A dissertation proposing literary criticism of choice in Interactive Fiction. This project has also resulted in:

• A talk on "Moral Choice in Interactive Fiction" at Web Art Science Camp 2011
• A new project to develop a web-based microwork narrative psychology research framework. Literary scholars and psychologists could use this framework to gather metrics on their readers' choices
• A formal technique for citing and accessing cited "interactions" in interactive fiction

In the big picture, my dissertation established an approach to literary criticism of interactive fiction which is compatible with criticism of plays and other non-interactive forms. The dissertation

• provided an overview of choice in interactive fiction
• explained the value to criticism of literary choice
• outlined the value to psychology and philosophy of an experimentally-valid approach to literary choice
• proposed a definition for "Literary Choice" in iteractive fiction
• provided sample criticism to demonstrate the explanatory power of literary choice

Since the time of my dissertation, three major developments have had a significant impact in its area.

• Mark Bernstein published a comprehensive review of electronic literature criticism, at ACM Hypertext 2010.
• Fail Better Games, a London creative company, is claiming to apply quantitative analysis of choice to their serial novel “Echo Bazaar.” It has been a critical success.
• Marc Hauser has been suspended by Harvard for a year due to irregularities in his research on monkey cognition. This is a serious charge which is a significant setback to the science of mind. While the Moral Sense Test is not in question, I plan to collaborate with colleagues in late 2010 to duplicate Hauser’s experiment and test its validity (see above, about a microwork experimental platform).