Category Archives: Hypertext

Chain Reactions

Susan Gibb is still on the case with Kundera and hypertext. She writes:

But in hypertext, we can form loops that return us to these points of betrayal–or change, choice, etc.–and from that point, decide upon a new tactic to choose another unknown path, still significantly different from the original choice.

in response to this from The Unbearable Lightness of Being

But if we betray B., for whom we betrayed A., it does not necessarily follow that we have placated A. The life of a divorcee-painter did not in the least resemble the life of the parents she had betrayed. The first betrayal is irreparable. It calls forth a chain reaction of further betrayals, each of which takes us farther and farther away from the point of our original betrayal. (p. 92)

Kundera here focuses on the chain, indeed, a narrative chain along a path. It could indeed be that from another angle, A’s betrayal might play deeply on a sister or father, extending the narrative itself “farther away from the point of our original” node yet related or linked.

The human significance is obvious: betrayal is one path in the confluence.

Lightness and Hypertext

Susan Gibb, the great lit blogger, editor, and reviewer, has begun her exploration of Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and his relationship with notions of hypertext. This is going to be truly healthy and exciting.

She writes:

While Kundera does not mention choice, it exists in Tomas’ selection of restaurant, time of arrival, table, etc. But the idea of hypertext based on choice of paths offered as opportunities is seen as a point from which lines of action are fanned out and out again that then bring the actor into situations and scenarios that will be substantially different from each other and most likely will not result in the same outcome because of that choice.

She goes on, referring to a section of ULB on coincidence:

Here I would take beauty to mean the orchestration of events that lead to the “composition” one writes as he moves through life, making choices that ultimately lead him through life. It would almost appear as a warning to be open to all opportunity by becoming aware that each moment may offer a single small change that fans off into a new direction.

The key term Susan draws up is “composition,” which is Kundera’s hallmark: the composing of human experience. Coincidence, in Kundera, becomes of a compositional element in terms of relation: what relates, in other words, what can be bound. Relations, generally speaking, drive the authorial voice in Kundera’s novel through which meaning is developed. (That may be way too general to be of any importance.)

Coincidence, as a subjective construct, can become, in others words, an issue of semantic thinking in crafting the hypertext link.

Coincidence, interestingly enough, also plays a key role for Ham Sandoval in The Life, for many of the same reasons in Kundera. But in the context of hypertext, it plays a greater role, I would argue, in augmenting the notion of meaning from coincidence and meaning from simultaneity.

Looking forward to more.

The Same Old Circle

Here’s the same old circle

Some Web evangelists say children should be evaluated for their proficiency on the Internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension. Starting next year, some countries will participate in new international assessments of digital literacy, but the United States, for now, will not.

Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.

Young people “aren’t as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn’t go in a line,” said Rand J. Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the Internet. “That’s a good thing because the world doesn’t go in a line, and the world isn’t organized into separate compartments or chapters.”

Some traditionalists warn that digital reading is the intellectual equivalent of empty calories. Often, they argue, writers on the Internet employ a cryptic argot that vexes teachers and parents. Zigzagging through a cornucopia of words, pictures, video and sounds, they say, distracts more than strengthens readers. And many youths spend most of their time on the Internet playing games or sending instant messages, activities that involve minimal reading at best.

Much of this is the equivalent of a ripped, jumbled map, where “you are here” is positioned at random.

So much has been written on hypertext. But are the “experts” reading?

Microsoft Surface

Surface will be a very nice reading environment for hypertext and other hypermedia works. Soon the link will be an issue of touch, bringing a few more interesting affordance elements to the “surface” of units of meaning.

Narrative Distance

We’ve talking a lot about narrative distance this week (and last week). August Wilson has a neat example of this in his play, Fences. Here’s a chain:

1. Troy and Cory clash at the end of the play after building tension between them.
2. While not immediately linked to the above, but critical to it, Troy makes a contract with Cory. Cory “sort of” agrees to work at the A&P to earn his football play.
3. Troy learns that Cory has broken this contract.
4. Troy convinces the coach not to let Cory play at the recruiter’s game at the end of Act I. 1 is at quite a distance from 2, 3, and 4 but is a consequence of the plotted chain of events. This is narrative distance as an event model not as a path model.

A story can indeed be conceived as a set of points or several related points organized and determined by user choice in the context of story. The hypertext can also be drawn as a confluence model, a single events or set of them studied from multiple angles.

It’s time for me to get back to writing about hypertext, too.

Ah, Sandoval, you are Southwestern and its confluence, Mexican American, Science, and love.

Creating out of . . .

Not much logging to do here at the moment because we’re steeped in the arts. My nose is buried in the 100 Images Project. But I also have some ideas going about hypertext, processing, and the ghostly arguments about hypertext that have been traversing the journals for the last few years.

I heard someone talking about Miles Davis today and the challenge of having to reinvent his sound as a means of pushing the boundaries and doing so in the face of other competing sounds. It’s a never-ending struggle. All artists have the same problem. Hypertext and hypermedia should be a big country. Creative systems are important. We should use and control them well. Let’s talk about why. Let’s not forget the works.

We should push our systems to their limits. Pushing the system to the limit. Now there’s a battle cry.

Wiki Mystery 2

Mark Bernstein’s 2nd Wiki Challenge is up.

I’ve been slowly nudging our history faculty to use wiki technology to replace their text books. We’ll be adding Wiki software to a mint condition server soon so that they have the opportunity. Faculty complain about the expense and redundancy of text books (this is only going to get worse). They complain about text-book restrictiveness and the hassle of editions. The possibilities are exciting. New ideas can be added without having to print out an article from a journal. Additions can be automated and directly linked-to. Links can be unambiguous and navigation interesting. Faculty will control the content and provide weaving opportunities for their students. Course materials and assessments would be a huge part of the mix.

But hold on. There are major problems to overcome:

1. Work load
2. The whole as a describable figure of speech
3. Writing
4. Learning curve
5. Copyright
6. Pushy book reps
7. Dev and staging server
8. Redesign
9. Access and authorship
10. Deadlines

I myself have a difficult time writing links in wikis which is why I’m noncommittal at the moment. If I write metaphor into a page, it’s pretty simple to come up with a few examples, such as “It rides upon the wrinkled hide / of water” from David Solway’s poem Windsurfing. But is this necessarily a call for a link or an intext blockquote?