Hypertext News

Hypertext News

PhotoToMovie has updated to version 2.5. It's an inexpensive tool for making "Ken Burns" style movies from stills, offering more control than iMovie.

Interesting comments on hypertextual textbooks at Great Lettuce Head. Thanks, Steve Ersinghaus!

Coming up in San Francisco, November 22-23, the Educational Bloggers Network hosts EdBlogger 2003. Interesting emphasis on weblogs as an educational tool.

The organizing committee for Blogtalk 2 includes Torill Mortensen, Clay Shirky, Jörg Kantel, and Peter Praschl. The meeting is slated for July 5-6 in Vienna.

The Dark House debuts on BBC Radio 4 on September 23, 11pm BST. Every three minutes, text message and phone voting will choose which character's perspective will next be broadcast.

JODI is accepting submissions through September 18 for The Next Big Thing. Following up a fascinating HT03 panel, JODI asks for descriptions of hypertext tools that share a single characteristic: one day, everyone will do it this way.

Kaj Gronbak sends word that the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia for 2003 will focus on Hypermedia beyond the Desktop. Original full papers and tech notes are sought -- especially work that explores new possibilities in digital media. Deadline: 20 October 2003.

The University of Sunderland has three openings in their programme of Curating New Media Art -- a curatorship, a studentship, and a half-time web site programmer.

WordCircuits presents The Glass Snail, in which the celebrated Serbian author Milorad Pavic (Dictionary of the Khazars) spins a haunting hypertext story of two people brought together by a shared compulsion. Then the past begins to emerge mysteriously through their meeting, until it threatens to subsume the present.

The complete program for Hypertext '03 is now available. Keynotes by Ted Nelson and Peter Nuernberg, and sessions ranging from The Next Big Thing to Hypertext Films. The conference is slated for Nottingham, August 26-30.

New at trAce: Kind Of Blue, an epistolary novel by Scott Rettberg.

Adrienne Eisen will read from her hypertexts, including What Fits, at Brookline Booksmith in Boston on October 7. 7:30pm.

JODI is planning a special issue on Future Visions of Hypertext, tied to a panel at next month's Hypertext 03. Contributions are due November 6.

Eastgate is looking for an intern. Boston area.

The Brown Alumni Magazine presents a detailed feature story by Mark Baard on hypertext pioneer Robert Coover and new media fellow Talan Memmot.

Dorothy Parker and her New Yorker cronies had the bar at the Algonquin Hotel. Robert Coover has Ocean Coffee Roasters on Waterman Street in Providence. One day early this year, you could find him sitting at a small table there with his newest protégé. Amid pierced pagans and soul-patched hipsters, Coover, a University Professor and longtime teacher of creative writing, looked like a discount-store academic, more Costco than cutting edge. Known thirty years ago as one of the pioneers of "metafiction," Coover is the author of thirteen novels and one of the most ardent champions of the new-media genre known as electronic literature.

Ted Nelson, the inventor of hypertext, instigator of the Xanadu Project, author of "Computer Lib" and "Literary Machines", will be speaking in Oxford on Thursday, 10th July, at 4:00 pm on "Computers Beyond Hierarchy and the Web Beyond HTML"

Place: Lecture Theatre 2 of Oxford University's English Faculty - St Cross Building, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ (junction of St Cross Road and Manor Road, opposite St Cross Church)

ABSTRACT: Most uses of computers simulate either hierarchy, paper, or both (Acrobat and the Web). Hierarchy is notably unsuited to most human thought, creativity, and ongoing changes of projects; paper is a form of confinement to which we have adapted for two millennia, though the ideas have tried to escape for a thousand years-- through footnotes, annotations, parallelisms, and creative layout.

If we dare to challenge these traditions, the alternatives still need structuring for implementation. The issue is the optimal representation of ideas-- what relations among discrete structures can best replace hierarchical directories, and what generalizations of electronic document will allow profuse bidirectional connections, track content flow from version to version, allow publishing of annotations and ongoing parallel documents, and permit large-scale quotation of copyrighted material? (All are vital for a true electronic literature.)

The alternatives are simple, straightforward, and deeply different from the prevailing paradigms.

A new issue of Tekka is now available. Among the many articles of interest to hypertext readers, see a discussion of Doing Without The Narrator In Artifactual Fiction by Bill Bly (We Descend), a review of Roberto Simanowski's Interfictions, and Anja Rau's discussion of the audio-only hypertext fiction, Gerne zuschauen by Anne Bösenberg and Hanna Linn Wiegl.

Shelley Jackson's story "Egg", first published in Grand Street, has been selected for a Pushcart Prize. Jackson is the author of Patchwork Girl.

A new hypertext from Stuart Moulthrop: PAX. Diane Greco has some interesting early comments (May 20: no permalinks).

Mark Bernstein has resigned from the Electronic Literature Organization, writing that "No qualities are more essential to scholarship and research than accuracy and truthfulness. The ELO has repeatedly failed to adhere to these demands, upon which research ultimately depends. "

Graphic-Sha, a Japanese design publisher, and the Institute for Information Design Japan, are seeking entries for publication of the [Information Design Source Book]. The editors are asking experts in the field for outstanding examples of realized projects. Deadline June 15th; no fees

A new issue of JoDi is out, with lots of papers on topics relevant to information architecture. Perhaps most intriguing is Marchionini's "Towards a General Relation Browser: A GUI for Information Architects" (abstract, pdf).

Derek Powazek's {Fray} hosts an annual Fray Day, usually tied to SXSW. Now, they've branched out to Fray Cafe in Sedona June 13, 2003, to coincide with the revived Digital Storytelling Festival.

Coming up in Boston, May 10-11, eNarrative 5 will explore the relationships among literary hypertext, computer games, cyberarts, and weblogs. Expected participants include George Landow (Hypertext 2.0), Meg Hourigan (blogger), Mark Bernstein (Tinderbox), Dave Winer (Radio Userland), and many other fascinating artists and developers.

Culture Machine Issue 5, edited by Gary Hall, features writing on hypertext by Kate Hayles, Mark Amerika, Greg Ulmer, and others.

DIGITAL INTERACTION is a workshop at the International Symposium on Information and Communication Technologies in Dublin, 24-26 September 2003. "The objective of this workshop is to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of available and foreseeable digital tools as a support for specific types of human interaction."

infLect , a new peer-reviewed journal based in the University of Canberra Centre for Writing, aims to show how new technologies are changing the way writers use language. Volume One contains new work by geniwate, dane, Kominos, Brian Kim Stefans, and others.

Christine Goldbeck, a student of hyperfiction at Iowa, is eager to network with hypertext fiction writers. Email cgoldie@epix.net

Simon St. Laurent has has started a new discussion list on XML and Hypertext. He observes that "conversations about XML and hypertext have been scattered for a long time", being discussed periodically in a number of different online fora. He goes on to note that "although hypertext is far from a dominant application of XML, there still seems to be plenty of interest in the subject". For archives and subscriptions, visit lists.usefulinc.com/pipermail/xml-hypertext/ Thanks, Ed Blachman and Paolo Petta!

WWW2003, the 12th Web Conference, will be held in Budapest on May 20-24. Of particular interest is the Hypermedia Track , organized by m.c. schraefel and Peter Nürnberg.

Diane Greco writes to tell us that Strindberg and Helium, the "existentially funny dynamic duo" that brought down the house at eNarrative 3, "have been welcomed with open arms into the First Annual Sundance Online Film Festival.

Anark has announced a new multimedia composition tool, Anark Studio, for MacOS X. According to the announcement, it "features a flexible workspace, drag- and- drop JavaScript-based behaviors, and compositing and 3D features found only in high- end compositing and rendering systems."

Rich Gold, who will be remembered as a pioneer of electronic literature and a prophet of electronic art, died January 9. The memory book of his Web shrine, at http://richgoldmemorial.onomy.com/, contains reminiscences of a generation of seminal researchers. His former colleague at Xerox PARC, Anne Balsamo, writes:

Rich Gold was a provocative speaker who lectured throughout the world on the future of the book, the nature of engineering, creativity, innovation and Evocative Knowledge Objects (EKOs). After leaving Xerox PARC in 2001, he became a principal at the product design company Polaris Road. During 2002 he finished a book called The Plenitude (The Present Press).

Submissions are invited to Next 2.0 in Karlstad, Sweden. 500 word proposals should be sent to Andreas Kitzmann.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Society for Literature and Science 17th Annual Conference. At University of Texas, Austin, 23-26 October 2003. Pproposals for papers, panels, round-table discussions, and any non-traditional formats for this conference, 'Rethinking Space and Time: Across Science, Literature, and the Arts'. Please submit 150-word abstracts electronically to Program Chairs Bruce Clarke and Linda Henderson .

The University of Washington, Seattle, has recently created a new Ph.D. program and research center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS). They're looking for an assistant professor. Contact Prof. Shawn Brixey.

IT-Copenhagen has a position, too, for an Assistant or Associate Professor in Computer Games.

Prentice-Hall's new Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary (Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant, eds) includes Kokura from the Eastgate Reading Room by Mary-Kim Arnold and Matthew Derby, as well as Web fictions from Deena Larsen and Michael Joyce. They're in good company; nearby in the Table of Contents we find Amy Tan, Leo Tolstoy, Jeanette Winterson, and Virginia Woolfe.

Carolien van den Bos has translated an abstract of her thesis, "A Wandering Thread". A useful survey of Web fiction in the 1990s, although the author neglects work published on disk and assumes hypertext is synonymous with the Web.

Coming in February 2003, USC and Art In Motion launch AIM IV: Interference Patterns, an exhibitiion focusing on the proliferating spaces in which humans and non-human technologies intersect, Interference Patterns addresses the ways in which our interface apparatus and metaphors transform the communications they mediate. Thanks, Candace Fujishige.

Convergence as issued a Call for Papers on Sexuality and the Internet. "Papers are invited on any aspect of this phenomena, with regard to topics such as pornography, oppression, censorship, fetishisation, community building, sexual utopianism, new sexualities etc." Query guest editor Philip Hayward.

Read_me 2.3 is a festival of software art that explores the territory between art and software culture, slated for May 30-31 in Helsinki, Finland. Read_me 2.3 draws connections betwee histories and practices in both software culture and art, and aims at creating an extended context, against which software art may be mapped.

Read_me 2.3 is the second edition of Read_me, which claims to be the first festival dedicated entirely to the phenomena of software art . Submission deadline is March 1.

Issue No. 5 of Whalelane includes writing by Elizabeth Routen, James Iredell and Hsi-Ling Huang; imagery by Shirin Kouladjie and G.A. Ingersoll; interactive works by Lewis LaCook and Kanarinka. Whalelane is a bimonthly journal of writing, the visual arts, and experimental formats which merge narrative and image.

London Arts is looking for a Visual Arts Officer. "You will contribute to the development and delivery of our regional policy for contemporary visual arts taking lead responsibility for new media. Contact: recruitment@lonab.co.uk

"365 DAYS RENAMED" by Mark Booth is a live audio performance for multiple voices and instrumental improvisation. "365 DAYS RENAMED" replaces the boring seven names we use to describe the unique days of the year with 365 new and improved ones. "The work's accumulation of images, combines with the systematically ordered structure of a year, and the deceptively simple act of naming gives life to an absurd and arbitrary world that calls into question the absurd and arbitrary nature of our own."

Judd Morrissy and Lori Talley's hypertext poem, My Name is Captain, Captain., will be on exhibit at Mobius in Boston, as part of an exhibit on The Book Reconsidered. In conjunction with the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the opening reception is Sunday, April 27. 4-6pm. Mobius is located at 354 Congress Street.

Jessica Pressman reviews My Name Is Captain, Captain. in "The Very Essence of Poetry" for the Iowa Review.

"When words take flight and move between the circles, it is as if the circles are speaking to each other: ying and yang, male and female, fragments and wholeness. Sound and silence prove intimately interconnected to vision and visuals. ...Meet My name is Captain, Captain. , electronic literature which, in focusing on the work as 'literature,' foregrounds the "electronic" as a space for future literary work and study. "

The new Institute for End User Computing is an effort to take back the operating environment, restoring more power to users. "It is time to abandon brittle architectures and poorly factored interfaces," writes director Peter Wasilko, "and kludged together designed dominated by sacrifices on the altar of backwards compatibility."

Hypertext Conference program chair Les Carr sends word that BBC Radio 4's Arts program "Front Row" had an interesting interview this week on the structure of film and Aristotle's Poetics. The segment is 12 minutes into the audio stream.

The Bronx Council on the Arts sponsors the Longwood Cyber Residency and Exhibition Program, offering nine-months of free access to hardware, software, Internet connectivity, workshops, technical consultants, and honoraria so artists may begin to experiment with on-line technologies as creative tools. For Applicationand Guidelines, please call Melissa at(718) 931-9500 ext. 21 or Edwin (718)401-7866

Opening the Space: Toolkit and Guide offers a brief, elementary overview of new media writing.

The Guide provides a fairly good, very elementary, introduction to some consciously-literary work for the Web. The toolkit section is caught between a rock and a hard place, wanting to cover up-to-date tools but also eager to assure the computer-phobic that they don't need to know anything or learn much. In my opinion, the Toolkit emphasizes the wrong tools and the Guide fails to direct the reader's attention to the best hypertexts, or to engage those hypertexts. What we need now is more real criticism of real hypertexts, and rather less hand-waving about the natural spirit of the medium. -- MB

Shelley Jackson's short story, "Husband," is in the new issue (Winter 2003) of The Paris Review.

Komninos Zervos, who is know for some extraordinarily energetic multimedia poetry readings, has a new audioblog.

Shelley Jackson, author of Patchwork Girl, will teach a fiction writing workshop at New York's Buzzer Thirty. Twelve Tuesday-evening sessions, classes limited to twelve students, $350. Starts 11 March!

Shelley Jackson recently was heard on NPR's Morning Edition, discussing a popular party game called "Mafia". (Thanks, Diane Greco and Barbara Bean)

ACM SIGCOMM hosts a workshop this summer on IP Quality of Service: Why do we care, what have we learned? This workshop is an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to discuss the history of IP QoS research and development, review what could have been done better (or totally differently), and challenge the industry to think out of the box going forward. Among the questions to be addressed is that of whether online, multi-player games be the market segment that justifies end-user/access ISP investment in IP QoS tools and solutions. Submission deadline March 31, 2003; workshop in Karlsruhe on August 27.

The Walker Art Museum presents Big [B]Other, a text-based reality show / community blog organized by Fran Ilich with 13 other participants also working with media. The announcement observes that "big [b]Other is in part a reaction to the supposed reality TV epitomized by shows in the United States such as Big Brother, Survivor, Fear Factor and any number of other programs that are, in fact, slickly produced and heavily manipulated narratives that have little in common with real life."

The Journal of Digital Information has released a special issue on Hypertext Criticism. Guest editors Susana Tosca and Jill Walker weave a hypertext from contributions from Adrian Miles, Mez Breeze, Julianne Chatelain, Richard E. Haggason, Deena Larsen, Bill Marsh, and Jenny Weight.

Kairos News has a new, email newsletter.

The Prix Ars Electronica 2003 marks the 17th edition of the competition for cyberarts, which is organized by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), Upper Austrian Regional Studio, in conjunction with the Ars Electronica Festival. Since 1987 around 14,600 artists, scientists, researchers and representatives from the entertainment branch from all over the world have entered their works. Submit your work by online registration. The deadline for your submission is March 20, 2003.

dLux media arts is currently seeking a Director and a Coordinator. dLux media arts encourages and promotes the development and critical discussion of innovative film, video, new media and sound arts in Australia, and exhibits this work to diverse audiences nationally and internationally. More information...

Deena Larsen, author of Marble Springs and Samplers, will be speaking about "New Media: We just couldn't go there before" on Feburary 13 at Queensland University of Technology. "Explore things that could not have been conceived of only a decade ago", the program announcement invites. 1.30pm, Thursday 13 February 2003, A105, Kelvin Grove. Afternoon tea will be served

The Whitney Museum's Artport this month features a new Impermanence Agent work by Noah Wardrip-Fruin, entitled The Agents Story. He writes that:

Talan Memmot sends word that a new issue of Beehive is online.

Simon Buckingham-Shum sends word of a new volume of essays on Visualizing Argumentation: Software Tools for Collaborative and Educational Sense-Making which he has edited wsith Paul Kirschner and Chad Carr. It traces the hypertext trail from Bush and Engelbart's interests in argumentation, via the dominant graphical argumentation theme in semantic hypertext from the mid-80s (gIBIS; Aquanet; SEPIA, etc), through to more recent work on scholarly hypertext (Kolb; Carter; Mancini), critical thinking tools, and argument visualization over the semantic web. The book has its own web site.

New in TrAce: Mary Cavill interviews Michael Joyce and reviews his new novel, Liam's Going.

The newly launched Digital Storytelling Association is seeking members. Conferences are planned for Sedona, Arizona and Cardiff, Wales.

Editor Claire Dinsmore writes to say that Volume 4 of Cauldron & Net is now online.

Convergence is seeking submissions for a special issue on Sexuality and the Internet and/or Virtual Reality, slated for Summer 2004. Papers are invited on any aspect of this phenomena, with regard to topics such as pornography, oppression, censorship, fetishisation, community building, sexual utopianism, new sexualities etc. Submission deadline is 30 October 2003. Contact the guest editor, Philip Hayward.

Call for Works: Unfoldings: An Exhibition of Information Art and Architectures, opening in February 2003 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Curator Carolyn Guertin writes that "Unfoldings are intrinsic dimensions that open indefinitely outward, potentially encompassing an infinite expansion of space. Like an inflating balloon, the computer interface is also a phenomenon whose infinite writing surface is situated in ever-present temporal and incremental space ... You are invited to submit your own interactive new media unfoldings to a show in the Arts District of the city of Edmonton, Canada in February 2003. Preference will be given to original electronic works created specifically for this exhibit, but previously exhibited works will be considered. Submissions may be web-based or on CD-ROM or other portable media for on-site display in a public venue. The deadline for electronic or snail mail submissions dated no later than 15 December 2002."

Michael Joyce's baseball novel, Going The Distance, is available for downloading with the Night Kitchen reader. This novel was originally published by Xian Crumlish and Martha Conway's Pilgrim Press. Joyce is the author of afternoon, a story and Twilight: a Symphony.

A collaborative, hypertextual collage: Pin Board by Pamela Taylor.

Eastgate is looking for someone who can lend a hand with Web projects. Light Perl, PHP, CSS, and perhaps some BSD server configuration -- a few hours a week. You can be anywhere in the world, though it helps if you're well wired. Tinderbox a plus. Ideal for a Web independent or small firm who want to make decisions endless meetings and to get involved with visible projects that make a difference. Email bernstein@eastgate.com, or iChat EastgateSystems.

The Digital Cultures Fellowship for 2003: Call for Applications APPLICATIONS DUE: 15th November DATES: between 15th January and 1st May 2003 LOCATION: UC Santa Barbara California Stipend: $12,000 for a residence fellowship stipend to cover the expense of travel to and from UC Santa Barbara, room and lodgings while living in Santa Barbara to do research in digital cultures. It is assumed that research fellows will have no teaching duties during the time they use this stipend.

Term: 3 to 10 continuous weeks between January 15, 2003 and May 1, 2003 Eligibility: Faculty or post-doctoral student at a university in this country or abroad. We especially encourage online application. For full details, contact: INFO: Professor William Warner; Department of English EMAIL: warner@english.ucsb.edu

In Stanford Magazine, Andrew Hinderaker reviews Figurski at Findhorn on Acid by Richard Holeton.

A new course at UCSB by Rita Raley: Hypertext Fiction and Digital Poetry.

Lori Talley (co-author of My Name Is Captain, Captain) will perform a sound piece, in conjunction with an interactive video installation by Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal, at Chicago's Gallery 2 on November 8.

New from Lab404's Curt Cloninger: Plot Fracture 2.0 . "Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining."

Stephanie Strickland, author of True North, has publish V: Vniverse (Penguin). Congratulations!

At Cafe Zeitgeist, Lance Olsen reviews his favorite books and hypertexts. Of My Name Is Captain, Captain by Judd Morrissey and Lori Talley, he writes:

"Cool, intricate abstraction—a cerebral experience analogous to listening to a piece of highly experimental music, only with your eyes. With My Name is Captain, Captain, we approach a limit-situation in the growth of hypermedia, an extremely self-conscious possibility space that is simultaneously stunning, engaging, and packed with promise for this still-embryonic (heck, it's really fewer than a dozen years old, after all) genre."

The Department of Fine Arts at the University of Colorado, Boulder, seeks a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor in Digital Art to begin in August 2003. Minimum requirements include: MFA or equivalent degree; evidence of active artistic practice in the digital arts; and two years of teaching experience at the university level. Send materials to Mark Amerika, Search Committee Chair, University of Colorado Department of Fine Arts, UCB 318, Boulder, CO 80309-0318.

October's trAce features four new articles, including an interview with Ted Warnell.. Peter Howard offers his opinion on whether Flash Poetry is an opportunity or a distraction, and TrAce asks writers to participate in a survey on writing and the internet.

Robert Bockstart is looking for South African hypertext fiction writers, or anyone involved in any kind of literary Cybernarrative. Please email him.

In the academic web journal First Monday, Claire Harrison revisits the question of link types. (See also Randall Trigg's work, which seems pertinent)

The Annual Open House of the Center for Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, CA, will be held at 4-8pm on November 23. That's also the launch date for Joe Lambert's new boook, Digital Storytelling -- Capturing Lives, Creating Community. The launch date for Joe and Nina Mullen's daughter is anticipated before Christmas!

The September issue of Dichtung Digital has a variety of essays, chiefly in German. Editor Roberto Simanowski has recently published Interfictions, a collection of essays on hypertext and Web technoculture.

The October 24 issue of the New York Review Of Books features a major essay on hypertext fiction, Tim Parks' Tales Told By Computer.

"Among the many things the computer is supposed to change in our lives, one of the most profound, if the change were really to occur, is out experience of narrative."

Parks is highly critical, both of current hypertext fiction and of the state of hypertext criticism. This thoughtful and inviting essay will provoke much thoughtful discussion amongst hypertext readers and writers, even those who disagree with its conclusions.

"This is a drug, Homer tells us, that would allow you to talk of your brother's death with a smile on your face. The threesome drink and spend a happy evening recovering all that was most awful and exciting in their lives, to wake the following morning refreshed.

"What is the drug that narrative offers which allows us to pass through the burning Troy and escape unscathed?

Sean Carton examines Tinderbox as a tool for Information Architecture in The Best IA Tool You Never Heard Of.

The Fall 2002 issue of Poems That Go is devoted to Reactive Media. It features Spawn by Andy Campbell, Firefly by Deena Larsen (Samplers and Marble Springs), and Intersection Lives by Joanna Sakellion.

The Winter 2003 issue will spotlight "Literary Games"; deadline for submission is December 5, 2002.

The TrAce Online Writing Centre has launched a survey to study how the internet has changed the profession of writing. Writers, from beginners to the most experienced, are invited to participate. Lucky participants may receive an amazon.com voucher or a free place at the TrAce writing school.

Salt Hill invites submissions of hypertexts in any genre to be published in the online edition of SH13. Please e-mail your url to the Web Editor or mail submissions on CD-ROM or disk.

Revenge of the Blog, a symposium at Yale Law School, November 22, 2002. New Haven, Connecticut.

Judd Morrissey and Lori Talley, authors of My Name Is Captain, Captain will perform Dark Nights: A Hypertext/Performance on October 18 in Chicago, with Mark Booth and ensemble. The show starts at 7pm, at 1926 Halsted. Contact saic1926@artic.edu for details.

A new issue of The Iowa Review features "Remembering my Life In/Of Words" by Richard Kostelanetz, and a preview of Stephanie Strickland's forthcoming poem, V. Jaishree Odin interviews Strickland, the author of "True North".

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has announced that the winner of this year's Eastgate Prize for hypertext is Désiré; Eleonore. When asked to describe himself, Désiré sent us a personal ad:

He's a "28-year-old estranged Mauritian male who has been in a seven-year relationship with a French-speaking daily newspaper. Also had a few one-night stands with video, actually having an affair with radio while flirting with hypertext. Loves long walks along non-linear paths and thinks that there's more to hypertext than the Internet and looking for new avenues to explore. Not scared of getting lost. Genuine callers only.

Sure beats a bio. Call now!

fineArt forum has a new look. The August edition includes a dialogue between Maria Fernandez, Irina Aristarkhova and Coco Fusco concerning cyberfeminism, globalisation and race; and Linda Carroli reviews Michael Joyce's Moral Tales and Meditations: Technological Parables and Refractions. Also this month, fAf launches a new project, "Favourites," and invites readers to write about your favourite work/s in art, science or technology. Contributions received by 1 November will be published in the January 2003 issue.

Professor Jose Luis Orihuela, a leading Spanish expert in hypertext, has started his own weblog devoted to hyperfiction, cyberculture, digital arts and design.

The Department of Communication of the Université de Montréal is recruiting candidates for several open positions as full-time professor. Candidates must hold (or be about to obtain) a Ph.D. in communication or a related discipline and possess relevant research experience. The ability to teach quantitative methods of analysis will be considered an asset, and candidates will have to demonstrate a working knowledge of French within a reasonable period of time. To apply, submit a CV, three letters of reference, copies of recent publications, and a description of research interests (2-3 pages maximum) to: Ms. Line Grenier, Chair, Département de communication, Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal (Québec) H3C 3J7 Canada. Deadline: 1 October 2002.

Curious Labs has announced Poser 5, an upgrade to its figure modeling package. The upgrade is, curiously, available only for Windows; continued Mac support is left to a subsequent announcement.

Check out an interesting new syllabus on Interdisciplinary Structure of Technoculture by Dr. Amy Chan at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Just published: Creative Web Writing by Jane Dorner. A critical look at Web fiction and eBooks.

Digital Arts and Culture (May 2003, Melbourne Australia) has issued a Call for Works. Artists working in the areas of computer games, interactive film and streaming media to submit projects for a juried exhibition. Deadline is October 10.

Jennifer Garrison Brownell's father grew up in India, the son of missionaries. Recently, father and daughter revisited India together, and she has assembled a parallel journal of their voyage . New URL

"There have been five generations of missionaries in my family. I thought that by learning about my ancestors and their motives and hopes and fears I would learn about myself."

"I was wrong."

New, artifactual (and stylish) hypertext: World of Awe : The Traveler's Journal. By Yael Kanarek, Commissioned by SF MOMA.

From Gilbert Voeten, an intriguing hypertext novella: Variaties op een Dagdroom. In Dutch.

The Weblog Kitchen, our sister site, covers issues and technology for Weblogs and other personal news sites. Fittingly, it's an open and collaborative Wiki.

The Department of Telecommunications of Indiana University is looking for additional tenure track faculty in interactive new media. The department is especially interested in serious nonlinear narrative. Candidates must be able to teach effectively in the departments Design and Production undergraduate area and the departments Interactive New Media Design graduate area of concentration.

A K10K classic that deserves to be better known, On The Night of Mr. Melvin's Murder by Paul Kremer, Toke Nygaard, Claus Kristensen, and mschidt. There's been a lot of discussion about the challenges that mysteries pose for hypertext; Mr. Melvin may not be, strictly speaking, a mystery, but it's an intriguing short hypertext about the night of a murder.

Congratulations to Hypertext '03 program co-chair Helen Ashman on the birth of a daughter, Catherine Susan, on September 28. She's 7lb 8oz.

Charles Deemer's hyperdrama expansion of Chekhov's play, The Seagull, is now complete and offered free on the Web.

The new issue of JoDI is now available. This issue includes an award-winning paper from Hypertext 2002, and papers on XML and e-books, future research for the semantic Web, and on extending client applications for Usenet news.

The Cyberarts Research Initiative, directed by Irina Aristarkhova, is a new research project from the University Scholars Programme at the National University of Singapore, and the first of its kind in the region. The project includes a cyberarts database, resource library, artist-in-residence programme, research in virtual reality collaboration, and undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral programme development in cyberculture and cyberarts. Thanks, Arun-Kumar Tripathi!

The trAce Research Group for New Media Writing has been created to discuss academic issues around the practice, research, funding and development of new media writing.

trAce is a finalist in this year's New Statesman New Media Contest.

In a recent NYTimes article, Matt Mirapaul covers 3-D fiction created in Robert Coover's laboratory at Brown University.

SCAN, the consortium for digital arts development in the South of England, seeks a director. The organization is looking for "a dynamic and organised individual to establish and develop the network as the major resource/catalyst for production, distribution and presentation of digital arts across the South." (We hope the lucky applicant will also build a Web site.) SCAN is supported by the Regional Arts Lottery Programme (Southern & South East Arts). For application information, please write or email: Joanne Bushnell, Chair SCAN, c/o Aspex Gallery 27 Brougham Road, Portsmouth, PO5 4PA UK. Deadine: 2 September 2002.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Artists' Fellowships program awards $7,000 cash grants annually to over 150 artists living in New York State. Artistic disciplines eligible in 2003 include Computer Arts, Crafts, Film, Nonfiction Literature, Performance Art/Multidisciplinary Work, Poetry, Printmaking/Drawing/Artists' Books and Sculpture. Applications are available here. Deadline: 1 October 2002.

ACM SIGWEB has launched a new hypertext course directory that lists undergraduate, postgraduate and commercial courses relevant to SIGWEB's activities. Anyone who teaches hypertext is welcome to submit entries for their courses.

G. Broquard sends word of Ebbflux, "a non-linear database-driven hypertext fiction."

New work at ComputerFineArts includes the charming Beckett's Bounce by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries.

Carolyn Guertin sends word of a new course, Datascapes: Information Aesthetics and Network Culture at Athabasca University. Corrected URL

Call for entries: Transmediale.03, an international, juried media art festival, will be held next February in Berlin. Prizes worth EUR 5,000 will be awarded in each of the three categories Interaction, Image and Software. Projects developed since 2000 in these three fields are elible. of artistic projects developed since 2000 in these three fields. Deadline: 8 September 2002.

The IT University of Copenhagen invites applications for a number of positions as Assistant or Associate Professor in Computer Games and in Digital Aesthetics and Communication. Candidates should have a strong research record, good teaching skills and hands-on experience in these areas: computer games, aesthetic and/or cultural aspects of information technology; communicative and/or social aspects of information technology. Applications must be submitted in English. For further information, please visit the Web site or contact Anker Helms Jørgensen. Deadline: 9 September 2002. Thanks, Susana Pajares Tosca!

Query: Jeremy Hunsinger is looking for people in new media, digital arts and literature in the southeastern U.S. who have an interest in women's studies or gender. If you can help, please send him email.

Norma Toraya's Crankbunny was a Rhizome/Net Art News pick. Curt Cloninger says:

The girl with the arm-stilts pops the pillow-bubble releasing the underwater horse... floating mermaids dance... jackhammer-boy explores the sunken ship. No, it's not a Dali fairy tale, it's one of several possible plots auto-generated by the ambient Flash film Infrasound. Discrete environments, characters, and objects are constantly shuffled according to subtle algorithms, creating on-the-fly narratives that vary each visit. Gorgeous illustrations by crankbunny and an evocative soundtrack by members of Mogwai make Infrasound a high-bandwidth experience worth waiting for. (Free CD-ROM can be ordered too).

Two new kitchens! The Cyber-Kitchen is a collaborative installation space for net art curated by Jess Loseby "and run on a budget of 50p and a packet of crisps" (we know the feeling). The Weblog Kitchen, sponsored by Eastgate, is a WIKI for sharing links and ideas about blogging.

Andy Campbell has two new projects up at digitalfiction.co.uk He writes: "Both projects require Flash 6. Broadband is recommended but not essential. The projects are accessible through the main Digital Fiction URL (www.digitalfiction.co.uk) which also contains background info on the projects, links to many others, plus traditional short stories and narratives which were the source of inspiration for much of DF's work."

e-Media Gallery, at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, seeks net art, CDs and DVDs for an exhibition later this year.

The University of Oregon, Department of Art is also accepting applications for a tenure-track faculty position (three years, with possibility of renewal) for a Designer/Media artist at the rank of Assistant Professor. Salary competitive. Start date September 16, 2003. To apply, send cover letter, CV, contact information of three references, teaching philosophy, and evidence of your work in the field (ex. slides, CDs, URLs, DVDs, publications), and a SASE to: Search Committee, Department of Art, 5232 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5232. Application deadline: 3 January 2003.

The Center for Digital Discourse and Culture (CDDC) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is accepting proposals for hosting artistic, critical, literary and other projects.

From 14 August to 28 September 2002, the Netherlands Media Art Institute will host "Pleasure of Language," an exhibition of artists doing novel work with language and technology. The exhibition will include work by Mez (Mary Anne Breeze), Brandon LaBelle, Peter Frucht, Netochka Nezvanova and Jaine Evans, and Imogen Stidworthy.

Congratulations to Bottlecap Studios, which won two AXIEM Copper Awards for their sites PLAY DOT and Art Interactive.

Reminder: The deadline for inclusion in the first issue of Slope is 31 August.

Megan Heyward talks to Mike Leggett of RealTime Arts about her beautiful new work, Of Day, Of Night, which will be exhibited this fall at ISEA 2002 in Nagoya.

Tinderbox, the personal content management system that's taking the blogging world by storm, is now available for Mac OSX.

The Tinderbox Forum, a community site for Tinderbox users, is now open.

Eastgate Systems announces the publication of My Name Is Captain, Captain., by Judd Morrissey and Lori Talley.

Web Racket: Contemporary Interactive Web Art runs June 8 through September 1 at the DeCordova Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln, MA. The show includes Donna Leishman's Interactive Red Riding Hood, Judd Morrissey's The Jew's Daughter, and dane's help.

Call for participation: The 2003 Boston Cyberarts Festival highlights artists working with new technologies in all media and includes exhibits, performances, screenings, and lectures and symposia at sites all around the Boston area as well as on the Web.

DAC is back! Digital Arts and Culture::2003 will be held on the city campus of RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia from 19-23 May 2003. Calls for papers and art will be distributed shortly. Thanks, Adrian Miles!

New at Turbulence.org : Grey Area by Friederike Paetzold.

"One of the fundamentals of digital image-making is to convert continuous-tone images into images consisting of pixels. Each pixel is a tiny sampling of the image translated into numerical values of transmitted light. Seen together with the thousands or millions of other pixels, the eye combines the tiny samples back into a recognizable image. Grey Area explores this mathematical image-making process as applied to the most personal and psychologically loaded kind of image: the self-portrait."

Art on the Net a juried exhibition in its 8th year, is now accepting entries for 2002. This year's theme is "9.11," and the deadline is 20 September 2002.

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