ELECTRONIC LITERATURE
Task: Researching various examples of electronic literature.
The first example I researched was Bobby Genalo's interactive infographic on US Poverty.
US Poverty infographic indicating poverty in 2005.
On first glance, the piece seems to be giving information on US poverty. It also lists some years, indicating that the information will be separated by these specific years. It is a little hard to read the type as there is little contrast between the type and the background.
Clicking any one of the years at the bottom brings a change in the circle in the centre, which changes according to the amount of poverty in that particular year. This feature is a good example of using visuals to represent numerical information.
This piece is very informative as well as entertaining to use, and may create interest on the user to research more on poverty. However, I would give more contrast to the type, as well as find a way to include some more information on poverty or any related events that happened in the specific years.
US Poverty infographic indicating poverty in 1960 (top) and 1965 (bottom).
The next example I found was the interactive '24 Hours With Someone You Know' by Philippa J. Burne, which came out in 1996.
'24 Hours With Someone You Know' homepage by Philippa J.Burne.
This is an example of an interactive game based on hypertext, which is a simple form of interactive media in which links to other pages are imbedded within words. The basis of the game is to read the story presented, and be given choices on how to progress. The choices themselves have links to different pages, thus different choices will lead to different outcomes. This game came out in 1996, at this time graphics were limited, so games like this were more common.
The game is very heavily text-based, with minimal imagery. The large walls of text make it quite tedious to read and off-putting for someone who is looking for an engaging game to play. However, I do think that having an interactive story as a game is quite interesting, so more visuals and less text would be an ideal change.
'24 Hours With Someone You Know' gameplay.
References
Bobby Genalo, n.d. Interactive Type. [online] Available at: http://bobbygenalo.com/interactivetype/ [Accessed 3 March 2016].
Philippa J. Burne, 1996. 24 Hours With Someone You Know... [online] Available at: http://www.glasswings.com.au/modern/24hours/24hours.htm [Accessed 3 March 2016].