Hypercompendia

Thought I’d point to an interview I recently did over at Fictionaut about hypertext and new media in general. I had formed a Hypertext Group within this online writers colony and am thrilled to encourage interest and find a receptive and curious audience there.

At Facebook there is some commentary between myself and Finnegan Flawnt, who just recently started playing with the Tinderbox program, that entertains the question of new media being metafictional by nature. It is worth thinking about, if perhaps even the simplest hypertext is in fact calling attention to the act of writing by its visual invitation to interact with the text.

We’ve gotten used to seeing text as thoughts and read them not as signs and symbolic marks upon a background (think of looking at a page of Chinese writing when you can’t read the language), but see the idea presented in the pattern formed by the letters. Possibly seeing beyond the words and sentences to the images they represent. Hypertext includes links within text of a different and obvious color that is saying something about the text itself and the process of reading it, rather than merely being a part of the story. It’s talking directly to the reader. It’s an interesting way of looking at new media, particularly when it includes audio and visual effects that further call attention to the experience. Is it screaming, louder than the story it presents, “Look at me, I’m a story!”?

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.

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.

Just a reminder about Eastgate’s E-Lit Camp, an informal and friendly-sounding get-together of new media minds the weekend of December 11th-13th in Boston. Details here: E-Lit Camp

Haven’t had a chance to check this out much, but wanted to spread the word (thanks to Dennis Jerz) of this update on the CYOA concept at Samizdat.

Beautiful graphics, warm and inviting. I believe that in promoting hypertext narrative a good part of the appeal to stir interest will be dependent upon the visual presentation of the work. Sad to say, but text alone may have survived the evolution into book form of story, but when it comes to the internet and computer accessed narrative, pictures and color are going to play a large part in the transition.

Neat stuff.

Thought I already had posted on this exciting event but realized I’d only tweeted and Facebooked it:

(Click on the image for more information)

It’s going to be an informal, pajama-party-friendly gathering of great minds and minds that do great things with hypertextual software and concepts, as Mark says, “a weekend-long writers colony for electronic literature.” It sounds like it’s going to be exciting, informational, and fun!

Realized that I’ve consistently missed the new TV series “V” about alien visitors and want to catch up on that. Something has bothered me about this show since I’d first seen the trailers all summer: the beautiful alien known as Anna is almost unbelievably game-graphic and I wondered if indeed she was a real person or not at first.

The color of her skin, the large features, the hairstyle, the shape of her face, all are based on some of the games such as Silent Hill, etc., and it’s nearly a case of art imitating life. I wonder if this is the intent of the drama; if the ‘alien’ is meant to look unreal, almost too perfect, and well, phony.

I’m going to catch up on this and maybe the story will explain the choice of character and cast.

In an attempt to dress up one of the stories a bit, I’ve added (probably over-added) some graphics. The problem? The pages load the images so slow that it’s annoying to be reading and the background image might suddenly pop up, or the smaller images (just like the logo here) slowly “unroll” into view.

I’m not sure if it’s my server (Lunar), WordPress,  my css setups, my own Comcast cable, or my Mac growing old and pokey.

This isn’t the fun part of writing. It’s sort of making the whole project more effort than it’s worth and beginning to turn me off to whole new media thing. It seems that unless you know the programs and coding very well, the trial and error method loses its appeal after a few days.

I was thrilled to see another strictly online new media publication out of Virginia Tech’s Center for Digital Discourse and Culture. called The New River – a journal of new media and art.

When I check out the site and some issues, it was a happy surprise to see a few familiar names. The Journal was started by Ed Falco, a published (Eastgate) author of the hypertext fiction, A Dream with Demons, and many short stories and works.

Then I get to the current Spring 2009 issue and find the ever interesting Alan Bigelow whom I had the pleasure to meet and spend some time with at Hypertext ’08 in Pittsburgh.

Even as more and more literary journals make a transition to web publishing, there are a few such as The New River that are set up nicely for true multimedia presentations and right now, they are open for submissions. They’re edgy; they’re good reading and viewing for all types of new media.

In this case, methods of working up funding for a project that someone may feel passionate about but can’t get others interested in backing.

Led by the notorious Anne (who has more skills at tunneling through the web than a mole underground) to Kickstarter, which seems to be a place to lay out your idea and hope for some promises of dollars to help you get started. This one, for example, caught my eye because it’s so close to what I took part in with the 100 Days Project: 50 Characters in 50 Weeks, spiels the maker, is,

“…an exploration of humanity. It’s an exploration of acting and storytelling, but also of what it is to be human. There are lots of laughs, there are some tears. There are nice people and mean ones, but none of them are two-dimensional. Each film is designed to transport you, to make you laugh, think, and feel, if only for a few minutes… and I’m trying to create fifty of them in a year.”

Hi, my name is Brent Rose. I’m an actor, writer, and film-maker, and I’m working on the toughest project of my life. I am trying to create fifty short films in under a year. The project is called 50 Characters in 50 Weeks (or “50in50”).

An ambitious endeavor, and as of this moment, he’s got $1748 collected with 44 backers and 26 days to go.

What then, can I promise in return for some cash to fund CD’s and a website on hypertext stories? This is a possibility to get this project off the ground, not just for the money–which would take it above the personally-funded hokey stage to a more professional level–but for the chance to generate interest in the hypertext medium.

Ach, more thinking to do.