Proposal for ELMCIP Fulbright Lecturer/Scholar Position Digital media is slowly transforming the way we read, write, and

study literature, and literary studies need to embrace that which is native to digital media in order to stay relevant in an increasingly post-literate world. The study of electronic literature thrives mainly in the margins of the discipline, in specialized journals, such as Electronic Book Review, and in highly technical areas, such as the digital humanities. The problem is that many literary scholars cannot relate to these discussions well because they dont have the specialized training required. The field of electronic literature needs to move in from the margins of academia in order to strengthen the discipline of literary studies. One way to do so is to employ well established critical tools such as close reading, biographical study, and bibliographic scholarshipand enriching them by placing them in conversation with more recent media-savvy approaches, such as critical code studies, software studies, media-specific analysis. The other strategy is to publish literary criticism in traditional journals with a high impact factor, such as The Explicator, American Literature, Canadian Literature, PMLA, and others. Literary studies cannot afford to ignore the contributions electronic literature brings to the table, particularly as new generations are raised reading and writing on screens. A recurring concern in the past three Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) conferences and echoed in the recent E-Poetry 2011 has been how electronic literature can break into the mainstream of literary studies, and the ELMCIP project is one way of addressing this issue. Two of its stated goals are: Examine how electronic literature communities benefit from current educational models and develop pedagogical tools. Study how electronic literature manifests in conventional cultural contexts and evaluate the effects of distributing and exhibiting e-lit in such contexts.

My proposal would benefit the hosts, the field, and the discipline by making strong efforts towards publication in conventional literary journals in order to raise awareness of the field of electronic literature. This 11-month Fulbright lecturer/scholar position will give me the opportunity to teach three courses at the University of Bergen that will train a cohort of students to appreciate, analyze, and publish close readings of works of electronic literature, while I conduct archival research on the Arteroids Development Folder, and publish articles in mainstream literary journals. Research Activities The field of electronic literature is a relatively recent one in literary history, its early experiments go as far back as the 1950s, beginning in the mid 1980s, slowly developing a literary scene by the early 1990s with Eastgate Systems, and having significant growth with the rise of the World

Wide Web. Much of its theoretical writing has been built upon Poststructural theories and practical issues that arise from creating academic digital resources for manuscript and print works. The theoretical corpus of New Media Literature was largely focused on trying to define electronic literature and textualitycoming to terms with its particularities (or perceived particularities)but little work has been done in using such theories to perform insightful readings of works of electronic literature. I am a Formalist at heart and have long been interested in the impact of media in literary workswhat Charles Bernstein has called a technoformalist. I have studied, taught, and presented on topics as diverse as comic books and graphic novels, serial literature, film, modern poetry, visual poetry traditions, artists books, and electronic literature. In all of these areas, I have been fascinated by how meaning can be constructed through the material characteristics of each medium, paying close attention to the linguistic, graphical, aural, and behavioral aspects of texts in order to make insightful readings of the works I encounter, study, and teach. My dissertation, Typing the Dancing Signifier: Jim Andrews (Vis)Poetics, is the first single author study in the field of electronic literature and models the kinds of close-readings discussed in the proposal, and which I feel are much needed in the field. I am the custodian of a set of materials that poet Jim Andrews has been generous in sharing with me: the Arteroids Development Folder, as well as notebook full of notes, diagrams, graphs, and ideas that document his work in Nio, Arteroids, Jig-Sound, DBcinema and in other recent projects. These materials are a gold mine of information for a scholar interested in studying Arteroids in depth as a work of e-literature, as a first generation electronic object, as a computer game, and as a record of an artists work with programmable media, among others. My research activities will be focused on developing a publishable archive of the materials in the Arteroids Development Folder, as well as editing and conceptualizing a critical edition of Jim Andrews electronic poem and videogame. The final chapter of my dissertation makes a case for the importance of these materials and how they enrich the experience of Arteroids, justifying their use for the creation of a critical edition of this important poem and videogame. My editorial approach is informed by the bibliographic theories of Jerome McGann, Peter Shillingsburg, G. Thomas Tanselle, and John Bryant (among others), attuning them to electronic textuality with the work of New Media theorists, such as Mathew Kirschenbaum and N. Katherine Hayles. An important collaborator in my research is Jim Andrews himself, with whom I enjoy a good professional relationship. My research will be done through the study of bibliography and digital preservation and using this knowledge to perform a descriptive and analytical bibliography of the materials in the Arteroids Development Folder. Correspondence and collaboration with Jim Andrews will also be an important research method. A tentative time-frame follows: Months 1-3: research, reading, preparation.

Months 4- 8 months: preparation of descriptive and analytical bibliography. Months 9-11: preparation of Arteroids Archive and resource for publication.

I will seek publication through multiple venues: University presses, such as MIT Press, and Johns Hopkins University Press. Peer-reviewed electronic journals in the field of electronic literature: Electronic Book Review, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Leonardo Electronic Almanac. Traditional peer-reviewed journals in the discipline, such as The Explicator, American Literature, and PMLA. Digital humanities sites, such as MITH and ELO. Group blogs, such as NetPoetic.

Teaching Activities The University of Bergen has several professors in the field of electronic literature, such as Scott and Jill Rettberg, and has therefore prepared and attracted a student body that is interested in the material. An area in which they could use my expertise is in electronic poetry, since their preparation is more geared towards narrative, hypertext, and gaming. My studies in 20th century poetry and poetics and how it informs electronic poetry, as well as my focus on Bibliographic and Formalist media-specific analysis of works of electronic literature would complement their offerings in the field. My classes are very student-centered, incorporating Readers Response methods and Formalism towards the study of literary and other texts, while empowering students with theory. I use course websites (and am experienced with course management systems, blogs, and websites) to expand upon in-class discussions, integrate Web 2.0 tools (such as bibliographic management tools, social bookmarking services, and social networks) to transform the class into a research and learning community. Students are active contributors to the courses I teach, and I see my role as a facilitator and resource for the students as they go through a series of learning experiences. I have been deeply involved in curriculum planning and administrative responsibilities, both as a member of my departments Literature Sector (as chair and member) and Graduate Committee, and as an Associate Dean of Assessment and Educational Technologies. I directed a masters thesis on webcomics, and am currently directing another on videogames. This academic year I will be teaching two special topics courses I designed that are relevant to this proposal: a graduate course titled The Materials of Poetry in the Fall and an undergraduate course titled Introduction to Electronic Literature in the Spring. My preparation would allow me to teach any of the courses listed in the position description at University of Bergen, but am most interested in the following: DIKULT103: Digital Genres: Digital Art, Electronic Literature and Computer Games; DIKULT203: Electronic Literature; and DIKULT304: Graduate Seminar: Topics in Digital Culture. As far as adapting to teaching at

University of Bergen, one of my first steps in teaching a course is to assess what the students already know about the subject, as well as their interests, in order to fine tune the course to better serve our common goals. Since 1992, I have taught a variety of literature and composition courses, to students of various levels of ESL proficiency and expertise in the field: introductory, advanced undergraduate, and graduate. My curriculum vitae contains a list of courses that are relevant to the advertised position. The position advertisement states that the courses would be taught in English, but I imagine that my students may not have native English proficiency. Fortunately, I already make adjustments for that in my teaching, since Spanish is the first language of almost all of my students at the University of Puerto Rico. Some of these adjustments include allotting time to explain some vocabulary and cultural contexts the students may not be aware of, and speaking as slowly and clearly as their language proficiency level requires. I relish the opportunity to interact with students and colleagues from other cultures. Conclusion I am an experienced traveler, interested in living abroad and adapting to new environments and bringing these experiences home to Puerto Rico to share with students, colleagues, friends and family. I have traveled to France several times, living for a month in Paris as I took intensive French classes at the Sorbonne and working in a volunteer work camp in central France for three weeks, restoring the trail up to the ruins of a medieval castle in the town of Nonette. I have traveled through Europe several times, as well as Honduras, Mexico, Canada, and many areas of the United States. For both my masters and doctoral studies, I moved alone to universities in the United States in places where I had no friends or family: Ohio and Maryland. In all of these cases, I have been exceedingly successful at adapting to the environments and making lifelong friendships and professional relationships, while expanding awareness of Puerto Rico, its people, and culture. As a cultural ambassador I am as fun as it gets: I am a good salsa dancer and have taught many people how to dance this Caribbean music. I also love cooking, and can prepare local and international dishes. For me, this would be an opportunity to jump-start my academic career in my area of expertise shortly after completing my dissertation. I would benefit from the opportunity to focus 100% of my time on my specialization, both in teaching and research. This is an area that is not covered in the courses offered at the University of Puerto Rico: Mayaguez Campus and I can only weave in the topic marginally into existing courses. This will allow me the time to focus on improving my publication record, since I wont be occupied by heavy off-topic teaching and administrative workloads. Participating in this project will allow me to develop courses, which I can then propose for adoption at my home institution. The opportunity to participate in the ELMCIP project through this Fulbright Lecturer/Scholar position comes at a moment in my career where it can have a tremendous impact on the course of

my professional development, and simultaneously benefit the ELMCIP project, the University of Bergen, the field of electronic literature, the discipline of literary studies, and the University of Puerto Rico.