{"id":190,"date":"2013-03-24T23:10:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T23:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/?p=190"},"modified":"2013-03-24T23:10:04","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T23:10:04","slug":"custom-orthotics-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/2013\/03\/24\/custom-orthotics-changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Orthotics Changed My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Custom Orthotics Changed My Life<\/i><\/a> by Richard Holeton is a piece of non-interactive electronic fiction cleverly constructed as a business (PowerPoint) presentation.\u00a0 Similar to a kinetic or animated PowerPoint presentation, the work of fiction uses line graphs, bar graphs, tables, and Venn diagrams to illustrate the plot and events of the protagonist as he divorces twice, mourns the death of his son and falls into a solitude bankruptcy.\u00a0 Holeton’s piece uses audio recorded by David Kettler to bring forth emotion to the narrator’s memoir.\u00a0 Although lasting only nine-and-a-half minutes and using very few words, Holeton is able to capture dark humor and irony, as well as a surprisingly detailed description of events.\u00a0 When the protagonist hits rock bottom, in large part due to leg cramps, back aches, sore neck, and other foot related problems, the sentence \u201cthen I discovered custom orthotics\u201d is slowly typed onto the screen \u2013 a dramatic climax.\u00a0 From that point on, the music is positive and energetic as he describes how improved foot comfort rejuvenates the relationships in his life.\u00a0 In addition to the humorous notion that a footbed can turn a life around, the narrator creates humor through exaggerations in his graphs when they describe his savings account or the amount of instant noodles eaten.\u00a0 Though fictional, this piece unintentionally resembles an advertisement for custom orthotics since it is a customer testimonial giving it rave reviews.<\/p>\n

Custom Orthotics Changed My Life<\/i><\/a> is a narrative in which the \u201creader plunges into imaginative world she ceases to notice the page\u201d\u00a0(Hayles 32).\u00a0 Called “active participation” by Katherine Hayles, the reader is captured by the narration which is in a digital presentation form.\u00a0 Katherine Hayles discusses the computational nature of twenty-first century literature.\u00a0 She claims that humans are distinguished from other species by our ability to use language to develop complex social formations.\u00a0 In electronic literature, and specifically this piece, the computer language of PowerPoint presentations is one in which many people are familiar with in the 21st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Hayles goes on to claim in chapter 2 that humans engineer computers, but computers reengineer humans in a “recursive feedback loop” (Hayles 48).\u00a0 The manner in which the story of custom orthotics is presented proves that much of human communication has become based on a computer visual language, PowerPoint.\u00a0 The slides of a PowerPoint presentation, with its sliding and dissolving titles, line graphs sliding across the screen, and bullets with short concise points has infiltrated the way people make meaning.\u00a0 The subtle dynamics of a business presentation has quickly bound together the author, program, and viewer.\u00a0 Hayles\u2019s term \u201crecombinant flux\u201d describes how the aesthetics of electronic literature that have a stronger impression than a worded book.\u00a0 PowerPoint fiction is a child of a narrative fiction and a business presentation.\u00a0 This reaffirms Hayles\u2019s claim that \u201cnothing comes from nothing, electronic literature was not born ex nihilo\u201d\u00a0(Hayles 80).<\/p>\n

The graphs and diagrams in Holeston\u2019s piece present the information in a unique way.\u00a0 According to Heidegger\u2019s terms, the graphs “reveal” or “unconceal” the narration through visual representation.\u00a0 The same way scientific data is framed by a digital presentation (i.e. lectures, statscan), so are the narrator\u2019s marital failures and life struggles.<\/p>\n

When new formats of fiction arise, it can be described as a Reading Revolution, coined by Tim Carmody.\u00a0 The widespread use of computers in the workplace, education, and communication has altered the way we read and write.\u00a0 This piece of PowerPoint fiction, along with other electronic literature, is the future of fiction.\u00a0 This advancement of reading methods is echoed by F.T. Marinetti.\u00a0 Futurist sensibility<\/i> refers to the renewal of human sensibilities brought about by science and today\u2019s swift pace (Marinetti).\u00a0 With information travelling faster and more visually, a nine-and-a-half minute slideshow gets more information across faster to the reader than a book.<\/p>\n

Richard Holeton taught in the English program at Stanford University for 12 years.\u00a0 He is now the director of Academic Computing Services.\u00a0 His responsibilities include providing technology resources and expertise for students, faculty and administrators.\u00a0 His previous work includes Frequently Asked Questions About Hypertext<\/i><\/a> , a hyperlink fiction in the form of a F.A.Q. about a 69 word poem called \u201cHypertext\u201d.\u00a0 He is also the author of \u201cComposing Cyberspace: Identity, Community, and Knowledge in the Electronic Age\u201d, a university textbook\u00a0(Educause). \u00a0The music is composed by David Kettler, a graduate from Stanford.\u00a0 He studied music, science, and technology (Holeton).<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/h1>\n

Carmody, Tim.\u00a0 “10 Reading Revolutions Before E-Books”.<\/em>\u00a0 The Atlantic.<\/em>\u00a0 The Atlantic Mag.\u00a0 25 Aug. 2010.\u00a0 Web.\u00a0 24 Mar. 2013.<\/p>\n

“Richard Holeton Biography Stanford University”.\u00a0 Educause<\/em>.\u00a0 n.p.\u00a0 2008.\u00a0 Web.\u00a0 24 Mar. 2013.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.educause.edu\/members\/richard-holeton<\/p>\n

Hayles, K. N.\u00a0 Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary.<\/i> Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2010.\u00a0 Print.<\/p>\n

Heidegger, Martin.\u00a0 The Question Concerning Technology: and Other Essays.<\/em>\u00a0 New York & London: Garland Publishing Inc.\u00a0 1977.\u00a0 Print.<\/p>\n

Holeton, Richard.\u00a0 Custom Orthotics Changed My Life.\u00a0 <\/em>Kairos.\u00a0 n.p.\u00a0 Web.\u00a0 24 Mar. 2013.\u00a0 http:\/\/kairos.technorhetoric.net\/14.2\/disputatio\/holeton\/index.html<\/p>\n

Marinetti, F.T.\u00a0 Destruction of Syntax\u2014Imagination without strings\u2014Words-in-Freedom. \u00a0<\/em>n.p.\u00a0 Web.\u00a0 24 Mar. 2013.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.unknown.nu\/futurism\/destruction.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Custom Orthotics Changed My Life by Richard Holeton is a piece of non-interactive electronic fiction cleverly constructed as a business (PowerPoint) presentation.\u00a0 Similar to a kinetic or animated PowerPoint presentation, the work of fiction uses line graphs, bar graphs, tables, and Venn diagrams to illustrate the plot and events of the protagonist as he divorces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,8,39,34,10,41,40,15],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-animation","tag-audio","tag-collaboration","tag-fiction","tag-kinetic","tag-memoir","tag-non-interactive","tag-visual-narrative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}