Hypercompendia

Two interesting articles today on the neverending speculations about what e-books will do to change reading habits:

John T brings up the NPR note that focuses on Amazon’s reader and this statement by a writer:

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve really noticed if I sit down with a book, after a few paragraphs, I’ll say, ‘You know, where’s the links? Where’s the e-mail? Where’s all the stuff going on?’ ” says writer Nicholas Carr. “And it’s kind of sad.”

But I find that to be a back and forth switch that toggles itself depending upon which method of reading is being done. If I’m reading “straight” text for a while–a while meaning anyplace from an hour to a couple days–I’m momentarily stumped by finding links in a hypertext piece–and here, I’m talking seconds of indecision. Then back to straight reading where I will indeed be looking for links, as Carr notes. Though not with the sense of sadness, but rather mere readjustment to the medium.

Then this in MacWorld:  “Sales of electronic books topped their paper-based cousins for the first time this past Christmas day, according to Amazon.com”  With the caveat:

“Given the timing of the event, it’s likely that the spike in e-book sales recorded by Amazon was due primarily to the high number of gift recipients who opened up the brand-new Kindles they found under their Christmas trees; nonetheless, this milestone could represent a watershed event for the inexorable rise of e-book readers in general, and the Kindle in particular.”

Yes, that would explain a good portion of it. It’s the typical case of receiving the expensive medium as a gift and then need to feed its hunger with the software.

I don’t know why we’re really even arguing at this early stage of the transition. Any innovation that changes society’s manner of “doing” necessarily involves a bit of generational changing of the guard. Grandpa doesn’t always give up Old Nellie for the Model T that easily. Not by choice, perhaps, but by habit, income restrictions (think about how upgrading even a home use computer is a major decision when old programs won’t work anymore with Bill’s latest software releases) and a small percentage by stubborn resistance or by mere desire to remain in one’s comfort zone of familiarity.

Time will tell, then; though I believe that while all the old literature slowly finds its way onto disk and internet servers, there will always be shelves built for books.

Steve Ersinghaus has taken on quite a project with a universe in that he will be continually adding to this hypertext story/poem as he is inspired to take it into new directions.

His latest, rakes, introduces two types of characters that are constantly driven by the stirrings of perhaps jealousy and the “greener-grass” syndrome that too many of us allow to take over our efforts. There is Steve’s usual eloquence and play with language:

“The land is orange on the upswing of the sun and grows paler as the day wears on. Ear to the ground, you might hear moles moving through the earth, and when the sun finally sets and you look up and find the newly fathomable stars and planets, you might think of Henry’s mother who wonders at the upper quadrant of the picture window if her dreams are true.”

This is one to bookmark and folow; Steve posts at twitter with announcements of new additions though of course, it doesn’t really matter where you enter a hypertext piece sometimes.

Sort of a fun way to start out the New Year: Every Day The Same Dream by Molleindustria (thanks to Nick Montfort for the link).

Easy to play–unless you want to make a change in your life and without Nick’s hint, I played through twice without making much progress though the humdrum of office cubicle life came flooding back in a scary rush. Now I must go back and see if I can break away as I did once before, twenty some-odd years ago.

It needs to be downloaded but it’s well worth the doing.

Every now and then Chris Crawford’s Storytron comes back to mind and it’s what I thought of this morning when I ran into this note on my newsfeed on a game called “Spirited Heart.”

Spirited Heart is a fantasy life sim game. You’ll be able to create your alter ego choosing from 3 races: Human, Elf and Demon. Each race has different starting attributes, and unique dialogues and events, so if you play with a different race you’ll see different in-game situations.

You can see where I mentally linked the this with Storytron, in the mention of “Each race has different starting attributes” so that events will play out according to certain predetermined conditions that need to align. I’m sure this is nowhere near as calculated and intricate as Crawford’s work which he and his team have put years of effort and intelligence into.

Time perhaps for me to revisit Storytron and other exciting ventures such as Facade that are at the forefront of new discoveries in gaming and new media.

The publishing of my latest hypertext, Blueberries in the Fall 2009 issue of the highly respected New River Journal.

New hypertext poetry, “The Purpling” by Nick Montfort.

Finnegan, you just made me realize something very strange…

When Steve Ersinghaus and John Timmons started the New Media Course at Tunxis CC, I was in the first semester of it. What they used as an introduction to hyperfiction was indeed Harold; Harold and the Purple Crayon, the little boy who draws his own world and his adventures armed with a crayon!

Happy Birthday

Eastgate Systems!

May you all just keep on keepin’ on!