Literary Internet aims to offer a compendium of online resources for teachers, students, researchers, and authors of literature in order to bridge the digital-divide that often keeps knowledgeable people from accessing, researching, collaborating, creating, and sharing their creative works and knowledge with the rest of the world on the internet.
Below is a detailed account of how the Literary Internet Project started and developed into reality.
Literature Web Tools is a creation of I.E. Sersea, M.A., founder of Teach Me Help Me Educational Services.
Both Literature Web Tools (http://literarywebtools.info) and Literary Internet (http://literaryinternet.info) were conceived as a literature-based online multi-media project towards the completion of a Masters of Arts in English degree through National University.
The concept for Literary Internet as well as Literary Web Tools was born during my early June, 2008, discussion with Dr. Baker, English Department Chairperson of National University, who noted that I could create a multi-media online project in which I could interview a living poet and create an online website dedicated to the poet and his literary work.
As I have previously participated in online forums (my 2005-2006 ESL educational forum), blogs (my educational services company blog), and educational online communities (my 34 online edu-social interactive communities) , the idea dawned on me: how about offering a unified set of literary resources, including a variety of free, helpful, and inspirational online tools for authors and poets, as well as teachers, students, and researchers of literature to publish, advertise, research, and interact?
My premise was simple: to create a free online literary-based multi-media mechanism for free publication, research, interaction, and advertisement of literature-based online materials to be used by writers, poets, teachers, students, and researchers with minimal, limited, as well as advanced online publishing skills.
Keeping in mind that while many authors and poets who have not yet published their work online may be limited by lack of online technical skills, while others may be well versed in using and even publishing on the internet, I literally spent hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and wrote hundreds of e-mails putting this multi-level project together together with computer programmers and consultants from across the world.
During my initial research, I identified the need to find and purchase topic-specific domain names that would reflect on the online literary services I proposed. I used the world’s best website domain service for my domain needs, GoDaddy.com. As a result, the following twelve domain names came to life at various stages of the project:
http://literaryguestbooks.info
In addition to the above websites, I purchased 21 additional literary-related domains to be used as domain choices for the phpBB 3.02 Olympus literary forum hosting service at Literary Forums: http://literaryforums.info
Associated Domains:
http://internationalpoets.info
http://internationalwriters.info
http://interactiveliterature.info
http://literatureprojects.info
http://charlesdickensforum.info
http://romeoandjulietforum.info
http://shakespearecomedies.info
http://shakespearetragedies.info
http://themanintheironmask.info
After obtaining the literary-centered domain names, I purchased web-hosting services from BlueHost.com and Hostgator.com. Yet, after I made a list of the services I planned to offer, I came to realizel that a regular web hosting service would not have the capacity to maintain the potential bandwith and server-resource usage requirements of a set of free literary hosting services of this nature. I started looking for Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting but discovered there were numerous limitations, and eventually entered into a contract with IWeb.com and leased my very own online dedicated server with the following specifications:
2.4 Ghz Processor with 1 Gigabyte RAM Memory
320 Gigabytes Space
3,000 Gigabytes Monthly Bandwith/Traffic
Additional online research led me to Tom of Linux Tech Networks, based in Iowa, USA. Tom became my dedicated server manager, as well as my internet consultant. We collaborated on a number of projects, including http://LiteraryForums.info (free PhBBB Forum Hosting) and http://LiteraryBlogs.org (free WordPress MU Blog Hosting).
LiteraryForums.info is hosted on the EchoPHP platform. After the extensive modifications, the forum hosting website features over 40 languages, 70 templates, dozens of additional modules, and 22 domains which allow the users to select the name and domain of their free forums.
LiteraryForums.info hosting service enables published authors, budding writers, poets, students, teachers, and researchers of literature to create online discussion boards, create dynamic online literary circles, and discuss various works of literature, with the world’s most advanced forum software available, phpBB Olympus 3.02. To learn more about the features available for the phpBB Olympus 3.02 platform, please visit:http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/
In order to model the potential of literary use for forums, I have created several blogs within the LiteraryForums.info community, including:
http://help.literaryforums.info/- the official help blog featuring guides and tips to building powerful online forums
http://maestrosersea.interactivepoetry.info/ - a poetry forum including texts of all of William Shakespeare’s sonnets
http://maestrosersea.themanintheironmask.info/ - a forum dedicated to Alexandre Dumas’ novel, “The Man In The Iron Mask” where I posted the entire public-domain text of the novel.
I am also proud and happy to note that one of my English Capstone Course colleagues, Ashley Francis, has built her own literary forum using this service at: http://janeausten.novelistforums.info/
LiteraryBlogs.org is based on the latest WordPress MU release platform. After extensive modifications, this intermediate to advanced-technical level blog hosting service features numerous plugin modules (close to 50), as well as a dozen or so different two and three-column templates for users to pick from. To learn more about this advanced blogging platform, suitable to intermediate to advanced-level internet users, please visit: http://mu.wordpress.org/
I have created various sample LiteraryBlogs.org blogs in the interest of modeling educational uses of some of the literary web tools part of this project including:
Literary Media Blog: http://literarymedia.literaryblogs.org/
Literary Forums Blog: http://literaryforums.literaryblogs.org/
Literary Polls Blog: http://polls.literaryblogs.org/
Literary Guestbooks Blog: http://guestbooks.literaryblogs.org/
Literary Blogs WPMU Platform Help Blog: http://help.literaryblogs.org/
I searched for a variety of educational scripts and purchased GuestBook Service and Forum Service, fairly dated, but easy to use hosting services scripts that enable visitors to create their own guestbooks and blogs. I initially worked with Faith Bowie, an amazing graphic designer from Arizona, to upload and test out the scripts. Later, I began working with Nathan of http://turnkeyrevolution.com based in England, and hired him as an Internet Consultant. Nathan customized and installed the “Forums Too”, Photos, Guestbook Service scripts, as well as the Links, and Postcards scripts.
The results are here:
Literary Guestbooks: http://LiteraryGuestbooks.info
Literary Forums Too: http://literaryforumstoo.info
Literary Links Directory: http://LiteraryLinks.info
Literary Postcards: http://LiteraryPostcards.info and
Literary Photos: http://literaryphotos.info
LiteraryGuestbooks.info enables anyone who is connected to literature to create a free online guestbook for visitors to leave messages and comments. The guestbook can be linked to a blog or forum, so that the visitors of the site can connect with the author. Another use of the guestbook is to enable students of literature to create make-believe guestbooks of famous authors, where they can add the photos of the author, and where their peers can ask significant questions specific to the literary author represented.
Here is a sample posthumous literary guestbook I’ve created for Charles Dickens:
http://literaryguestbooks.info/g.php?user=charlesdickens
Here is a sample posthumous guestbook I’ve created for Akira Kurosawa:
http://literaryguestbooks.info/g.php?user=akirakurosawa
LiteraryForumsToo.info is a simple, no frills forum hosting service that enables literary authors, poets, students, teachers, and researchers to start online discussions and link them to their literary blog, e-mail, or even online social communities like MySpace. The great benefit for LiteraryForumsToo.info is that it requires no technical skills and no prior experience in creating forums. This resource is specific to new arrivals to the internet, or anyone who is looking for a simple to create and use forum.
LiteraryLinks.info is of significant importance to literary authors and poets as it allows for free Search Engine Optimization and increased Google ranking through the creation of additional external links, which translates into free, steady streams of online traffic/ online visitors, as well as free advertisement of literary works, poetry readings, book signing events, publications, blogs, websites, literary venues, writing seminars, jobs, and much, much more. Teachers, students, and researchers of literature can also benefit from this directory of links and resources by searching for specific information they seek, as well as listing helpful online and on-site resources that others would find of service.
LiteraryPostcards.info allows for free online Postcards/E-Cards creation, where writers, poets, teachers, students, and researchers of literature can pick photos and drawings of authors and turn them into electronic cards to be sent to family, friends, and colleagues who also appreciate the importance of literature. In a way, this resource reminds people about literature, and encourages further reading and study into language arts.
LiteraryPhotos.info is an interactive photo community website which allows visitors to send e-cards of literary photos and quotes, upload and download photos of poets, playwrights, novelists, and short story writers, rate content, and add comments in addition to numerous literary quotes.
I continued researching the internet, and came across a Poll Hosting Script and a Multimedia Hosting Script similar to YouTube, offered by PHPpod.com, a multinational software online company with offices in Florida and Bulgaria. I collaborated with Leo and Straho of PhpPod who managed the installation and customization of various scripts, including:
LiteraryPolls.info enables authors of literary blogs and forums to connect with their audiences by creating online polls centered on literature, and encouraging participation through online voting as well as commenting on specific literary prompts, authors, topics, and issues. This free advanced service enables anyone who wishes to create a literary poll to sign-up, become a member, and build and maintain an unlimited amount of online literary polls that can be shared and posted on literary blogs, forums, websites, as well as online social communities such as MySpace.
Here are is the public poll directory : http://literarypolls.info/directory.php
LiteraryMedia.info is a powerful service that enables visitors to browse through, embed, suggest, comment-on, and create literary RSS-feeds for their own blogs and websites. Visitors can browse, view, and share thousands of literary-based multimedia materials. For example, here’s a video of poet Robert Haas, who gave a presentation at the 2007 poets forum.
| Robert Hass Speaks at the 2007 Poets Forum |
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| Best media at literarymedia.info |
Finally, I realized that the blogging component of my offerings needed a powerful, yet simple to use blog hosting system. I started my search to offer free hosting for simple, easy-to use online blogs. My research led me to Anton, the creator of the Blog System, from Sofia, Bulgaria. I hired Anton as my Internet Consultant, and after countless exchanges of e-mails, significant financial investment, and extensive modifications, http://literaryblogs.info was born.
In order to model the potential of literary use for blogs, I have created several blogs within the LiteraryBlogs.info community, including:
– http://www.literaryblogs.info/CharlesDickensFan, in which I published one of my essays on the influence of Charles Dickens on his body of work, as well as a Charles Dickens-based article summary.
– http://www.literaryblogs.info/AkiraKurosawaFan, in which I published one of my essays on the influence of Akira Kurosawa, the famed Japanese director, on his film creations, under the title: “Understanding the Auteur Theory through Akira Kurosawa’s Pervasive Theme of Justice in “Ran” and “Dreams”
This online literary project is constantly evolving, growing, and improving. Some of my future online literary development plans include a literary website-and-blogs hosting site, a literary quotes site, an online school/workshops hosting site running on the Moodle Course Management System for qualified language instructors using my very own Audio-Video Conferencing Center (currently fully operational) ,as well as an online e-text repository interactive website consisting of public-domain literary works and literary online book-clubs.
While this project took form, this idea translated into additional, similar projects which, although still in progress, I’ve been working on at the same time, offering similar web tools, but for different audiences:
1. Teachers Web Tools
2. Students Web Tools
3. English as a Second Language - ESL Web Tools
4. Schools Web Tools
5. Seniors Web Tools
6. Internet Web Tools
8. Musical Web Tools
9. Irvine Friends/Irvine, California, USA
I hope you enjoy Literary Internet and all of the free, helpful, and inspirational literary web tools it offers. Your constructive comments and suggestions are encouraged. Thank you for visiting LiteraryInternet.info
Sincerely,
Ioan Elvis Sersea, M.A (2004, Teaching and Learning; 2008 (projected) English)
