Hypercompendia

It was tedious but easy enough to maneuver this weblog’s Storyspace category postings into reverse chronological order then copy and paste them into Pages.  One problem came up however and while I went back and managed to insert the images it didn’t process and the font it wouldn’t copy there still is the question of uncopied linkage.

I realize that again it’s likely my own lack of knowledge with the Mac Pages program–since I’m sure that if Windows does something well, then Mac would certainly be at the very least on par with that.  There is a "paste as" format  tool but I saw no  difference in the result.

Now why would I need links for a hard copy?  For one thing, the document will always be on the hard drive and there the links would be accessible.  For another, it would at the very least show up on the paper pages and a footnote or endnote could be added to spell out the referenced link.  Here, the link doesn’t show up as a link at all, in any way whatsoever, so the intent of the original posting is lost.  Another thought:  the importance of the semantic  link is shown for its full value, otherwise this becomes useless:  "You can read the full post here."

Perhaps I should’ve gotten on the Latitude for the transfer, or attempt a PDF on the Mac.  Or just learn the right way of doing it in Mac Pages.

Caveman’s Crib has updated to include several videos now and some interesting embedding of more videos.

From Scott  Rettberg over at Grand Text Auto, his paper on "Communitizing Electronic Literature" that he’s prepared for the ELO conference in Vancouver that’s happenin’ right now.

I’ve only gotten a small part of the way through it–due to lack of time and not its content–and while I find myself nodding in agreement to much of it, learning even more, there are some issues I’d likely argue though I’d like to finish reading it before I do so.  So why don’t I? Because I wanted to spread the word rather than have it be old news by the time I’m done.

Even as a newcomer to digital media and hypertext and such, I find it surprising that the same old fight to get recognition is still going on.  Usually, something either makes it big time or fades into the past like a hula hoop.  If it’s still an active idea–and it is certainly so–then to me, the problem is not the medium but perhaps the marketing.

I well understand the resistance to a new form of reading–Lord knows how many of my once dear friends now avoid me because of my insistence that they read my latest venture, or better, someone else’s–but there are a number of walls here that need taking down.  To me, that’s the first step in marketing: know thine enemy. (It’s also the first step in gardening, particularly when it comes to weeds and bugs and four-footed sneaking creatures of the night)  Then you can prepare for the attack.

The problems, oversimplified, are 1) the older audience that clings to the comfort and inky smell of paper books, and 2) the younger folks who prefer the visual graphics of gaming to the hieroglyphics of text. Goodness knows, the new age brings folks more into reading and writing than ever with its technology that has it all over the written pen pal letter or thank-you note, but this: "r u @ home?" will never lead one into digging further into Faulkner or Joyce. 

And maybe there is yet another problem: the tendency to please the masses rather than try to educate them. It all comes down to money on that argument.  So the medium changes rather than the mind.

But now is the perfect time to promote digital media of all sorts.  Amazon was smart enough to take advantage of the times with Kindle.  I remember a time where you didn’t go to the beach without a book.  You always packed several for any trips.  I recall getting hollered at by my mother for reading in the car.  In the dark sometimes, waiting for the flash of headlights on a twenty-minute ride from shopping in New Haven. 

So what do we do?  Well, short of burning books to keep them out of the hands of one generation and adding in the pictures we evidently took out too soon from the books between "See Spot Run" and "The Hardy Boys," I guess we have to come up with a marketing plan. 

Really good post at Adventures in Interactive Fiction regarding the creative challenge of writing for Interactive Fiction.   I can well imagine that it poses its own problems (hope to find out real soon!) and some of those are brought up specifically by the medium, one being the need to be concise and precise since the text area is usually fairly small.  Not small by restriction, but more by plan.

Anyway, this sounds like another writer’s journey that is well worth the read.

(Link thanks to Planet IF)

I’d have to say I crawled sideways, crablike into software, though I went kicking and screaming into technology itself. I broke down and got a used PC in 1996, and have since built and rebuilt about ten times.  I’m now up to five computers: 3 PCs, a Dell Latitude laptop and a Mac laptop. I have a floor to ceiling shelf unit loaded with computer guts.  I actually still have an 8 MB memory stick hanging around, along with a couple extra monitors, hard drives I swear have vital information on them, four or five cases in various stages of missing parts, a thousand computer screws, and miles of different cables.  I really should do something about getting rid of it all.

But the point here is that I am one of those who learn as I go.  I really don’t believe you could take a computer course to learn certain programs any better than teaching it to yourself.  There just is so much to learn about any program that you’ll forget the details of how to do something long before you need to do it.  I tend to jump in, keep it simple and then start playing around and exploring buttons and menus as I go.  Or better, when I want or need to do something, find out how to do it.  I’ve even found my way around a program in a typing test once and came out fine.

So I’m putting together a presentation and since I like working on the Mac, am using Keynote for the project.  Problem is, I don’t know how to use Keynote.  But it’s similar enough to Powerpoint to have allowed me to get started, and with a few slides–both image and text–under my belt, I can worry about changing things and fixing them later.  But I’m learning a new program because I need it, and I’m sure it’ll do all that I require of it.  Just wish that Flash had been that easy.

Nice link (thanks to Grand Text Auto) to a mess of info (that’s a good mess, as in ‘mess of fish’) on interactive fiction.  Adding it to the sidebar too:  Planet IF

Interesting principle brought up by one of the speakers yesterday at the Festival. Sandi Shelton, author of several fiction and non-fiction books and articles mentioned that she felt the internet was often an enemy of the writer as we spend precious minutes surfing the web or checking email when we drift from the business of writing.

True to a certain degree, yet I feel obliged to stand up in defense of internet connection as its benefits may well balance out or even tip the scales in its favor as a boon to writers.

For one thing, research is more quickly done and readily available: a click away instead of notes scribbled for a trip to the library when you get a chance to go.  For me, the function of the weblogs–all three of them–keep me writing when I might otherwise be playing mah-jong or some such time-consumer as I hit a stumbling block of white space in the narrative.  I’ll mention too the wonder of the strictly online Hypertextopia which was the only way A Bottle of Beer even would have been created.

Less obvious are the resources other than clear research that the internet provides.  Grammar and language tools, fine literature available to get one in the mood, images and stories that go on every single day to create inspiration.

I’d say, it’s all in how you use the web to your advantage as a writer that makes the difference.  That and a heavy sense of guilt when you’ve clicked too far away from a justifiable purpose.

Thanks once again, Steve….

A nice little introduction to Tinderbox for planning out a book–I’d say both fiction and non-fiction would benefit from the ability to create a pretty elaborate skeleton of the narrative while enabling the intricacy of fully informed notes on character, setting, plot, etc. without losing the trail of ideas.

Mark does a great job of explaining the process of planning a story as well as the manipulation of Tinderbox to best serve the job.

I’ve been wanting for a long time to write a text adventure in Inform or some such, ever since getting riled up by Photopia years ago in a new media class.  Likely should’ve taken this course this semester because they did indeed put together an IF piece called “The Good, The Bad, and The Lolli” which I of course tried out.  It’s been a while since I’ve played in IF, and yet the same issues prevailed:  I am directionally dysfunctional, do not state clearly what I want, and get annoyed easily.