Compose the written material that will be the first stage in constructing an online hypertext.
Topic: Your paper will focus on copyright issues involving music.
Structure: The paper should consist of nine 1/2-page lexias (total of 1500 words). We will construct a simple hypertext out of them, using a tree structure. The first two lexias will name the work and issue you are discussing and then present your thesis--both pro and con. That is, one will present a positive position on the issue you choose, and the other will present a negative position on the same issue. From each thesis lexia, there will then be three linked lexias, amplifying and supporting the position being argued. These supporting lexias should be full of detailed examples. One of the lexias on each side may be narrative or autobiographical, featuring your experience with the song you have chosen. The paper will end with a ninth lexia, which presents a conclusion. Of course, your conclusion may well be paradoxical or suggestive, for it will need to sum up two totally opposed arguments.
Presentation: You will be asked to present your paper for peer review by a fellow class member on Thursday. You should write your paper in Microsoft Word, inserting a page break between each of your nine lexias (to add a page break in a Word document, hold down the Ctrl key and hit Enter).
Compare and contrast assignment. Write a hypertext comparing and contrasting any two of the following works:
- Snowcrash
- The Ghost in the Shell
- The Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
- Lain
- Bruce Sterling, Hacker's Crackdown
- Blade Runner (1982; Director's Cut, 1992), Ridley Scott (Dir.)
- Hackers (1995), Iain Softley (dir.)
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Robert Longo (dir.); based on a story by William Gibson
- Sneakers (1992), Phil Alden Robinson (dir.)
- Strange Days (1995), Kathryn Bigelow (dir.); based on a story by James Cameron
- Judy Malloy, "Afterwards"
- Judy Malloy, "A Party at Silver Beach"
The hypertext should be six lexias long (1500 words). The first, thesis lexia should establish the basis of the comparison between the two works. The four main lexias should focus on two scenes, motifs, or characters from each of the works you choose. The conclusion should resolve the questions you raise for both works.
Be sure to keep your focus on the two aspects of each work you analyze. Do not attempt to cover the entire works because that will tend to lead you into simplistic overviews or plot summaries. Discuss not only the content of the two scenes but the relevant forms, techniques, or structural problems raised by your subject.
Secondary source paper. Using ideas drawn from either Espen J. Aarseth's "Ergodic Literature" or Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin's "The Double Logic of Remediation," discuss the relevance of the secondary source to one (or more) of the following works:
- Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel"
- Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of the Forking Paths"
- Brian Kerr, "Part of the Old Brick Chimney"
- Christopher Nolan (dir.), Memento
In the opening lexia, set up the problem or issue you will address, introducing both the primary and the secondary texts. Treat the second lexia as a link off the chief term from the secondary text, defining it carefully as in a footnote; use examples and take all the time you need to clarify the term or idea on its own.
Lexias three and four should each be devoted to a specific feature of the primary text that is illuminated by the critical idea you have chosen.
The final lexia should be devoted to your conclusion. Length: 1,500 words.
Name your file as follows: "Lastname - paper 3" - (Third Paper Assignment.) Post your file to the Digital Dropbox in Blackboard. Please name your file both in your wordprocessor and in Blackboard as follows: "Lastname - paper 3."
Write response papers (500 words in length) on two of the following topics. You may compare Star Wars Galaxies to other computer games you have played, but the focus should be on the experience of this game environment.
Post your files to the Digital Dropbox in Blackboard. Please name your files both in your wordprocessor and in Blackboard as follows: "Lastname - paper 4a" and "Lastname - paper 4b."
Aesthetics
Does this game potentially represent a new form of art? Does it make sense to think of video games in aesthetic terms, as emerging art forms?
Authorship
Who is the "author" of a video game? To what degree is authorship shared among George Lucas and the other directors of the Star Wars movies, the game creators at Sony Online Entertainment, the many novelists who have written original fiction set in the Star Wars universe, the conventions of other games, and the players within the game? In particular, do players have enough creative freedom to consider themselves "co-authors," however minimally, of the ongoing SWG experience?
Communities
What sense of community is created among players in the game? How do the kinds of communities encountered within SWG differ from or resemble other communities in your life?
Educational Value
Assess the claims of James Gee about the educational value of video games. Please address one or more of the "36 Learning Principles" listed in the appendix to What Video Games Have To Teach Us about Learning and Literacy.
Gender
Is the experience of playing SWG gendered in significant ways? Does playing the game allow you to experiment with gender roles? Are the options provided circumscribing? Do men and women have different experiences within the game?
Graphic Arts
Are the graphics beautiful? How does the knowledge that the graphics are continuously generated through a fusion of visual design and computer technology affect your reaction to the imagery?
Identity
Does SWG offer significant opportunities explore new identity roles? Does the experience of playing the game help you think about identity--yours or other peoples--in new ways?
Imaginative Worlds
Art is often said to create imaginative worlds for the reader, viewer, or listener. Assess the imaginative worlds presented to the player of SWG.
Multimedia
How does the combination of media--text, music, and graphics--affect your reactions to the game?
Narrative
Analyze the narrative dimension of Star Wars Galaxies. To what extent is the game environment a narrative or set of interlocking, overlapping, or competing narratives? Do the story arcs that introduce missions and quests--or the larger story arc of the Star Wars movies--shape your experience so that you could be said to enter the narrative?
Race
Is there a racial dimension to the game? If not, how do you interpret the experience of a race-free environment. Are the diverse species in SWG proxies for race?
Jay Clayton Vanderbilt University