Week 9

I hope you had fun exploring the wonders of participating in your own interactive fiction last week! I’ve been hooked on it all week! It’s a wonder that I managed to tear myself away from the ‘Storymash’ website to write this week’s blog!

This week’s lecture was replaced by a meeting with our tutor to discuss our practice-led task as well as the 2,000 word essay.

After weeks of experimenting with different software’s and websites to create pieces of work to be published electronically-

- lulu- http://www.lulu.com/
- inform- http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Welcome.html
- Ren’Py- http://www.renpy.org/wiki/renpy/Home_Page

we must put what we have learned here (with the above websites/ software’s) to great use and create a project and publish it electronically. We must think critically of technologies used to produce our project. The whole point of this exercise is that hopefully through creating a product using technologies such as the internet (ip/tcp), html, pdf’s, and xml we will learn something through practice as we engage with these technologies.

After creating the project, we must then go on to write a report on the whole process. This report doesn’t entail us to give a step by step diary of what we did, but instead-

- talk of the processes used to create it
- talk about e-publishing and how traditional publishing has evolved with these technologies and disruptive technologies used in your project. Not only this, but how these technologies have altered the publishing value chain
- another aspect I could concentrate on in my report is alternative deliveries to what I used. I could weigh the pros and cons of both outlets (the one used, and another possibility)
- this could then link in with the strength and weaknesses of my delivery
- a point to highlight in the report is the problems I had with the project, and the ways I overcame them.

This practice-led project and report consists of a 60%/40% marking split. It is down to each individual to decide which percentage we wish to award both aspects of the work-
- project
- report

I haven’t quite decided on how I wish to split it yet. I will probably wait until I have completed both parts of the work to make a final decision, but knowing me I will probably play it safe and go the 60% with my report!

I have decided to publish an e-book using http://www.lulu.com/ as I enjoyed the experience of having full creative control in publishing my e-book last time. Obviously this time I will publish my own work instead of using project Guttenberg, and I will definitely pay more attention to detail this time around. I am aware that in order to succeed in this project I will have to add value to the artefact that I’m creating, and give the public something different that they can’t buy anywhere else (hence why I will publish my own work). Not only this but I will include in keeping illustrations, and choose appropriate typesetting and font. By doing this it could add value to the work, by giving the public a better experience when reading my book, and therefore public perception of my artefact. I myself in the past have experienced reading pieces of work where the font chosen makes it very difficult to understand the words written on the page in front of me; this is an attribute that I don’t want my work to possess. I want to make the reader’s experience of my work a pleasurable one. This is something I need to keep in mind in order to fulfil the requirements of the task.

I’m sure it is going to take a lot of my time and effort to complete this project, but I’m up for the challenge! If you have any suggestions that you think could add value to my e-book, or make the reader’s experience a more pleasurable one, then please do leave a comment.

Hope to hear from you.