Continuing the thoughts below on an electronic writing syllabus (after long delay), there are a number of ways that I hope my electronic writing students can consider developing a relationship with their “new paper” – depending on what they’re working on and what their background makes possible. Some might use commercial software, others might use research or free/open source software, others might write their own (extensions to existing) software. I think the syllabus should be structured along lines that will allow any of these types of technical engagement for each of the assignments, while still foregrounding the idea of electronic writers engaging with their material. I’m thinking of asking each student to do a piece that:

1. stands alone on the desktop/laptop screen. These are for the full attention of the reader, in the manner we’re used to with things like books and paintings and cinema, presented on a currently-mainstream computing platform. They might be presented using software such as a Web browser, Storyspace, Flash, Inform, Blender, VKB, Jazz, poetry generators and word manglers, MOO/MUD software, and so on.
2. is “electronic site”-specific. These writings will live in the available spaces – often the “nooks and crannies” – of existing electronic contexts. Examples include writings for calendar software, ms office smarttags, google interventions, blogfictions, banner art, browser alterations, email narratives, newsgroup postings, everything2 entries, and so on.
3. lives beyond the desktop/laptop context. These could be stand-alone or site-specific, but they aren’t experienced on a currently-mainstream computing platform. These could include cell phone poems, pda beaming games, CAVE narratives (for those who already have experience and access), video and sound installations, Lego Mindstorms robots, maybe even combinatoric experiments on paper or non-electronic sculptures (as Paik reminds us in the vocabulary of another era, cybernated art is important, but art for cybernated life is more important, and it need not be itself cybernated).