cybertext...
Finally understood a bit of the what cybertext is about... so cybertext is a category under which hypertext, interactive fiction etc is a subset of? Anyway, my attempt to answer question 2...somehow it seems as though something is missing... i think i am missing some points..but i can't think of anything now.. :(
2. Espen Aarseth defines cybertext as a perspective on textuality, which considers a work as a textual machine, and sees the reader as having to make a non-trivial effort to traverse the text. Discuss whether Scott McCloud’s “Carl” comic strip can be considered a cybertext.Scott McCloud’s comic strip, I believe, is not really a cybertext. While the presentation of the text is different, therefore, presented in frames which change the experience for the reader, the reader is not really a player. The reader does not really have a stake in the flow of the narrative. He or she has not much narrative control and is therefore not put in any risk within the story. There is not much room for variability. The reader is essentially powerless and cannot alter the narrative. He can only perceive it in various ways but cannot really experiment with it. In addition, he reads it from a third person perspective.
Montfort with interactive and hypetext fiction
Tackling one question at a time.... one more reading to go and another question!
1. Montfort argues that interactive fiction is distinctively different from hypertext fiction, stating: “There is… nothing in the nature of the lexia or the link, those fundamental elements of hypertext, that allows the reader to type and contribute text or provides the computer with the means to parse or understand natural language. […] Hypertext fiction also does not maintain an intermediate, programmatic representation of the narrative world, as interactive fiction does.”In terms of understanding how these two forms relate to/differ from narrative, is this distinction significant? Or are they more closely related that Montfort would like to admit? Discuss.In what I gather about interactive fiction as so defined by Montfort, and also via his examples (although he did qualify that the examples he gave are not the only types of interactive fiction), the distinction between hypertext fiction and interactive fiction is contentious.
In interactive fiction, there is a perceived sense of greater control as the user/interactor
becomes both a reader and a writer of the narrative. There is greater input of words to provide directives for the operating of the program. Interactors get to decide their choice of words or phrasing. Interactive fiction seems more like something where the full picture and linkages are not shown but are instead revealed one by one. This probably creates a different experience for the user as there is a greater sense of suspense, mystery and adventure. It is in this sense, more exploratory.
In contrast, hypertext fiction strikes me as one which is more structured in the sense that the main body tend to be written and shown to the reader. Then, in order to find out about something in greater detail, the hypertext linkages will lead the reader to another page to further his or her understanding on the situation. (disclaimer: this is putting it in a simplistic manner). Therefore, several linkages are probably shown at the same time. The experience of using hypertext fiction is probably different from the interactive one. Hypertext fiction seems to give the user less control as the linkages have all already been explicitly predefined. The freedom to choose comes from picking which hyperlink to click.
However, if we consider beyond the experience of the reader to that of the structure of both, they consist of networks and many different nodes linking different possibilities to one another. Both also involve the connecting of words to one another. The key difference is then the way it is presented to the user (interface).
Paul Fournel and Crawford.. where they converge
I have to say i am really sorry for posting this really late. I have not had enough time to complete my readings till now... Well...i shall try to minimise whatever negative effects or impact by finishing it by today, thursday... at least i tried...
3. Does a potential narrative such as Paul Fournel’s “The Tree Theatre: A Combinatory Play” satisfy Crawford’s definition of interactivity? Could it be considered an example of interactive media? Why/why not?Recalling Crawford’s definition of interactivity, interaction can be considered to have taken place when there is an input, a processural stage and an output. I believe that Paul Fournel’s “The Tree Theatre: A Combinatory Play” does satisfy Crawford’s definition of interactivity. The actors and the audience interact to help unfold the narrative. The audience’s immediate response is a kind of input that purposefully affects the outcome of the narrative. The output is then the way the actors act in response to the decisions made by the audience. The processural stage is then the interval during which the audience decides as well as the period in which the actors internalize the decision made by them.
Process 1 -> Audience decides which path to take
Input -> Response of audience
Process 2 -> Actor internalize the response
Output -> Actors act in accordance to the audiences’ preference
This then forms a kind of cycle, in line with Crawford’s idea of interactivity. The actors may be taken as one entity and the individuals that make up the audience make up another. The actors respond to the input of the audience and also, they are able to remember the choice of the audience. This allows a certain degree of customization as the audience has the freedom of choice and is able to control the flow of the narrative.
Can it be considered interactive media then? With all that has been said, I believe it is possible. The play itself is a medium through which a narrative is told. The need for several commands/directives from the audience makes it interactive as the actors respond to it. However, the degree of interactivity may be arguably limited by the little number of times at which the audience can influence the narrative.
In fact, there are some similarities between this somewhat physical interaction and interactive computer media in the form of hypertext or interactive fiction. In both cases, possibilities are laid out for the user to choose except that the possibilities in a medium like that of the play are more finite than the other option.
Hypertext and its impact on our world today
1. In "Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art", Landow and Delany suggest that “hypertext can be expected to have important institutional as well as intellectual effects, for it is at the same time a form of electronic text, a radically new information technology, a mode of publication, and a resource for collaborative work… Hypertext historicizes many of our most commonplace assumptions, forcing them to descend from the ethereality of abstraction and appear as corollary to a particular technology and historical era. We can be sure that a new era of computerized textuality has begun; but what it will be like we are just beginning to imagine."This passage was written in 1991, at a time when hypertext systems were available in somewhat limited forms such as Hypercard and Intermedia, use of the Internet was largely confined to academic institutions, and the term “World Wide Web” had only just been coined. Now, 15 years later, comment and reflect upon the impact hypertext has had on the world.
Hypertext has introduced a whole new wave of possibilities and allows us to explore varying options. Extensively incorporated into our World Wide Web, the search engine illustrates how individual texts of body are linked together through words. The search for a subject churns out a whole string of possible links from which we can choose to explore. This eases the way in which we advance our knowledge as we are virtually connected and have access to the voluminous amount of information stored on the web. This includes movies, music, games etc
Hypertext allows us to explore the internet in a non-sequential manner, suited to the interest of the individual. In this sense, hypertext has helped us to personalize the way in which we use the internet, to read information, etc. In other words, it allows for greater variability. This notion or practice is in direct contrast to the concept and practice of standardization for mass consumption. It perhaps reflects a changing trend in our society today as well as represents the increasingly interconnectedness of our globalised world today.
It also changes the authorial ownership of a piece of work such that we can all be readers and writers of the content which we view on the internet. One such example is that of wikepedia where people collaborate and then elaborate as well as add on to the points to explain a subject.
Not only has it an impact on us as we surf through the World Wide Web, it has also had an impact on certain aspects of our culture too. One example of transcoding in this light takes the form of the way we conduct presentations in the form of a powerpoint. Some times we may present our points such that a word or slide is hyperlinked to another within the same work. At other points, a link may be included to bring the audience from the powerpoint slide to a webpage which provides further illustration or explanation of a certain point in text. However, this does not exclude pictures, videos, sounds and other visual or audio directories. While allowing for greater flexibility and fluidity, Hypertext also helps us to coordinate our points and to provide a certain structure to our thoughts.
The Others
3. Write about the narrative that your group has chosen for project 1. Why have you chosen this work? How might you approach the task of re-configuring it as an interactive piece? Be prepared to discuss your group’s choice of work in class on Thursday.Presenting our idea in a short and sweet paragraph. We will be looking at the movie “The Others”. We chose it as it is rather exciting and because it has a very interesting twist to the end. The entire story builds up to that climax, the super kernel, where the audience finally realizes the truth. Basically, we are allowing the user to have greater control over the unfolding of the story, to let them decide what part of the story they want to further explore. We will be borrowing a bit of George Legrady’s idea on connectivity and multi-linearity as well as the hypertext and hotspots to reconfigure it as an interactive piece. We have to ensure that the reader uncovers the important parts of the story before allowing them access to the super kernel.
narrative images
2. Choose a set of 5-10 images that you feel form a narrative. If they are not digital images, scan them into the computer (there’s a scanner available in the USP multimedia lab). Arrange them in a linear sequence on your blog. You may or may not want to include text captions with each image.
blogging into week 4. qn 1
1. In his paper “Modular Structure and Image/Text Sequences: Comics and Interactive Media”, George Legrady states: “Meaning in the interactive work is a result of the sequential selection of components that the viewer assembles in the viewing process. The viewer can then be considered as someone who actively constructs the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The sequential sum of viewed selections becomes the narrative.” This approach to interactivity is reflected in his work slippery traces. Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.Basically, the author provides only alternatives and options from which the reader can select, in line with his own interest. The starting and ending of the story is no longer clearly defined or manipulated by the author. Instead, he takes the back seat and the reader is allowed to actively construct the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The reader then has greater influence in narrating the story. In fact, one can question the structure of the narrative. Does the structure of the narrative remain intact in this case?
In my opinion, the structure of the narrative is not really consistent. The story may vary with the interest of the reader. In addition, the juxtaposition of different images may conjure a different meaning and therefore portray a different story and outcome. Yet, although the reader is able to construct a story which pleases him, he is constrained by the options available to him. Referring back to Slippery Traces, the system actually tracks the number of pictures that the reader has viewed in that particular chapter before the clicking of a hotspot allows the reader to move on to another chapter. Therefore, while it seems interactive, it is really a perception of control, freedom and choice. The author still has some control over the process of the narrative transmission and this is also because he ensures the connectivity of the information elements.
Yet, it is still important to consider what effect this will have on the narrative experience of the user. I believe that there is a need on the part of the author to make the connections in such a way that the reader uncovers the story such that it still builds up to a climax. This is however, the difficult part.
week 4, blogging into the third week.
1. In his paper “Modular Structure and Image/Text Sequences: Comics and Interactive Media”, George Legrady states: “Meaning in the interactive work is a result of the sequential selection of components that the viewer assembles in the viewing process. The viewer can then be considered as someone who actively constructs the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The sequential sum of viewed selections becomes the narrative.” This approach to interactivity is reflected in his work slippery traces. Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.
Basically, the author provides only alternatives and options from which the reader can select, in line with his own interest. The starting and ending of the story is no longer clearly defined or manipulated by the author. Instead, he takes the back seat and the reader is allowed to actively construct the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The reader then has greater influence in narrating the story. In fact, one can question the structure of the narrative. Does the structure of the narrative remain intact in this case?
In my opinion, the structure of the narrative is not really consistent. The story may vary with the interest of the reader. In addition, the juxtaposition of different images may conjure a different meaning and therefore portray a different story and outcome. Yet, although the reader is able to construct a story which pleases him, he is constrained by the options available to him. Referring back to Slippery Traces, the system actually tracks the number of pictures that the reader has viewed in that particular chapter before the clicking of a hotspot allows the reader to move on to another chapter. Therefore, while it seems interactive, it is really a perception of control, freedom and choice. The author still has some control over the process of the narrative transmission and this is also because he ensures the connectivity of the information elements.
Yet, it is still important to consider what effect this will have on the narrative experience of the user. I believe that there is a need on the part of the author to make the connections in such a way that the reader uncovers the story such that it still builds up to a climax. This is however, the difficult part.
