Techsty is a Polish online compendium and a journal for those interested in electronic literature, generative poetry and any new forms of born digital literary practices and the critical discourse that accompanies them. Techsty has been on the web since 2002, promoting literary experiments in the new media, translating great works of foreign authors and debating on the future of literature and readership.
On several hundred pages presented are articles on hypertext theory and practice, digital sign production, game theory and social aspects of e-literature by young Polish scholars as well as original digital works by Polish writers. Among them - Radosław Nowakowski, Łukasz Podgorni, Leszek Onak, dr Muto, Sławomir Shuty, Sonia Fizek, Emilia Branny-Jankowska, Dorota Sikora, Mariusz Pisarski, Grzegorz Stunża. Important part of Techsty editorial work are the translations of the most important examples of digital texts theory and practice, including Mark Amerika, Mark Bernstein, Robert Coover, Judy Malloy, Stuart Moulthrop, Nick Montfrot, Stefan Maskiewicz, Stephanie Strickland and others.
Our approach towards literature is rather of the avant-garde perspective and tradition, but the very approach towards particular literary works is rather practical and functional, closer to poetics than metaphysics. Hence the broad section on new media poetics and rhetorics as well as hypertext avant-garde roots in the "hypertext" section as well as a presentation of some of the interesting experiments of OuLiPo in the journal section.
The acompanying "Elektroblog" comprises of somehow more personal and informal perspective on all the subjects covered in Techsty
AUTHORS AND COLLABORATORS
- Sonia Fizek: PhD graduate of the School of Creative Studies and Media, Bangor University (UK). In her doctoral thesis she developed a methodology for player character analysis in offline computer Role-Playing Games (cRPGs). Currently working in the Gamification Lab at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.
- Dorota Sikora, PhD: graduate of Wroclaw University, wrote her PhD dissertation on hypertext systems in Wroclaw.
- Emilia Branny-Jankowska, PhD: graduate of Cracow University, wrote her PhD on cybertext theory, works as an IT consultant and academic teacher.
- Andrzej Pająk - editor of computer magazine CHIP, MA graduate of Warsaw University
- Mariusz Pisarski, chief editor of Techsty. PhD graduate of Literary Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, wrote his PhD thesis on the poetics of hypertext fiction in the Comparative Literature Department.
ENGLISH CONTENT
Zenon Fajfer: Ars Poetica
Magda Tyzlik-Carver: Distributed art of invisible networks Notes on network politics:
Maththew S.S Johnson: Reflections of an Academic Gamer or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Work of Play
BACK TO THE PAST: Ludologist and players on childhood games: Q & A
Independent Text Adventures in Polish: An Overview
Early Polish text adventure games: Puszka Pandory (1986)
Early Polish text adventure games: Smok Wawelski (1987)
Early Polish text adventure games: Mózgprocesor (1989)
