[connective tissue]

Yesterday, 23 of June, was our NLab Workshop day and trAce commemoration. Wow. I think I'm still a little breathless from the whole experience. If I say it was action-packed I feel that is slightly understating it. The day began as any digital media conference must, with technical hitches. It would probably be extremely unprofessional of me to complain about the lack of adequate computers (which couldn't even connect to the internet!!), so I won't. Suffice it to say the keynote speaker, Canadian writer/journalist and visual artist, Randy Adams, was very patient about the whole (expected?) process. It was certainly worth the wait though as his presentation took us through the era that was trAce. Randy began with early works and experiments and summed up with a technicolour dreamcoat-type tour of the multi-media universe which is remix runran. The remainder of the day consisted of workshops and participants were able to choose which ones they wanted to attend. I ran a workshop during the last session of the day. My ideas was to present an introduction to web fiction that is *out there* (free and born online) and show people how it might be read with an academic/analytical slant. I wanted to illustrate that there is "good" stuff out there (work worth taking the time to read), and that here are a few ways we might approach it. I began with a reminder of how we (usually) read art (the elements of art), how we read film, how we read (usually of course, there is always experimental lit., post modern fiction, etc...) print fiction, and how we read games (I used Ernest Adams' idea that "credibility" is the currency of good game narrative). That all seemed to go down well. Then, as soon as I began to talk about web fictions, opened up an example on my computer (which was projected on the wall for everyone to view), and asked the participants to navigate to that url, things seemed to "come undone." I wonder if that means I (or anyone else introducing web fictions in a narratological context, or any context other than straight technological basics) first must give a background to the technology? Just as readers of web fictions need to learn the rules/codes of interacting with the fictions, do presenters of workshops need to learn the new rules/codes of presenting with this kind of technology? I suppose just as we had to learn the technology of the book, so too must we learn the technology of web fiction, develop a repertoire. Here, I'm reminded of what Christy Sheffield Sandford said in a recent interview, "To this day, I’m taken by the dramatic possibilities of coding the page, much as I imagine the first filmmakers were with the close-up, jumpcut, pan, fade. The various cinematic techniques have become a type of language. Something similar has been happening with the web. The formal inventions that further expression and prove flexible pass into the realm of technique. The medium develops a repertoire." Running that workshop was an excellent experience and it has given me a lot to think about, I just hope the participants feel similarly. :)
The day concluded with a talk given by Professor Sue Thomas. As Thomas was artistic director of trAce it seemed fitting that she end the day with a look to the future. Thomas pointed out the myriad of opportunities for writers, available online and in conjunction with the creative industries. During her talk Thomas mentioned two ideas which seemed to resonate with me. She talked about connective tissue in the sense that we can all be connected to each other. As writers, artists, programmers, developers, businesses, academics, we can collaborate and through collaboration a kind of connective tissue evolves, binding together people, ideas, and technology. Developing this idea of connective tissue, Thomas reminded us that as writers, artists, creators, we need to understand what the digital environment wants from us. We were given an example of a screenwriter who was "too linear" and failed to comprehend the need for a intelligent story interface that could provide multi-linear stories on the fly. This clash between linear and multi-linear led Thomas to state that we (as writers, designers, programmers, etc...) shouldn't waste our time educating people who just don't get "it." (It being the online enviroment, understanding how connections are made (and broken!), understanding the technology and its difference from existing technologies). Bascially, if someone doesn't want to see the merits of difference, we should find collaboration elsewhere. This might seem like an obvious notion, something writers, publishers, artists, sculptors, have been doing for centuries, but it seems somewhat extreme in today's context of technology as democratising agent. It isn't really extreme though, is it: it's business sense.