Category Archives: New Media

Network Novels

I came to this by a variety of wefts, and it will be interesting to watch how things develop with Flight Paths.

But I’m not quite sure what is meant by networked novel in actuality. The second section under How to Participate goes:

Feel free to join in our conversations by adding comments to anything on this website. You are also encouraged to submit your own material to this site, including photos, memories, ideas, stories, music, video, or anything else you think might be interesting.

What are people meant to contribute and why? Forster clocked the novel at over 50,000 words, but the notion of novel and length is linked to apparatus, so novel could apply here as an intension. I see no problem with contributory fictions, but have never read anything of this sort that held my interest in a narrative sense, not that my interest is any great shakes.

When I’ve heard people talk about providing the environment for participatory fictions, the first question I ask is “why do this?” At the moment, I want to work on a team generated hypertext, but this is more about a merging of eyes on a few tightly drawn characters.

The Terms and Conditions would seem to suggest that ownership of contributions belongs to Pullinger and Joseph, The Writers. Why?

Digital Reading

Chris Meade at if:book provides a nice reminder of the need to be vigilant about literacy assessments. Who’s reading and how well is always a question, but it’s one brick on the pile. While I maintain just a few glances in the direction of large reports on literacy, such as those published by the NEA, a more interesting question remains: what is the context of reading?

To define reading outside of specific or valid situations is like trying to define technology. You may guess at the size of an auditorium with a mask on, sure go for it. As we’ve just moved on from Milton, I’m reminded of the importance of intense scrutiny of all objects, and that all objects and ideas are opportunities for that scrutiny.

Are more people writing these days?

Hypertext and CSS

It’s been a little quiet here. But I’m getting deeper into Paths and CSS, one the one hand enjoying Susan Gibbs’ Paths and then relearning modern CSS after a couple of years of non-study. The later comes from a need to control academic weblog content to a greater degree without being confined to other designers’ WordPress themes. So, I’ve decided to take the sandbox theme and build a theme of my own. The academic weblogs, much like academic websites, are loaded with necessary information for students. Thus, the opportunity for design may crumble under potential busyness

I’ve been using Sadish Balasubramanian’s WordPress themes on the course and new media weblogs because they’re solid backbones and when I’ve gone astray, I’ve always reloaded Sadish’s material.

But now it’s time to dig in and apply my own thinking to this for next semester’s courses so I can control presentation. I’m not a great designer and have no real eye for designing beyond white space and a few base colors. But, progress has already been made.

Screen Grabbing

I grabbed the Screen Grab widget for the Dashboard and it meets a need. Do other widgets? Anyway, this one serves a nice purpose because it will hone in on sections of the screen and on windows, making it perfect for swift captures of Storyspace text spaces.

Development

Susan Gibb will be tracing her exploration with Storyspace at Hypercompendia. This should be interesting reading.

This is neat. Like a puzzle or a game where you find clues (try the manual, dum-dum), check out different rooms (create links), and eventually finish the task (story).

On Part 5

Mark Bernstein on learning:

We should expect to learn. Sophisticated tools require study and effort, and they repay that effort by letting us do things we could not do otherwise. Calculus is a lot of work, but you can’t understand physics or the stock market until you understand derivatives. Learning to draw the figure is a lot of work; once you do the work, you can draw.

I know exactly what he’s talking about.

Keys: Storyspace and eLumen. Tools through which we learn. Kind of like good story telling. Interesting.

Word 07 (or whatever the hell it’s called)

I’m getting lots of complaints about the latest version of MS Word.

My students don’t need a complicating word processor, nor do I. “Complicating” not “complicated.” Basically, the kind of documents we create are simple, printable things. The world, however, of documents is a complicated place. Apparently.

I want to know a few things about what my students think, commonly ideas that come in the form of fundamental argument often supported by a little research. Or stories. But the software gets in the way of this. Word 07 is so different from the last version that people beginning on it will have no problem generating paper. I had a colleague today suggest that those who use the deep functions of XP will really be lost (because they stored complex macros or really understood where everything was kept in their customized toolbars) and this may be the case.

Right Brain

For me, the dancer is spinning clockwise.

Via Mark Bernstein, who has side by sides, which sometimes provides a peripheral shift, meaning that you may be able to adjust the spin direction of the figure. In the side by side, if I glance back and forth and hold, the figure will go counterclockwise. Come back and it’s back to right brain perception.

Hypertext and Reading

Susan Gibb, via an old download from Hypertext 07, is having an interesting time with Ham Sandoval over at Spinning. She’s seeing things I could not and treats the form from the point of view of a serious reader.

In a few days I’ll have up a small review of a study on Hypertext and dialogue from Narrative that comes at the form in ways I find goofy.