Introduction

In recent days, we hardly find a lot of youngsters writing or reading a book. Yet, the joy in it is inevitable. You might be amazed by something interesting, excited by new ideas, touched by heartfelt stories, and even got emotional in all possible aspects by different thoughts that authors worldwide have written. And I have, indeed, been amazed, excited and touched by my students in only two months this year.

This short novel compiles short stories written by students from different degree programmes at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), Macao, China, in 2021. Students involved in this project include Bachelor of Architectural Studies, Bachelor of Communication and Media, Bachelor of Design and Bachelor of Fashion Design from the Department of Creative Industries, Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Another part of this project is an installation around the Ilha Verde Campus, an interactive text printing system, introduced in Summer 2021. Projects from different years, and even, modules often being overlooked are also worth the treasure. With that said, this short novel and installation has become a part of the treasure.

“(Un)directed Reading” is an installation to randomly generate extracts from the selected work edited here. It aims to get the general public and interested individual to come to the front of the kiosk and be surprised. To read the story, public have to press a button that has been programmed to print a small extract of one of the stories and a QR code, with a receipt printer, while the QR code directs readers to a website with the complete text and original illustrations.

Acknowledgement and dedications to all students who contributed, this project would not be achieved without their interesting and original ideas; Professor Álvaro Barbosa, Vice-Rector and Professor Carlos Sena Caires, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, for their unconditional and enthusiastic support and suggestions; Professor Gérald Estadieu, Head of Department of Creative Industries, for his devotion to code day in and out; Ms June Iec, for her wonderful and detailed illustrations.

Sandra Olga Ng

Senior Lecturer, Department of Creative Industries