Reaction to E-Lit

Reaction to E-Lit

 

Since I am someone who learns better visually, electronic literature, or E-lit, makes the learning more interesting for me. However, until this class, I never really read literature on my computer - I always read it the old-fashioned way - in print. But when a story is on the computer, it really comes alive especially with the graphics which are more vivid than still photographs. Pictures and sounds can really tell a story. And the story so far that I thought showed E-lit at its best was Public Secrets. The black and white color images which resembled prison walls, the various sections where the quotes are in different sizes, and the hypertext links to the sounds of the women at the Central California Women's Facility really did as author Sharon Daniel said in her introduction - made us more of a witness than a tourist to what goes on inside the facility. Navigating through this E-lit piece was a little like walking through a maze - what do I click on now, where will it take me to, what's next if I click on "more"? The reader has the option to listen to the women's voices as well as read the transcript. To hear the women talk about the living conditions and how they are treated within the prison walls was fascinating as well as very sad.  "One comment in particular that troubled me was "A prisoner's attempted suicide is considered destruction of state property...How insane is that? The prison makes you crazy enough that you try to kill yourself and then they charge you with that so they can keep you longer." The title itself is very telling. Sharon Daniel is an advocate for the organization Justice Now and she had an agenda in telling this story so the "public" would know about the women's "secrets", their prison experiences. She includes a section that focuses on what the reader can do whether it be write to their politicians or join an organization focused on human rights in prison. I never really thought about the suffering that occurs for people in prison. I believe that if someone commits a crime then they deserve the consequences. But this story definitely had an impact on me, both through how it was told and what was told.