Monstrous Submissions

[markcmarino]

Hello, Monstrous Authors (Maunthors),

Alex Mitchell has just proposed that we create our many versions of the content for Monstrous Weather as a submission for ELO17, perhaps for the gallery.

We could try any version you'd like: Twine, Google Maps, Umbrellas, Songs, et cetera.

Any interest?  Deadline for submission is Dec. 1.

Reply back with interest or ideas!

Best,

Mark

[Alex Mitchell]

Thanks Mark!

Yes, I thought it might be interesting to showcase a number of variations of our collaborative story at ELO. The submission guidelines are here: https://conference.eliterature.org/2017/submission-guidelines. I assume the Festival would be the appropriate category (although performance might also work...). The deadline is actually 5 December, so we still have a bit of time. Works would not have to be complete, just far enough along that we can include a link to an in-progress work as part of the description.

Any interest or suggestions?

thanks!
Alex

[Alex Mitchell]

I've received indications of interest from Scott Rettberg:

If the group submission is possible I'll be in.

and Andrew Klobucar:

I'd be in favour of pursuing an application, though my contributions were pretty minor - but it would give us chance to look more carefully at the right format for projects like these. I think that's still a big question.

a

and I'm assuming Mark is in. :) Somehow Scott and Andrew's replies didn't show up here.

I've drafted a short abstract for the proposal, which I'm attaching. If anyone is interested in being involved, please reply and let me know. What I need in particular is links to in-progress work so that I can include this in the abstract. If there aren't enough people interested at this point (deadline is in a few days), I'd also be happy to do this for some other venue.

thanks!
Alex

[markcmarino]

I think we can get this together, Alex,

Thank you for keeping the ball rolling!  Rob expressed interest and enthusiasm about this as well.

I'm wondering if we should come up with a name for our collective -- a name which includes all the contributors to Monstrous Weather.

The Monsters of Weather?  The Winds of Netprov?  

Somebody's got to have a better idea,

Mark

[andrew.klobucar]

Isn't the collective in essence a wind farm?

[davinheckman]

I'd like to help.  I'm not sure exactly how. 

davin

[Alex Mitchell]

So maybe "The Wind Farmers"? I also like "The Cloud Farmers"... :)

[Alex Mitchell]

Thanks Davin!

What would be most useful at this point is 1) descriptions or images of, or links to, any in-progress adaptations of the stories that I can include in the proposal, and 2) any comments or feedback on the brief proposal I attached to my earlier message.

Thanks!
Alex

[Alex Mitchell]

Jeremy Hight wrote:

I like the cloud farmers

So do I. :) Shall we go with that? Any other thoughts?

Good news about deadlines, as the ELO 2017 deadline has been extended to 22 December. So lets keep talking about this, and work towards having several examples of adaptations-in-progress by then. I'm personally working on a HypeDyn and Ink version in parallel, in part to see how the different platforms lead to divergent interpretations.

thanks,
Alex

[markcmarino]

Great.

I'll return to my Twine version.  We can have multiple of these.  I remember some folks had ideas for that one.

I can also help with an Ink version or create a separate one.

Anyone use Ren-Py?  Other versions? We could stage a Twittered one for during the conference.

Let's see where we can get by the 22.   Do we have a Google Doc for the abstract yet?

Best,

Mark

[Alex Mitchell]

Hi Mark (and everyone else),

So sorry, I missed this message somehow. I love the idea of a Twittered version, and wouldn't mind going back to Inform 7 or some other IF tool just for fun to create yet another strange variation (but obviously not by tomorrow...), so hopefully we'll end up with a few variations.

We still have until tomorrow (not sure what time exactly, hopefully 23:59 "anywhere on earth") to get this in, so I think what we need to do is polish the abstract, and add in links to example versions. Here's a link to the abstract:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IY_iUJ_pQfRmakLHh6P-p12Keo_LYT_K9wD-KSYHv8E/edit?usp=sharing

Please do go in and add comments, and I'll edit the final version for submission. If you have links to your own examples, please either post here, or add them as comments in the google doc. If anyone wants to edit the document directly, let me know and I'll add you with editing permission.

One particular question I have is who I should list in EasyChair as the authors... any suggestions? :)

thanks!
Alex

[markcmarino]

How many authors can you list?

Maybe put your name as contact plus the collective name. Did we come up with one? You could list individuals in the abstract. And Alex, thank you for submitting!

Are you submitting it as a performance or installation?

I'll put mine in the index here.
http://markcmarino.com/mweather

Best,
Mark

[Alex Mitchell]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the link. My work-in-progress is here: http://narrativeandplay.org/mweather.

I was assuming this would be an "installation" submission, but a performance could also be interesting... :) Any preferences? If I don't hear from anyone otherwise, I'll put "installation".

There doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of authors, but it might be a bit overwhelming for the reviewers if I put in 18 names... so yes, I think putting the names in the abstract, and using the collective name (is "The Cloud Farmers" ok?) plus me as corresponding author is the best approach.

Alex

[markcmarino]

Cloud Farmers & Installation sound good to me.  But I'm up for anything.

Best,

Mark

[Alex Mitchell]

Ok, The Cloud Farmers and an installation it is!

I've made the submission. A pdf of the submission is attached to this post. If there are any issues with the submission please let me know before the deadline as I can still edit the submission until then.

Thanks everyone! Now we wait... :)

Alex

[andrew.klobucar]

I also want to thank Alex for his efforts here, and confirm my support. Definitely think "Cloud Farmers" works well as a name - calling to mind (at least my mind) maybe one or two references to Kate Bush and/or Wilhelm Reich. The abstract looks good. If I were to add anything, I might bring up the proposed exhibition, as it is developing, as an opportunity to investigate e-lit collaborative projects in detail. It follows the ongoing paths in aesthetics and politics trekked by "Netprov" for some time now.

AK

[Alex Mitchell]

Thanks Andrew! I like the suggested addition. I've added the following sentence just before the final sentence in the abstract:

"This work represents an opportunity to investigate e-lit collaborative projects in detail, following the ongoing paths in aesthetics and politics being trekked by netprov for some time now."

Alex

[Rob Wittig]

Alex, Andrew — Thanks so much for spearheading this! I love the description! Nice going!

Rob

[Alex Mitchell]

Hi all,

Just received this:

Dear Alex Mitchell (and The Cloud Farmers),

We are delighted to inform you that “Monstrous Weather: Cross-platform Retellings of a Networked Improvisation” has been accepted for the 2017 Electronic Literature Organization Conference and Festival taking place 18-22 July 2017 at the University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal. However, based on the evaluations, we will schedule your work as a Lightning Talk.

So we're in, but as a "lightning talk" (5 minute talk together with a bunch of other 5 minute talks).

I'm going to be there to present another paper anyway (assuming I can secure the funding), so I'm happy to go ahead and accept this and then figure out what exactly to say in those 5 minutes, unless anyone has any objections. Do let me know your thoughts about this, in particular about the presentation format. Perhaps a choral reading by all of the cloud farmers who happen to be in Porto? :)

thanks,
Alex

[Alex Mitchell]

Some thoughts from William:

Can you record a 50-minute reading with multiple voices, and then speed it up by a factor of ten, holding a boombox up to the microphone?

W

and Davin:

1 word per person?

:)

[Alex Mitchell]

I'm in the process of preparing for the "lightning session" presentation of Monstrous Weather... if anyone has actually done any cross-platform interpretations or variations, please do send me links or images so I can include them. Thanks!

Alex

[Alex Mitchell]

Hi everyone,

I've been talking with Joe Tabbi about doing an EBR version of the paper I presented on Monstrous Weather at ELO 2017. The idea would be to make use of the online format to include/link to some of the variations of the reinterpretations/adaptations that have been created (mine and Mark's hypertext versions, the archive of the streamed performance in Porto, and perhaps the original Google Group postings). I haven't figured out the details yet, but I thought I'd just throw this out into the ether to hear any ideas that might come back... let me know if you have any suggestions. :)

Alex

[Alex Mitchell]

Hi Mark (and others)

I just realised I never replied to your email about this, and that our replies were not appearing in the Google group as it isn't set to accept email postings.

Anyway, Joe (who I think can also see this message!) had asked that I prepare the EBR paper by mid-February. However, I have since become swamped under with several other deliverables, and as mentioned I forgot to update everyone about the deadline, so I’m going to ask him for more time. Before I do that I thought I should ask you (and anyone else who might have something to contribute) how much time you might need to touch up your adaptations, so that I can factor that into my extension request. :)

thanks,
Alex

On 12 Dec 2017, at 8:37 AM, Alex Mitchell wrote:

Hi Mark,

Yes, we probably all need a bit more time to get things ready. :) I haven’t touched my HypeDyn version since just before ELO 2017. :) I’ll write to Joe and see if I can get a sense of the timeline, and let you know.

Alex

On 6 Dec 2017, at 9:27 PM, Mark Marino wrote:

Wow, this sounds great. 

It would be nice to get a bit more time to extend the various versions.

Best,

Mark