Entering the world of digital literature – the good, the bad and the ugly

As I related in the first discussion forum task (Simon, 2018), my main experience with digital literature prior to this class was personal consumption of straight print-to-digital eBooks. My main classroom use, to date, has been scanned or otherwise digitised copies of traditional picture books displayed on the Smartboard for shared reading. The readings in the first module have worked together to inspire and frustrate me. I am inspired by the breadth and variety of digital literature described in the various readings, but frustrated by how little exposure I have had to these in my classroom teaching settings as well as by my attempts to actually find the digital literature that I am reading about. My explorations have yielded the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First I’ll share the good news. The possibilities for digital literature are simply incredible. As Walsh (2013) demonstrates in her analyses of the born-digital, solely-digital narratives Inanimate Alice (The BradField Company, 2012-2018 in Walsh, 2013) and The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Creek (O’Rogers, 2011 in Walsh 2013) there is the possibility for innovative works that take great advantage of digital capabilities and present them in synergy with quality literary elements. I have seen works with rich literary language and structure that use digital affordances to enhance, inform, and serve the purpose of the text effectively in ways that could not be done in print. There are also works like The Boat (Le & Huynh, n.d.) an SBS digital work that falls in the category of a print work converted to digital with synergy between the literary and digital elements (Walsh, 2013, pp. 184-185; Yokota & Teale, 2014, p. 581).

via GIPHY

Unfortunately, that leads to the bad news. The invention of paper, pen, and printing press did not guarantee that everything written with them contained the hallmarks of quality literature as summarised by Yokata and Teale (2014, p. 580) and Walsh (2013, pp. 186-187). In similar fashion, not all digital texts are created equal. Much material that I found when exploring for primary-school appropriate digital literature currently available in Australia rated poorly in regards to literary qualities, effective and appropriate use of digital affordances, or both. Hopefully refining my search parameters will yield better quality results going forward.

That brings us at last to the ugly. Not only did I feel frustrated by discovering multiple services that provided, in effect, digital “readers” but I also struggled to locate even those examples of digital literature mentioned in the various subject readings. I discovered that Atavist, which was described by James and De Kock (2013) as producing quality digital non-fiction narratives, was recently taken over by Automattic, the owner of WordPress. It took several searches to finally figure out how to access the story mentioned in the reading. I also found out that Amanda Havard, author of the Survivor’s series featured in the Parker (2013) presentation, took down her books and closed her digital publishing company Immersedition in 2014, putting forward the opinion that “(p)ublishing, my dear friends, isn’t looking for a revolution” (Havard, 2014, para. 5).

I am hopeful that as I learn more about these concepts and find out about the tools needed to create and use them effectively, I will be able to incorporate quality digital literature experiences in my classrooms and, eventually, school library.

550 words

References

GIPHY. (n.d.). Ders gif [Animated image]. Retrieved from https://giphy.com/gifs/ders-aNkwBiklJi8lG.

Havard, A. (2014, August 20). [Social media post]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/amandahavard/posts/836808326339049.

James, R., & De Kock, L. (2013). The digital David and the Gutenberg Goliath: the rise of the ‘enhanced’e-book. English Academy Review, 30(1), 107-123. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2013.783394

Le, N., & Huynh, M. (n.d.). The Boat [Digital narrative]. Sydney and Melbourne: SBS. Retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/.

Parker, J. (2013, December 18). When stories are more than paper: Transmedia trends in Young Adult Literature. Presentation at the YALSA 2012 YA Literature Symposium in St. Louis, MO. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/l0j03_mb1dma/when-stories-are-more-than-paper-transmedia-trends-in-young-adult-literature/

Simon, M. (2018). My (limited) experience with digital narratives and synergy [Blog post]. Retrieved July 21, 2018 from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/mrssimonsays/2018/07/13/my-limited-experience-with-digital-narratives-and-synergy/.

Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

Yokota, J., &  Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/3886534/Picture_Books_and_the_Digital_World_Educators_Making_Informed_Choices

1 thought on “Entering the world of digital literature – the good, the bad and the ugly

  1. Marika, it’s great to see you start to explore the range of digital literature that is out there, and think about it in the context of your own experiences with reading and looking forward to potential opportunities to develop understanding. You have made some valuable points about the literary merit of the various digi lit forms, and I look forward to seeing you continue to expand your ideas about the evolution of digital literature. It’s great to see you utilise the functionality of the blog environment effectively to present your posts to the best advantage, incorporating hyperlinks to online sources and embedding (and correctly captioning) images in the post. This is a great start to your studies in INF533, well done!

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