Chapter 5

Chapter 5 in Electronic Literature focuses on kinetic and interactive poetry. Rettberg characterizes kinetic and interactive poetry through "Time and Movement" and "The materiality of language".  Rettberg defines kinetic poetry as a time based poetry where its main characteristic is how "texts change through animation" (119). Kinetic poetry is also considered multimedial that relies on a combination of text and motion. Interactive poetry relies on the relationship between the "reader and text as a recursive feedback loop" (120). The section I found interesting in chapter 5 was "Kinetic and interactive poetry in technological context". This section focused on how these two types of poetry evolved as technology advanced and how they grew over time. Rettberg discusses various software programs including "Basic", "Hypercard", and "HTML". "Basic" is a computer program created in the 1960s that was meant to help people learn about coding. First Screening: Computer Poems is one of the examples that uses the program "Basic" and was a series of twelve poems created on the Apple IIE computer. "HyperCard" was a program released by Apple in 1987 that was installed on all Mac computers. The program was designed to "bring scripted behaviors to average computer users who did not have any prior programming skills" (135). "HyperCard" had its own scripting language called "Hypertalk" and it was used by users to develop their own programs. "HyperCard" continued to be developed until 2004 when Apple stopped its development. Rettberg states text animation and motion graphics in the 2000s were not possible in HTML, but after the release of HTML 5 in 2014 it allowed people to add motion graphics. HTML 5 became popular after Adobe stopped developing Flash making digital writers use HTML. The work of digital poetry I chose to focus on was Jim Andrews' Nio. Nio was created in 2001 that "invited the reader to interact with elements" (137). Instead of words, Nio focuses on sound and images which change every time the reader clicks on the current image. Nio was created through the program "Director" and was designed "to read in external casts of sound icons/sounds/animations" (Vispo).
Tim W.