Jessica Pressman, Ph.D.

UCLA Department of English
jessicapressman@sbcglobal.net

.Recent Projects .

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Digital Fiction International Network
One of six participating scholars involved in a UK-based project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, to “provide an arena for a new generation of scholars to collaborate on integral theoretical and analytical issues within digital fiction research, and profile pioneering approaches to the wider fields of literary studies, stylistics and narratology.” Principal Investigators for the project are Alice Bell and Astrid Ensslin.

UCHRI SECT
Participated in the UC Humanities Research Institute's Seminar in Experimental Critical Theory: "technoSpheres: FutureS of Thinking" (Summer 2006). Convened by Anne Balsamo, this interdisciplinary seminar brought together leading technological innovators and humanist thinkers and included artistic performances as well as technical workshops.

UC Transliteracies Project
One of 14 UC graduate students selected to participate in 2005-2006 research for the UC Multi-campus Research Group project "Transliteracies: Research in the Technological, Social, and Cultural Practices of Online Reading." The project seeks to do research and development in the area of online reading and is funded by a grant From the UC Office of the President. For information on Transliteracies, see http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu/ or read the Research Reports I have been involved in writing.

New Media Colloquium
The New Media Colloquium was a yearlong (2005-2006) workshop for advanced graduate students, taught by N. Katherine Hayles, I produced a web-project in collaboration with Alison Walker and David Shepard, titled "Medium-Specific Analysis: Examining the Specificities of New Media," that promotes critical attention to the differences between specific digital "platforms," such as Flash and HTML, beyond comparisons between print and digital texts.

ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ORGANIZATION www.eliterature.org
I served as Associate Direction (2002-2004) and Programs Assistant (2001-2002) for the ELO when the non-profit organization was housed at UCLA. I acted as primary contact person for the organization and managed its office staff. My duties included the following:
-Maintained organizational communications and public relations.
-Developed, planned, and coordinated programs and events including the "State of the Arts", symposium held at UCLA in April of 2002.
-Planned, prepared, and officiated readings at local venues.
-Produced, organized, and moderated yearlong reading series: "HyperText: Explorations in Electronic Literature", UCLA Hammer Museum (2003-2004)
-Directed and maintain organization's operating budget and taxes.
-Coordinated communications between Board of Directors and operating projects.
-Researched and participated in seed development for PAD (Preserving, Archiving, and Disseminating) Project
-Officiated re-design of ELO website and assisted in updating of the Electronic Literature Directory.
-Interacted with UCLA officials and faculty as ELO representative.
-Facilitated ELO's involvedment in conferences: "Self- Organizing Systems: rEvolutionary Art, Science, and Literature" (UCLA, 2004)
-Managed staff of eight and maintained the website.

ELO/ UCLA Hammer Reading Series
"HyperText: Explorations in Electronic Literature was a year-long reading series that on electronic literature, a collaboration between the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Electronic Literature Organization. The series, held Fall 2003- Spring 2004, showcased digital artists across the genres-- from kinetic poetry and hypertext to sound poetry and animated narrative-- and around the country. HyperText was free and open to the public.

SINAPSE | LACMA Lab "Nano" Exhibit and Essay
Interdisciplinary project to develop major, year-long exhibit for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, about the intersections of nanotechnology, art, and culture. NANO was an experiential exhibit open December, 2003- October 2004. For information on the development process and details about the exhibit, visit http://nano.arts.ucla.edu/ A book of essays related to the exhibit is titled NanoCulture: Implications of the New Technoscience for Literature, Art, and Society and is edited by N. Katherine Hayles (Intellect Books, April 2004). My essay, titled "Nano Narrative: A Parable in Electronic Literature," addresses the role of narrative in nanoscience through an analogy to Erik Loyer's digital novel Chroma (2001).

Collaborative Porthole: Digital Literary Criticism
Collaboration with web-designer Gabe Dunne to express how literary criticism can be digitally animated and enable form to mirror content. For porthole, click here.

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