Lindsay: Week 7

In Chapter 6, Scott Rettberg explores the rich and experimental world of network writing; a form of electronic literature that emphasizes the internet, not just as a publishing platform, but as an integral medium shaping both form and content. What stands out most to me in Rettberg’s analysis is the idea that network writing is both of and about the internet. Unlike traditional literary forms, which might treat digital tools as incidental, network writing embraces the internet’s infrastructure as thematic and material. Works like Olia Lialina’s My Boyfriend Came Back from the War or projects by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries demonstrate how hyperlinking, browser behavior, and even loading time become narrative tools. These texts are fragmented and nonlinear- reshaping how readers engage with story, space, and temporality.

I decided to look at Alan Bigelow’s How to Rob a Bank from 2017. There are 5 different parts, but I only completed the first. While it was interesting, the only option you have is to click the space bar or arrow keys which perform the same function, that is to bring you to the next screenshot of a phone screen to further the narrative. The screenshots include Google searches of how to rob a bank, text messages, app store searches and installations of police scanners, game ads, and much more. There are also funny pictures in there including searches such as "How to test your morality" and "Will I be able to retire?" It even shows the phone dying which I found realistic and amusing. The narrative quickly escalates as the robber takes a hostage.