We were pleased to give a short presentation about Inanimate Alice at the 2017 ELO (Electronic Literature Organization) Conference last month.

The Conference which ran from July 18-22 was hosted by University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal, alongside a series of digital literature exhibits in and around the centre of this historic city. Inanimate Alice Episode 5 made an appearance in the Children’s Electronic Literature section alongside other works such as Lil’ Red, Switcheroo and Augmented Beasts.

Our presentation, entitled “Inanimate Alice – The Story of the Series and its Impact in Portugal” was given by Alice’s Lead Developer Andy Campbell alongside Ana Machado and Ana Aguilar both from the University Coimbra, Portugal. Starting out with a swift potted history of the series – the first episode of which made an appearance way back in 2005 – the talk explored Alice’s success with Education Services Australia; being the first digital text to be included in an English Language Curriculum; and how many hundreds of students and teachers across the globe have been inspired to create their own ‘next episodes.

This led into an overview of Alice’s exciting new Virtual Reality adventure ‘Perpetual Nomads’, due for release at the end of 2017, where ‘being in Alice’s shoes’ takes on a whole new level of meaning. Ana Machado and Ana Aguilar then explained the fascinating process (and challenges) of translating the entire series into Portuguese and their mission to bring Alice onto the reading curriculum in Portugal.