Judith Pintar is a sociologist and author of interactive fiction.
She is also a
Celtic harp
The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring great ...
player and a composer of instrumental music.
Professional career
Interactive fiction
Pintar is the author of CosmoServe, an interactive fiction (IF) that simulates the interface of
Compuserve
CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
Information Service (CIS), the first major online service provider before and during the early years of the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
.
The game was written using an early game design system for IF,
Adventure Game Toolkit The Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) is a development system for text based adventure games.
Description
It was written in 1987 by David Malmberg, based on Mark J. Welch's 1985 Generic Adventure Game System (GAGS). AGT was produced until 1992, after w ...
(AGT) developed by Mark Welch and David Malmberg, and won the 5th Annual Softworks AGT game-writing contest in 1991.
The following year Shades of Gray: an Adventure in Black and White, a game co-authored by a team of Compuserve Gamer's Forum members, for which Pintar was the principal designer, won the 6th Annual AGT contest in the group category.
Shades of Gray is “generally considered the finest AGT game of all time.”
The collaborative authorship of the game is referenced as an example of the kinds of creative possibilities that emerged within the early online IF community.
Both games were published in a book and CD by
David Gerrold
David Gerrold (born Jerrold David Friedman; January 24, 1944)Reginald, R. (September 12, 2010)''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2'' Borgo Press p. 911. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved June 23, 2013. is an American science fic ...
, ''Fatal Distractions: 87 Of the Very Best Ways to Get Beaten, Eaten, Maimed, and Mauled on Your PC'', (Waite Group, 1994).
Academics
Pintar received a master's degree in
Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and a PhD in
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
(UIUC) with a concentration in science and technology studies, and an area focus on the former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. She is the author, with psychologist Steven J. Lynn, of ''Hypnosis: A brief history''.
Currently she is Teaching Associate Professor and Acting BS/IS Program Director at the
UIUC School of Information Sciences,
as well as a faculty affiliate at the Illinois Informatics Institute where she teaches the design and programming of Interactive Fiction.
Music and performance
One of the first musicians signed by the New Age record label
Narada Productions
Narada is a record label formed in 1983 as an independent new-age music label and distributed by MCA. A fully owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group and distributed by Capitol Music Group's Blue Note Records, the label evolved through an expa ...
in the 1980s, Pintar released three recordings of original music for Celtic harp on their Sona Gaia imprint.
Selected compositions were also included on several Narada compilations.
Her recordings are now owned and distributed by
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
.
Pintar performed internationally during the 1980s as a harp player and storyteller.
Her popular non-fiction book, ''The Halved Soul: Retelling the Myths of Romantic Love'',
and the liner notes on her albums and CDs, incorporated stories and poetry that were originally performed.
Discography
Solo recordings
*Secrets from the Stone (1984)
*Changes like the Moon (1987)
*At Last the Wind (1990)
*Quiet Conversation (1997)
Compilation appearances
* Sona Gaia Collection (1990),
* Faces of the Harp (1997)
* ''Narada Film and Television Music Sampler'' (2003)
References
External links
Judith Pintar Official SiteJudith Pintar on SpotifyCosmoServe on ifwikiCosmoServe on the Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB)*
ttp://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Shades_of_Gray Shades of Gray on ifwikiShades of Gray on IFDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pintar, Judith
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
New-age composers
Narada Productions artists
Electronic literature writers
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni