Hypertext and the Web
What are the primary attributes of hypertext to you? (Christy1, 2/26/99 2:11:00 PM)
What are your thoughts on the value of hypertext: what it means to literature? I am interested in how you view it conceptually. Many metaphors have been used to describe what happens when one creates a hypertext story. Some view the role of choice as an essential ingredient. Inclusiveness is an oft-cited quality. Can you foresee how hypertext will evolve in the future?
1 of 12
Jeff Parker (jsparker, 2/26/99 2:52:00 PM)I'm most interested in Janet Murray's vision of hypertext as the Star Trek holodeck--see "Hamlet on the Holodeck", MIT press I believe.
It seems to me hypertext is the natural projection of the metaphoric nonlinearity in texts like _Pale Fire_ or _Ulysses_...texts considered non-linear. However me must finally confess that by virtue of one page being necessarily after the other it is quite linear. The adventure of hypertext for me is realizing that metaphor and then seeing what other things can be discussed or hit on once the aspect of linearity is completely out of the way.
The other fundamental draw is interactivity. Because each reading of a hypertext is naturally a linear reading, but it's hopefully the 'reader' interactivity that yanks the linear narrative in line from a structured nonlinear mass.
Consider one of the catch phrases youngins often use to describe a good experience with a book: It made me feel like I was there, like I was a part of it. Well now we have the text you can be a part of experientially as well as physically. I can't see exactly how the Holodeck vision might pan out, but it's intriguing. I think interactivity is the key to all this, as certain as I believe multimedia is--see posts in 'image and text'--and have fun thinking up ways a Holodeck situation might work. Should I say a Holotext? When the text finally comes off the screen. It suggests to me the abusrdity of VRML. Why project a 3D world on the screen in front of you? That's like doubling the metaphor--and certainly there's worth in that, but the creation of a text--hopefully a surreal one--that you can actually walk around in, now that's surreal.
2 of 12
Margaret Penfold (Saada, 2/28/99 7:12:39 AM)A woman down at the co-op was telling me about her training day. "If a customer asks for sugar, we don't say how much or what kind ? If we do the customer havers or feels uncomfortable. We suggest instead "One kilogram of granulated ?". The customer immediately makes a positive choice, Like "Oh, no 500 grams of icing sugar."
As a reader of hypertext I feel like the customer and I want the writer to be like the co-op helper.
I keep enough jumble of sounds, pictures, phrases and emotions in my mind and do my surreal walks all the time. What I value in the work of others are the logical meanings they create. I don't necessarily agree with them but rebutting their theses helps me re-arrange my own thoughts.
I see the real value of hypertext then as being able to follow logical paths. Each choice of click leading to something that will illuminate the last piece of writing, picture, sound etc.
3 of 12
Christy Sheffield Sanford (Christy1, 2/28/99 6:32:46 PM)But what happens, Saada, when it illuminates something that will appear in the future. I think of a distant street lamp, and suddenly we are transported into the intense light, through the magic of a link. Courtesy of this light we see something we could not have visualized based on past experience. Oh, well, just a thought, a temporal thought.
4 of 12
Sue Thomas (Sue Thomas, 2/28/99 11:31:50 PM)Christy
What you're describing here is narrative, isn't it? Good storytelling engages our intelliegence at conscious and unconscious levels, so that the first glimmer of the light you mention plants a seed in our mind which is then followed by a development of that point by way of a brighter light. To elucidate, a good detective story doesn't spring the resolution on to you out of the blue - it gives you clues all the way along so that you can be working it out for yourself. When the answer comes, it is often not a surprise but a confirmation of what we have just figured out for ourselves.
In other words, good narrative does not expect us to be passive readers but encourages us to engage our intelligence as we move through the 'story' - even if the 'story' is very abstract and works only at a non-verbal levell.
Saada, the way you describe seems to be the opposite to that at first glance, but in fact I don't think it is.
sue
5 of 12
Jeff Parker (jsparker, 3/1/99 11:05:26 AM)If you use an example of hypertext such as: _Reader reads biography of Beethoven_ _reader clicks the word 'ninth symphony'_ _reader hears ninth symphony_
You are certainly being teleported to the space under the streetlamp as Christy suggest. The logical danger here being the lost moment, the lost sound, you might have imagined hearing the ninth symphony described. The space in between. The greatest quote of all time with regard to writing:
"I like to fuck the spaces between events."
But look again and notice that you have closed one space and opened another. But where is it? And how do you fuck with it?
Everytime I bring up the holodeck thing i get people very edgy, but even as an entirely elusive metaphor it's strong as end-term goal. What is any representation of landscape if it's not a collage (montage) of objects and object relationships? Right now we work with these textually and visually on the screen. Eventually they will come off, and they will work of the metaphors--the spaces--we've built for them, as _Ulysees_ and _Palefire_ have done for us..
-parker
6 of 12
Arranging patterms (Saada, 3/1/99 4:17:33 PM)Hi Christy,
By illuminating the past we can look into the future as Sue suggests. Surrealism in art may spark off lateral thoughts but the world we live in is illogical and varied enough to do that anyway. I like to see how other people arrange their patterns as well as making my own
7 of 12
Christy Sheffield Sanford (Christy1, 3/2/99 1:43:09 PM)I love thinking about the spaces between, that is so figure-ground! In music, silence is, of course, an important part. In literature, in fiction, there has not been enough play with visual space to suit me. I have done many experiments with fiction that involve space and time. "Georgette's Revenge" is one example, available through my index.
Funny, you can probably reach hypertext through Joyce or Stein; seldom do people travel with both. I arrived via Stein.
8 of 12
Jennifer Ley (jley, 3/10/99 12:36:53 AM)One thing that intrigues me about using hypertext is that ... if you don't do so in a linear fashion (like the example about the symphony a few posts back) ... you often *are* looking at the spaces
for me, hypertext was a way to 'simulate' on the web what often happens at flesh time open mike readings of poetry ... someone will read a particular poem ... and the next poet will pick up on an image in that poem ... remember something from his/her repetoire of work that 'dovetails' ...
one thing I always found funny though, is that hypertext was originally touted as a means to give the reader more choices/more control of the reading/viewing experience. but I think more and more hypertext creators are actually using hypertext to *curate* an experience.
once someone pointed out to me that I was doing that ... I started using a javascript randomizer ... so that the pieces of the whole could be viewed out of sync ... while offering a linear progression as well ... which allows you to create all kinds of levels of subtext
How do the rest of you feel about creating subtext? How much does it factor into what you do with hypertext?? I'm really curious.
9 of 12
Christy Sheffield Sanford (Christy1, 3/10/99 9:49:45 PM)I love layers, and I love subtext. One of the great things about dynamic html is the possibility of using hidden layers. The hidden layer comes up as would a rollover although it can be positioned anywhere on the page and the first text or image is not replaced by the new text or image. In other words, what was "submerged" becomes visible, superimposed. This hidden text can represent an alternative view, the subconscious, a gloss, or any number of other possibilities.
10 of 12
here's a link i like (lars, 3/25/99 1:58:51 PM)http://www.transaction.net/web/tutor/index.html
And somewhere in there - there are some links to Orwell, and why - maybe - he was not allowed to live in the world of the www - in the beginning.
heck - spellchecked - the link worked, and "the CW "system" is performing really well. Today.
11 of 12
Alan Sondheim (ASondheim, 4/26/99 9:34:04 PM)on an inordinately unintelligent level, I've used alert buttons to continue messages - they work with rollovers as well, and the screen takes on a 'nubbly' feeling...
22 of 12
interesting interfaces (simon mills, 4/27/99 3:09:04 AM)For those of you of with access to a macintosh I highly recommend downloading I/O/D 1 - 3. This is a journal which messes around with typical interface artefacts in the presentation of it's content.
They are built using Director but are highly relevant to anyone working on the web. Great design.
I/O/D 4 is an alternative web browser that works on Mac and PC.
You'll also find some interesting articles about general interface theory here as well.
http://www.backspace.org/iod/
cheers,
Simon
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/* hyper-portfolio http://innotts.co.uk/~samills/ frAme: Journal of Culture and Technology http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/frame/ trAce: Online Writing Community http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/ /*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*