob | 08:40 AM | rob messages

view by player

rob wittig
‘wordsman
beverly ennett
allen rybzinski

view by drama

allen’s new love interest

roblit
(web narratives)

the fall of the site of marsha
el dorado
friday’s big meeting
blue company 2002 archive
Kind of Blue by Scott Rettberg

Recent Entries

scrollin’
natural disasters and faith
navigation without sacajawea
a jumping-in point (to the blogoverse)
wizard of air waves
catch of the day
featherless biped
spray it, don’t say it
travel blog in pen & ink
spring break moment: classical architecture

natural habitat

joellyn rock, teaching, cinderella story
scott rettberg
jill walker
Wm. Gillespie, Spineless Books
rick valicenti of thirst
tai chi center chicago
shelley jackson
nick montfort
harry mathews

rob also plays @

electronic book review ed., image + narrative
electronic literature organization board mbr.
trAce online writing centre, u.k., board mbr.

teaching

_art & design dept

web design & digital culture

recent rob publications

in Teaching Graphic Design: Course Offerings and Class Projects from the Leading Graduate and Undergraduate Programs, Steven Heller, Ed.

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‘wordsman messages
allen messages
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roblit
(web narratives)

see also

ted joans beatnik, surrealist, mentor
grand text auto
noah wardrip-fruin
andrew stern, michael mateas
scott mccloud
barry smylie
digital storytelling design observer
ephemera.org

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[2] http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html

[3] http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/planb/whatisplanb.html

[4] http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/planb/planbfaq.html

[5] http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/planb/whatisplanb.html

[6] http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/planb/

[7] http://www.eastgate.com/HypertextNow/archives/Wittig.html

[8] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/apr/08/weblogs.onlinesupplement

[9] http://robwit.net/

Tablet 2: Categorization of weblog projects[1]

It is important to note that weblogs cannot generally be categorized as digital literature, even though they originate from hypertexts and can share characteristics, as digital literature is net specific, too.  They are also characterized by dynamic processes. Due to the fact that the structure of weblogs is based on the traditional literature though and they normally produce longer, connected texts which is not necessarily the case in digital literature.

The word blog is actually a contraction of the words web and log. The word was first used in 1997 and has developed considerably since then. The basic sense of a blog remains though, being some kind of log kept on the web. The word log originally referred to a chronological record of events during a sea journey like tracking speed and weather and was taken from nautical navigation. The log was used to measure speed by throwing it overboard and counting how many knots from the attached rope passed through a sailor’s hands in thirty seconds. The readings from the log were then entered into the logbook. Weblogs have retained this chronological organization of a ship’s logbook although it is less systematic and ordered than the conventional logbook. The navigation metaphor to the web is very suitable  as people in the nineties tended to talk about “navigating” the web (Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 17 -18) A blog is thus an online-diary, where people can note their experiences , thoughts and feelings. Later, with the so-called Corporate Blogging, a medium was established that companies made use of by as a form of public customer tie, knowledge transfer and other service offers (Simon, Bernhardt 2008, p12).

1.1.        Examples of blogs

To get an idea of how blogs can look like, view some examples that represent three main styles of blogging: the personal or diary-style blog, the filterblog and the topic-driven blog.

7.1.1. Personal blogs

Personal or diary-style blogs log the blogger’s personal life. It is the blog’s primary subject. It is a diary open to public, deliberately written to be shared. Posts are therefore often written with care. These blogs can be more or less public. Most bloggers who use their blogs as personal diaries belong to web rings linking diaries together. Some write on social sites where they can use blogging as a form of communication mainly with friends. Others use blogs to present slices of their life, episodes and anecdotes to the wide public which gives the reader a lot of information about the blogger on the one hand and on the other hand still keeps many secrets, as the posts don’t document every aspect of the writer’s life. Popular public diary-style bloggers also show the way of  “monetization”, as bloggers call the commercialization of  blogging, by introducing advertisement on their blogs which guarantee an income               ( Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 9-12 ).

7.1.2. Filter blogs

Instead of logging the blogger’s personal life, filter blogs record the blogger’s finds or experiences on the web. This can simply be a list of links with or without commentary. Some provide news on bizarre Web finds. At some group blogs members can post links to websites they find interesting. Filter blogs therefore filter the Web from the blogger’s point of view, which also means the blog’s topics are often dominant but might as well shift as the blogger’s interests also change over time. At kottke.org[1] , for example, you can find witty commentary and expert opinions on the cultural sides of Web development, design and new technology. When Jason Kottke, the author of this blog, became a father, however, his blogs changed slightly and included a touch of personal style blog although still being very different from a traditional personal blog (Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 12-15).

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7.1.3. Topic-driven blogs

Whereas personal and filter blogs are about issues that interest their authors, topic-driven blogs are not primarily focused on the varying interests of the individual blogger, but are instead focused on certain topics like  for example knitting, fashion or digital art and electronical literature. All these topic centered blogs share newly discovered ideas and information with their readers, usually by providing the links to more information. Many of these topic-driven blogs are political blogs. One of the most popular political blogs is Daily Cos[2], a liberal blog founded in 2002. The posts on these blogs tend to choose a part of a news article or another blog post as starting point and then comment on it. Readers can read the original article by using the inserted link if they wish to. This form of blogging is discussion oriented (Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 15-17).

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1.2.        Blog Fiction

After hypertext as a first form of fiction in web media, the weblog has been recognized by writers not only as a new publishing platform but also as a new fictional form. One of the blogs to be looked closer at in chapter 9.1.  “Belle de Jour – blog of a London Call Girl”,  is a good example of the advantages a blog has compared to printed fiction. “Belle de Jour”, the anonymous prostitute’s diary is a familiar genre in erotic fiction, which builds its success on the immediate and daily  form only a blog can offer. The blog gets so much attention because of its daily “entries” and because it tells an old story in a new way. The real identity of “Belle de Jour” has now been found out, but even before that, the main attraction wasn’t the author’s real identity, but its innovational character of immediacy.

There is a tradition among writers to experiment with online forms such as email and chatrooms to tell stories that could only work online, but by working with blogs they are taking it even further. With the short daily entries, reader feedback and links to the net, blogs seem to be perfectly adequate for creating episodic stories.

Jill Walker, a specialist in interactive and online narrative, based at the University of Bergen in Norway, says “Blog fictions pose specific challenges for authors. Some readers visit them every day and hence end up following a standard narrative chronology, but others arrive mid-story” ( see Rettberg, J.W.2009, p. 110) This means, each entry needs to be self contained, and access to other posts has to be provided, to explain more details and thus arouse interest in the reader.

The way narratives on blogs are structured differ from the format of narration in books or movies. They are episodic and are published in the same time frame as that of their readers. Generally they are not driven towards an ending or closure as traditional narratives are. Also, the question of a blog’s fictional or factual content is important, as confessional blogs are expected to be authentic but often are fictional.  Therefore the boundaries between fiction and hoax are far more unsteady than in most traditional narratives.

Let’s look at the structure of blog fiction first. There are Fragmented Narratives, Goal-Oriented Narratives and the Ongoing Narration (Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 111-113).

7.2.1. Fragmented Narratives

The difference between narration in a blog and in a novel is that stories in a blog are told in brief episodes. But does that mean that these episodes are to be categorized as short fiction just because they are short? Each post has a beginning and an end and can be read on its own, but if you put them together, the posts create a larger story, just like it is known in episodic narrative. Soap operas, television serials or serially published fiction use this kind of narration. The difference is though that blogs are briefer than other kinds of serial narratives and there is not necessarily a clear sense of continuity between posts as there is in serials. Hypertext fiction is another antecedent of fragmented narration. It is Afternoon, a story by Michael Joyce from 1990 that is generally recognized as the first hypertext fiction. Like a blog it consists of many small pieces of narratives, called nodes or lexias, connected by links. The difference to a blog is that this work, even though the reader might never read all of it, is a finished product whereas the reader of a blog cannot know when or if a blog ends .When hypertext fiction moved online in the 90’s it made use of the infinite extendibility of the Web, just like The Unknown. Here, the dramatic arc is more similar to that of a blog than to a traditional novel, because the story is told in densely interlinked fragments without information about when it was written. This makes the reader wander through the narration, clueless about its end (Rettberg, J.W. 2009, p. 111-113).

7.2.2. Goal – oriented Narratives

Goal- oriented narratives stand for a clear project that the blogger has in mind when starting a blog. This very clear dramatic arc is found in The date project where a young man who is trying to find a girlfriend is blogging his progress as a way of keeping him accountable, having set himself rules beforehand. Shortly after setting up the blog, its author falls in love and the project ends just after twenty seven days, which is fortunate for the blogger, but may be quite unsatisfying for the reader, as the reader’ enjoyment of dating blogs is not the author’s happiness but reading about the frustrations and humiliations the blogger has to face when he is trying to find a partner. In general, the structure of a blog like this one is that it has a clearly expressed goal at the beginning and that it ends when the goal is achieved. Which is, of course, not always the case.

Another fictional blog, She’s a Flight Risk, describes a special journey of its protagonist. The starting point is when its protagonist declares herself a fugitive with the clear goal to escape from her father and the arranged marriage. This narrative premise suits blogs because of its emphasis on process, the “running away” (ebd., p. 113-114).

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7.2.3. Ongoing Narration

As mentioned before, blogs that tell stories generally do so in an episodic form, with each post being a unit in a larger narrative. This means, each post makes sense in itself but read together it presents a larger story. Usually this story differs from a story that forms a narrative whole, like a novel usually does. Instead it is rather pieced together from fragments, partial and incomplete. Blogs don’t even have to tell the story on purpose, sometimes it is the reader who extracts the story hidden behind by regular and close reading and maybe with the help of bits of stories from other blogs. This is the case with an article by Rebecca Mead, who chronicled the relationship status of two people seen through their blogs, without having the intention themselves to publish any information about it. Only observant readers of the two blogs can piece together the information, at which status the relationship of the couple is.

A more deliberate narration of a blogger’s life is the blog Justin’s links by Justin Hall who was one of the first bloggers to write about his life online. The temporality of this site is attractive for many readers and continues even after a reading pause with the wish to fill in the missing gaps. Even more, the reader wishes to read on and does not want the blog to end, because the main fascination of this kind of narration is that the narrative form moves in the same time frame in which our own lives take place. Unlike the novel, where we want to find out how the book ends, a blog stimulates the reader’s desire for the next post. He therefore hopes there is no end. Because this would simply be a stop, not turning the narrative into a whole like the end usually does in a novel, but it would be an unsatisfying stop to something that is not finished.

When a blog ends, it means that most of the times the writer has simply stopped writing. The goal-oriented blogs often stop when the goal is reached, but sometimes blogs stop out of personal reasons, the most final ending being when the blogger dies. In this case the blog doesn’t necessarily has to come to an immediate end, when friends or relatives continue maintaining the blog. A very emotional example of this example is a blog from an 18-year-old girl named Regine Stokke who recently died of cancer and wrote about her illness.[3] Her blog was telling of  what was happening in her life as a fact, and reflected therefore reality instead of being fictional. But what happens if a blog presents itself as realistic but is in fact fictional (ibid., p. 114-118)?

7.2.4. Truth and Fiction

Kaycee Nicole’s blog Living Colours in which she presented herself as a highschool student fighting leukaemia was the first widely publicized case of a fake blog or diary. Debbie Swenson had created this fictional character of Kaycee that became more and more popular. Her eventual death caused grief and devastation around her online friends. But inconsistencies in her story caused investigations and finally the exposure as fake. Obviously in this case Kaycee’s friends were furious and felt deceived and used, because the topic was so emotional. Even though this case caused a lot of attention it was not the first time fictional characters had been presented and interpreted as being real. When Orson Wells radio production of H.G. Wells War of the Worlds was broadcast, thousands of listeners took the Halloween joke as fact and panicked. Many of the listeners believed that the play had been a real news report and that Martians had attacked planet Earth and annihilated much of the United States. Welles had dramatized the science fiction story as though it were being reported live on the radio and by the time of the announcers fictional death in New York, many listeners had already fled their homes. Both “War of the Worlds” and “Kaycee Nicole” imitated media genres that were fairly new at that time, the radio broadcast and decades later the confessional blog. And both of them are not predominantly used for fiction, they are in fact rather used for factual news or sincere reports. Usually we recognize the signals of fiction described in chapter 3.1. but in this case the signals of fiction were not clear. In the case of blogs, the conventions on how to recognize a blog as fictional are still not made, unlike in a novel or movie. This is because the web does not present closed or whole works the same way books or movies do. The fiction we are confronted with in the web is often not marked as such or we don’t recognize it.

Sometimes you find motives for fictional works that present themselves as factual, sometimes not. Kaycee’s creator didn’t have an obvious motivation whereas Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater on the Air created “War of the Worlds” as fiction and as art and entertainment.

Another fictional blog that was revealed to be a hoax, is “lonelygirl15”. It was designed as fiction from the start. The videoblogposts by 16- year- old Bree unfolded a strange story that received a lot of attention because of its uniqueness. After just a couple of months  it was revealed that “lonelygirl15” was in fact a carefully scripted narrative created by a screenwriter and a filmmaker and that Bree was played by an actress. Apparently “lonelygirl15” was created as an experiment in new forms of cinematic storytelling and after the exposure they continued to produce the series, now explicitly as fiction.

What made Living Colours and lonelygirl15 so special was the fact, that their followers had invested emotionally into the characters’ stories which goes beyond what people feel for characters they know are fictional. In fact, readers and viewers were furious when they found out they had been tricked and unlike in obvious fictional novels or films they hadn’t been protected emotionally by the knowledge that it is just make- believe. They had truly believed that Kaycee Nicole and Bree were real and that they were at eye level with these fictional characters. It made them feel used when they found out it all had been a hoax (ibid., p. 121-126).

[2] http://www.dailykos.com/

[3] http://sinober.blogg.no/

To classify and understand blogging and twittering – which is in fact a kind of blogging, too – it is important to know where its roots are and out of which circumstances it has developed. Until 2000 the internet used to be a static platform, where just a few big providers offered content to a wide group of recipients. Since then the World Wide Web has developed into a new direction. Content was more and more provided by the internet users themselves and then shared with each other. The big content provider’s task changed from sole providing into putting all the new pieces of information into a suitable format for every day use and into a more social kind of context. YouTube or Facebook are very popular examples of this new internet philosophy, where users provide the content themselves and interact with each other, whereas the big providers offer the platform for it. Taken together, these innovations and trends evolved into the word “Web 2.0”. Behind it stands the awareness that for being successful you have to have the internet users on your side, otherwise you become irrelevant as it continuously turns into a means of administering attention. Biz Stone, one of the founders of twitter said in an interview in reply to the question of what Web 2.0 actually is: “I guess I would define what is being called Web 2.0 as the public acceptance of the fact that the web is a highly social utility.”(see Bradley L. Jones, “Web 2.0 Heroes”, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2008 cited in Simon, Bernhardt 2008, p12). Thus one of the central aspects of the success of Web 2.0 is user participation. Internet platforms like wordpress, where you can establish a blog account, offer this kind of participation and will be introduced in the following chapters (Simon, Bernhardt 2008, p11-13).

1.1.        Features of digital literature

According to Roberto Simanowski there are three essential characteristics of digital literature (see Simanowski 2002c, p.18 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen 2008, p.28): with the help of interactivity, intermediality and presentation concrete projects of digital literature can be analyzed.

He defines interactivity when the recipient takes part in the construction of the text and divides it into programmed and netlinked interactivity. Programmed interactivity is given in hypertexts, in which the reader composes the text with the help of navigating decisions. Netlinked-interactivity on the other hand describes are projects that turn the reader into an author by asking him to take part in creating texts on a website.

Intermediality describes a conceptual-integrative connection between traditional expressions of media in language, image and sound.

Presentation in context of digital literature describes the programming of a work-immanent or recipient-dependent performance, which gives an important part to the invisible level of text which can be interpretated as a presentation of word and image.

Beat Suter describes two more groups of features, including characteristics of transversality and transfugality. Transversality means that writing and thinking on the internet are not to be seperated from creative and aesthetic creations of  projects. An author has to be able to use certain software programs, because creating digital literature also means being able to install hyperlinks, design the website in a creative way, program with HTML or Flash and use Photoshop cleverly to name just a few possibilities. Transfugality on the other hand describes the temporariness of digital literature. This is because the medium internet and its general uncontrollability and also the electronic saving of texts causes an uncertainty about the durability of a text’s presence.

The second group of characteristics constitute the features intermediality, interactivity and presentation already described above.

The third group contains qualities like experiment, performance, immersion, oralliterality and concreativity. Experiment because many digital projects are expressions of experimental handling of familiar literary and artistical forms. Performance means in this case the active participation of the reader that is realized by clicking on links. This active role is often called performative act, in this case it would be performative reading. Immersion is found when the reader dives into the imaginary world of hyperfictions or adventure games. Oralliterality refers to the use of language in digital literature. Written language resembles general linguistic usage here and is categorized between speech and writing. It is constructed mainly dialogically and digital literature basically is the embodiment of this tendency. Concreativity is a feature of digital literature in terms of several authors working together.

Of course not all the features named above apply to every project of digital literature as those can differ significantly. A listing of features is necessary though to analyze and evaluate a project. Therefore it makes sense to differentiate between a group of features that apply to every project of digital literature and groups with detailed description of features of single projects. This can be very individual and requires an examination of characteristics of hypermedial fictions.

There are mainly two characteristics that apply to all projects and these are digitality and interactivity. Also digital literature can be hypertextual by operating with its organizing structure (ibid., p.28-33).

5.1.1. Digitality

In the field of new media, the terminus digitality has been specified as digital presentation that can describe three different concepts: the analogical-digital-conversion, the common representational code and the numeral representation.

“Whenever we claim that some quality of new media is due to its digital status, we need to specify which of these three concepts is at work. For example, the fact that different media can be combined into a single digital file is due to the use of a common representational code, whereas the ability to copy media without introducing degradations an effect of numerical representation” (see Manovich, p.52 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen, p.34).

The same specification is necessary for the term digital literature. Here numerical representation is distinctive and essential:

..”because numerical representation turns media into computer data, thus making it programmable. And this indeed radically changes the nature of media “(see  Manovich, p.52 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen, p.34).

The digital in digital literature means that this literary artistical form can on the level of the medium be described with mathematical functions and is subjected to algorithmical manipulations (ibid., p. 33).

5.1.2. Interactivity

Beside digitality interactivity is the signifacant feature of all projects in digital literature. Irrespective of what interactivity in digital literature actually means, how it is expressed and which projects can be classified as interactive it is undisputed that interactivity requires participation of the recipient in the construction of the work of literature. In relation to computer systems the term interactivity reflects the characteristics of software, that is the user’s possibilities of intervention and control the recipient has. Here the meaning of interactivity is of importance for digital literature. It is used to describe interaction between man and computer and to interpret the options for intervention into the computer system by the user. Man – man interaction is also an accepted mode of interactivity, but only when given that the computer acts as intermediary in the act of communication. Interactivity of this kind is related to internet linked projects only.

Therefore it becomes clear that the concept of interactivity in digital literature can be looked at from different perspectives. Generally you can say though that in all analytical approaches  you have to differentiate between several kinds of interactivity even within one discipline and mostly this is expressed in a differentiation of varying grades of interactivity. But in what sense is digital literature interactive?

Bearing in mind that digital literature is a heterogeneous phenomenon, consisting of several forms of projects, two of these forms should be considered: net -linked and non- net -linked projects. Net- linked- projects represent the man – man interaction via computer and the non- net –linked projects represent the man – computer interaction as already described above.

Non-net-linked projects, thus offline projects, are projects that don’t intrinsically employ the internet for conceptual use whereas net-linked projects can only exist on the internet as they are dependent on networking and communication using the concept of networking and communication. Non-net-linked projects are independent of the existence of the internet but can use it as a publishing platform. Included are particularily hypertext based textual or multimedial projects. Net –linked-projects are considered as net literature when they can be categorized as co-authoring projects. These can be differentiated in terms of the correlation of contributions among themselves its multimediality, openness to the audience and to which extend the project director and software play a role (ibid., p.35-40).

A nice example of a co-authoring project is described in the text “Writing Harry’s World-Children Co-authoring Hogwarts” by   Ernest Bond and Nany Michelsen. Although the Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling has reached its conclusion, the stories still inspire young people to create stories set in the world of Hogwarts. “Fans of the series are actively creating and extending histories, characters, and storylines, which arise from the series but then take on their own lifes”(see Bond/Michelson 2009, p.309). This fan fiction resembles the tradition of telling stories orally, when each storyteller added personal touches to existing stories. Today this personal aspect becomes especially important in altering the space between storyteller and story recipient produced by the form of the material book, the internet provides a means to express the desire for own participating in the story, just like in a contemporary outlet for the age-old human desire to tell stories.

In schools,  internet technology  can be used to foster aesthetic and ethical sensibility in young people whose cultural histories are influenced by literacy in skills such as storytelling or the visual arts. Here the emphasis on diverse modes of communication might encompass and extend the language and story experience for them. It also works as a medium to break down cultural barriers as in the internet communities cultural markers like skincolour or even the way someone dresses are not significant in online communication (Bond/Michelsen 2009, p.309-316).

5.1.3. Hypertextuality

Hypertextuality being a non-linear sequence of text segments which are connected by links is not an obligatory part of digital literature. It is the basis of many digital projects though, including the development of blogs, and therefore relevant for this work and will be dicussed in relation to blog fiction again.

Generally hypertexts can appear in three different basic forms. As a linear connection, a hierarchic or as a cross-linked hypertext. It provides the structural foundation for all digital projects of narrative character and is therefore important to look at for the understanding of hypermedial fiction, which includes blog and twitter fiction.

The popularity of hypertexts started simultaneously with the development of the internet in the nineties, even though there had been research on hypertexts as early as in the sixties. With the possibilities of the WWW, which is in itself a gigantic hypertext, literary hypertext projects became accessible to a wider audience.

The idea behind it is the crosslinking and crossreferencing of information. After World War 2 there appeared a concept that played an essential role in the development of computer technology. It included firstly to organize knowledge associatively and more efficiently by allowing for the specific design of the human brain and its way of processing information. Secondly the development of the networking technology that had been militarily financed in line with the cuba crisis at the beginning of the sixties and thirdly the spreading of affordable personal computers from the middle of the seventies onwards. Crucial for the spread of the idea of associative structuring of knowledge with the aim of improved availability and organizability was an article by Vannevar Bush. As we may think was published in 1945 and presented the memex-project, developed by the author. Memex was an analog working machine that offered a new kind of administration of information by building a network structure through links. Memex was never built though and the concept was only brought back to life in the sixties by Ted Nelson. He advanced the idea and created Xanadu with the goal to organize the worldknowledge with it. In 1965 Nelson created the term hypertext:

“By hypertext I mean non-sequential writing – text that branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an interactive screen. As popularly conceived this is a series of text chunks connected by links which offer the reader different pathways.” (see Theodore H. Nelson: Literary Machines. Swarthmore/Pennsylvania 1987, p.2 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen, p.43)

On this basis a group of scientists around Tim Berners-Lee developed in 1989 an application that brought sweeping success to hypertextual software.

Marc Andersen developed the first web-browser Mosaic followed by Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer and by 1994 the use of the internet was spreading virally. The WWW became so popular it is named synonymously with the internet, even though it is essentially just one of its tools.

As mentioned before, the popularity of hypertext is based on the internet. However, its concept had been fully developed before though. In 1991 the first wider publication by Kuhlen regarded hypertext as a form of structure that does not only contain textual but also all other forms of presentation of knowledge.

“The basic idea is to be able to manipulate informational units in which objects and processes of relevant worldclipping are presented textually, graphically or audiovisually flexible via linkage.” (see Kuhlen 1991)

Therefore hypertext soon turned into hypermedia, that today dominates within the internet and narrative projects in digital literature.

Hypertextuality as a feature of structure is distinctive to narrative projects and can therefore not generally be featuring all projects of digitality or interactivity. It has been tested on several other narrative or artistic forms though, including non narrative projects like the hypertextual prose by Jim Rosenberg or co-authoring projects that also use the structure of hypertexts.

The examination of hypertextuality is essential before dealing with fictions and hypermedial fictions. Both genres can be nicely put into a model of categorisation of digital literature projects (Piestrak-Demirezen 2008, p.40-45).

1.2.        Categorisation of digital literature projects

Tablet 1: Model of categorisation of digital literature.[1]

Categorisation of digital literature – a model. The marked boxes explain exemplary features of hypermedial fiction (see Piestrak–Demirezen 2008, p. 53).

This model has two essential functions. It classifies projects of digital literature and allows by the use of categorisation an analysis of the projects from respective perspectives and in respect of precise criteria.

The first differentiation appears between netbound and non-netbound digital literature. Netbound projects need to be received online, otherwise they lose their aesthetic aspects: what counts is the moment and the process. Non-netbound projects don’t essentially rely on the internet and therefore don’t count as “true” netliterature.

The second category covers features of digital literature that have to be differentiated when analysed. Monomedial projects are purely textual projects and its analysis concentrates on the text, its function, structure, semantic and so on. Multimedial projects need to be looked at heterogeneously from the perspective of the applied system of symbols.

Hypertextbased projects have as significant feature a lefthand based structure. Also they are categorised in linear and non-linear forms. Non-linear forms are often a hierarchic tree or a non hierarchic rhizome. Non-hypertextbased projects, or non-link structured projects, are for example co-authoring projects or certain forms of computer poetry.

Prose- and lyric oriented projects differ in so far that there are traditionally different origins of the categorisation of the genre between prose and lyric and also a different existence, development and transformation of these forms in new media. There has also been a development of subgenres. Digital narration is mainly based on different forms of fiction and narrative whereas digital lyric includes different forms like animated multimedia poetry or hypertext poetry. Of course you can also find projects that don’t belong to either category.

Collaborative authorship is a feature of many digital projects and is marking a trend towards a collaborative creation process within the software- and netbased environment (ibid., p.45-57).

1.3.        Processual quality of digital literature

Unlike the textanalysis of a traditional printed text, digital literature demands other principles of analysing. Accordingly, it cannot be analysed only from one perspective. Actually, the text is not the only focus in digital literature. For some projects the text is more relevant than for others, generally you can say that in each project the text plays a different role depending on numerous factors. It depends on the surroundings in which the text is created and holds a dynamic that books don’t have. It is not only form and content of text but numerous modern technological approaches and processes, which cause new writing- and reading circumstances as well as reshaping the roles of author and reader (ibid., p.58-59).

1.4.        Movement, animation and temporality of digital literature

The possibilities of writing in an electronic environment belong to the factors that gave an impulse towards the development of experimental digital literature and that pushes it today. The fact that the produced text is not unchangeable anymore but flexible and modifiable is an important factor in digital literature. Unlike the traditional text, it is dynamic and moveable. “Moveable” describes not only the possibilities of editing a text with a processing program like copy, paste, etc. but also and here more relevantly, the functions of animating a text and its altered temporality.

The animation of a text gives it an additional level of meaning. By making the writing process dynamic the text can be accentuated or an additional level of meaning can be added. This possibility is present in digitally emphasising the graphic form of the text. The writing can for example move on the screen in all directions and emphasize the protagonist’s emotions.

Temporality means that letters, words or sentences appear or disappear on the screen in predetermined chronological intervals. By this they can influence the reader’s reception immensely. The recipient can either not influence the speed of the appearing text or navigate by stopping the text, let it come up again or vary the speed of the text.

These functions are examples of how books and digital literature can differ and it raises the question how moveable texts generally influence the reception of such projects (ibid., p.59-61).

1.5.        Dynamic writing in the net

In digital literature not only the text is a dynamic component but also other multi medial elements like graphics and pictures. There are more dynamic processes though that differentiate digital literature from printed literature. These processes concern publication, reviewing and commenting, advertisement and more and origin in the dynamic of the internet’s writing based communication.

The internet has developed its own culture of writing that does not exist offline and is mainly based on the innovative possibilities of communication and net linking. This results in group dynamics of net-authors and net-readers as well as in a participatpory form “taking part”.  Netbased writing carries compared to the writing culture of printed books some new features, like the possibility to publish one’s own written works accessible to everyone or the possibility of direct, non-committal exchange of ideas. The internet motivates many authors to write not least because of the functions of commentary, that allows readers direct reply and therefore proves the text has been read. Some authors use the internet to publish their already printed work, others only write within and for the net. Even though not all digital literature is netbased it is influenced to such extent that it would hardly survive without it. Therefore it is just fair to ask how digital literature is influenced by writing, forms of communication and the dynamic of the net.

With the development of the internet two writing based forms of communication developed simultaneously. E-mail and Chat quickly evolved into a mass phenomenon, even though e-mail wasn’t really new. It was just a modern version of the letter. But its innovative functions and the speed of delivery not only made e-mail  an alternative to the traditional letter but also to telephone or fax. There are official mails, that are focused on the textpattern of traditional letters and there are mails that are based on oral and dialogic communication. In this respect the chat represents a more spectacular literacy. Here the participants of communication choose a “room”, a canal, and lead simultaneously written conversations. In terms of the history of the media, this is new because chatrooms “allow simultaneous communication over wide distances via written language in typed form”(see Lenke, Schmitz 1995, p.121 cited in Piestrak –Demirezen 2008, p.62).

This form of communication is based mainly on oral language. There has to be a quick reaction to contributions of co-writers, which also rapidly pass the screen. Therefore most sentences are syntactically incomplete and without punctuation. Signs of punctuation are rather used to express emotions by using graphic forms like a smiley. These signs are supposed to substitute facial expressions and gestures of a face-to-face conversation.

One of the more recent forms of literary activity that matches the internet based culture of writing is the weblog. This as well has become a mass-phenomenon and a great success. Weblogs are not a concrete example of digital literature because their structure is based on the traditional literature and they usually produce longer, connected texts. Nevertheless, they are subject to net-specific, dynamic processes, which also characterize digital literature. On this basis many parallels of the two forms can be identified.

Some of the features of weblogs imply that what is written is strongly subjective. This means that bloggers write and publish with the intention to share private and often spontaneous thoughts, ideas and opinions with a broad audience even if they publish under a pseudonym. Another integral to blogs is the function of commentary, which allows readers to comment on entries. This dialogue between writer and reader creates a specific form of communication and influences the writing. Generally you can say that communication about traditional or digital literature has become a lot less complicated through the internet. Furthermore, many blog readers have blogs themselves and thus become blog authors, too. They contribute towards creating a blog network, the so-called blogosphere, by putting links on their blogs that lead to other blogs or webpages they choose to refer to. By doing this, they create an online community, where readers are authors of weblogs at the same time. The dynamic process of communication that originates from this, make a weblog special. This means the aesthetics of weblogs is not only based on text and content but also on the dynamic processes which are the foundation of the blogosphere. Furthermore weblogs integrate functions like photo-upload, e-mail, sms or telephone. These functions can also result in specific forms of weblogs like photoblogs that publish mainly photos or moblogs that exclusively publish photos taken with the mobile.

The general tendency of increasing multimedialisation of all existing writing forms in the net, including projects of digital literature, is a result of this mutual interpenetration of medial forms. Still, weblogs are primarily a text medium and therefore have to be designed to be read easily. Thus, blog entries are often short or in textblocks and with a comfortable-to-read column width as well as size and colour of letters. These rules apply to all forms of texts that are to be received on the screen because, generally, only authors who stick to these rules will be successful with their contents.

Blogs can technically easily be established and published by using certain weblog-software. There are different styles of weblogs, these will be presented in chapter 7.1. It is difficult to define them but the published texts ..”have something special, that attracts and captivates the reader, makes the reader come back every day: an unmistakeable identity, a distinctive style, an extraordinary point of view, a feeling for the text in the internet, the ability to capture the reader and taking the reader along into a new world, or sometimes just the desire to raise objections with the own point of view against the world” (see Don Alphonso/ Phal 2004, p.20 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen 2008, p.65 ).

Texts produced in blogs can also be published in print, but often this is more likely to be advert-presentation, explaining and describing what is developing in the internet. Also, it is difficult to present the wholeness of a blog, even if the original webdesign is presented in colour. The wholeness includes the actuality, the regularity and the dynamic of its entries. Otherwise, the reader won’t be up to date with the author’s thoughts and everyday-stories and the aesthetic attraction of a blog’s authenticity and immediacy is lost. It is these functions that create a certain atmosphere and allow a quick reaction to what is written and in turn an acknowledgement by the author. Also, the texts of blogs only gain in importance in the context with other text and the interlinked blogosphere and don’t have a value standing alone in a printed version. Weblogs are subject to a certain dynamic that is unavailable for print publications. The communication in form of a dialogue between author and reader turns a weblog into a process.  Therefore. the basis of a weblog is “movement in reading, writing and thinking” (see Lohmöller 2005, p.222 cited in Piestrak-Demirezen 2008, p.66).

Today there are established print-authors who also use weblogs for their literary activities. This demonstrates that the blogosphere is generally open to traditional literature, too. The production of a text for a blog differs from writing a manuscript for a book, though. Alban Nikolai Herbst, who maintains a weblog, says that writing a book and a weblog differs in so far that a book is normally edited more carefully before being published than an entry in a weblog.  Also, literary activity in weblogs is dependent on a dynamic of communication between author and reader which can evoke a different kind of literary creativity.

Besides form and dynamic communication processes, the style of language is important for literary blogs. This style resembles the communication-literature, which normally uses the dialogue-form. There also is a parallel to oral literarity that characterizes projects of digital literature. The style of language does not only concern the texts, however, but also the communication-language of the blogosphere. The rules of this communication-language are set and supervised by the community.

The correspondence to the reality of a weblog is not verifiable as will also be discussed later in chapter 7.2.4. Its heterogenity makes blogs hard to categorize but on the other hand might be the reason for its attractiveness. Jill Walker Rettberg tries to categorize different styles of blogs which are presented in chapter 7.1.1.-7.1.3 (Piestrak-Demirezen 2008, p.61-68)