Richard Holeton (born December 28, 1952) is an American writer and higher-education administrator. His creative works are foundational in the hypertext and electronic literature genres. As a writer, his most notable work is the hypertext novelFigurski at Findhorn on Acid, which has been recognized as an important early work of electronic literature[1] and is included in the hypertext canon.[2]
A 20th Anniversary Edition of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, in archival and contemporary versions, was released in 2021 by Washington State University Vancouver’s Electronic Literature Lab.[3] Holeton's work is collected in The NEXT Museum, a digital preservation space.
Holeton's short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including ZYZZYVA, F(r)iction, Grain, OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters, the Indiana Review, and the Mississippi Review. He also wrote the textbooks Composing Cyberspace: Identity, Community, and Knowledge in the Electronic Age and Encountering Cultures: Reading and Writing in a Changing World.
Biography
Early life and education
Richard Holeton was born in Orange, New Jersey and was raised in Bellevue, Washington.[4] He earned a BA from Stanford and MA and MFA degrees from San Francisco State University.[5]
Career
After receiving his MA in 1986, Holeton began working as a writing lecturer at San Francisco State University, Cañada College, and Stanford University.[6] He transitioned into working with technology and student computing. He worked to teach language and literature faculty methods of integrating computers into their classroom pedagogy[7] and became an administrator with Stanford University Libraries and residential computing. During this time he was a Director of the New Media Consortium and also worked with EDUCAUSE[8] to co-develop the Learning Space Rating System.[9] Following his retirement from teaching and holding administrative positions at Stanford, Holeton is Assistant Vice Provost for Learning Environments, Emeritus.[5]
In 2014, Holeton was awarded a fellowship from MacDowell, which he spent working in the Schelling studio.[10] He has also received fellowships from the Brown Foundation, California Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; as well as the Transatlantic Review Award from the Henfield Foundation.[8][11]
"Sonnetizing the Singularity" (2018, in Unlost: Journal of Found Poetry & Art)[28]
Nonfiction and scholarship
"Someone, Somewhere, with Something: The Origins of Figurski" (2021, in Figurski at Findhorn on Acid).[29]
"Learning Space Rating System" (2021, in EDUCAUSE)[30]
"Toward Inclusive Learning Spaces: Physiological, Cognitive, and Cultural Inclusion and the Learning Space Rating System" (2020, in EDUCAUSE Review)[31]
"A Little Transmediation Can Be a Dangerous Thing, or What Happened When I Made a Multimedia Poem from an Artist’s Book" (2019, ELO2019: Electronic Literature Organization Conference & Media Arts Festival, Programme and Book of Abstracts)[32]
"How Much is Too Much New Media for the Net Generation?" (2010, in Reading and Writing New Media)[33]
"Signposts of the Revolution? What We Talk about When We Talk about Learning Spaces" (2009, in EDUCAUSE Review)[34]
"The Net Generation on Campus and Online" (2009, in Talking Stick: The Magazine of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International)[35]
"New Students, Emerging Technologies, Virtual Communities, and the College Residential Experience" (2008, in Residence Life and the New Student Experience)[36]
"Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency (book review)" (2005, in Resource Center or Cyberculture Studies)[37]
"Constructive 'Noise in the Channel': Effects of Controversial Forwarded E-mail in a College Residential and Virtual Community" (1999, in ED-MEDIA)[38]
"The Semi-Virtual Composition Classroom: A Model for Techno-Amphibians" (1997, in The Technology Source (Horizon Project))[39]
"Amadeus (theater review)" (1987, in Palo Alto Weekly)[40]
"Family Life in the 80s from a Gay Perspective" (1986, in Palo Alto Weekly)[41]
"Stanford Waits for Godot: Celebrating Samuel Beckett at 80 (book review)" (1986, in Palo Alto Weekly)[42]
"An Unauthorized Peek Behind the Iron Curtain" (1985, in Palo Alto Weekly)[43]
Grigar, Dene (2021). “Migration as Translation: Moving Figurski to the Web.” Introduction. In Holeton, Richard. Figurski at Findhorn on Acid (20th Anniversary ed.). Vancouver, WA USA, Electronic Literature Lab. https://figurskiatfindhornonacid.com/introduction.html
Tratner, Michael (2021). “The Distinctive Quality of Holeton’s Hypertext Novel.” Introduction. In Holeton, Richard. Figurski at Findhorn on Acid (20th Anniversary ed.). Vancouver, WA USA, Electronic Literature Lab. https://figurskiatfindhornonacid.com/introduction.html
Miya, Chelsea (May 12, 2019). “Figurski at Findhorn on Acid”. Electronic Literature Directory. Available: https://directory.eliterature.org/individual-work/5061
Bau de Oliveira, Joanita (September 23, 2016). "A Narrativa Especular em Hipertexto: O Caso de 'Frequently Asked Questions About “Hypertext”,' De Richard Holeton". XV Abralic. Available: https://abralic.org.br/anais/arquivos/2016_1491505737.pdf
Ensslin, Astrid (2014). ""The Pen is Your Weapon of Choice": Ludic hypertext literature and the play with the reader". Literary Gaming. MIT Press. ISBN978-0262027151.
Bell, Alice (2010). "The Colorful Worlds of Richard Holeton's (2001) 'Figurski at Findhorn on Acid'". The Possible Worlds of Hypertext Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 150–184. ISBN978-0-230-28128-8.
^Holeton, Richard (2021). "Someone, Somewhere, with Something: The Origins of Figurski". Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. Washington State University: Electronic Literature Lab.
^Holeton, Richard (2010). "How Much is Too Much New Media for the Net Generation?". In Ball, Cheryl; Kalmbach, James (eds.). RAW: (Reading and Writing) New Media. New York: Hampton Press.
^Holeton, Richard (March 2009). "The Net Generation on Campus and Online". Talking Stick: The Magazine of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. 26 (4): 38–56.
^Holeton, Richard (2008). "New Students, Emerging Technologies, Virtual Communities, and the College Residential Experience". In Zeller, W.J. (ed.). Residence Life and the New Student Experience(PDF). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. pp. 31–51. ISBN978-1-889-27165-1.
