cybertext and linear text
Posted on August 31, 2005 at 5:09 pm by lwilliapIt intrigued me, really, to find that there is such a distinct difference between cybertext and the obvious, linear text. Aside from the clear comparison of engaging one’s senses through the screen of a computer, (where limitless possibilities await an artisist, designer, or writer) as opposed to reading between the lines of a bounded paper back, I hadn’t taken much thought to distinguishing the two genres of print.
One thought that came to mind is simply that, although the use of interative digital media is becoming widely attractive for the use of communicating, I still feel that reading and interacting through the simplistic style of a book and piece of literature is valid in today’s market.
HERE’s A LITTLE QUESTION- what did Aarseth mean when he stated,
“… while they focused on what was being read, I focused on what was being read from, ” ? (p. 3, Ergodic Literature).
alright, that’s all!
Lindsey
September 1st, 2005 at 7:56 AM
Between the two texts, I found Writing Space easier to read than Cyber Text. Cyber Text went pretty deep in literary theory which I don’t have a background in. While reading the section that talked about a Multi-User Dungeon(MUD) game, it made me think think of a game today called Everquest. MUD is kinda like the “Grandady” of a games like Everquest. In MUD people used modems. Today people can use modems, cable modems, DSL, and some have fast fiber connections to their houses which is what the type I’m using now. I doubt the graphics of the MUD were very coomplicated while Everquest lets it’s players walk around in a 3-d world. There has been even a function on that game that lets you order pizza online as you play! That’s crazy hehehe….
The material on Writing Space was easier for me to digest. The discussion on remediation was like a small history lesson on how the way information is documented and will be in the future. Things in the future are going digital. Digital is todays hot way of recording information. What will come after the digital age? There was a lot of discussion on libraries. I wonder if eventually libraries will all be online versus having books. Bolter talked about libraries that were a combinations of online and books. Mason library is that way. We have a online catolog and books. There is access to online several databases that you can get access to either from home or at the library itself.
September 1st, 2005 at 2:00 PM
“HERE’s A LITTLE QUESTION- what did Aarseth mean when he stated,
“… while they focused on what was being read, I focused on what was being read from, ” ? (p. 3, Ergodic Literature). ”
I think what was meant by this statement was that instead of focusing on the actual words themselves and the meaning of those words, he was focusing on the actual structure of the reading. An easy comparison would be looking at a websites structure and its site map, rather than reading the content contained on the website.
That being said, I thought this was a particularly interesting part of that reading. That one line put things in perspective for me, in that the author was focusing more on cybertext and what makes it what it is, rather than on the words themselves. Focusing on the actual structure allows more to be considered cybertext, rather than just that which deals with text on a computer.
September 1st, 2005 at 2:04 PM
The piece entitled, “Writing Space” by Jay David Bolter, I found to be a pretty comprehensive analysis of what the term remediation means and consists of in the context of new written-media emerging and somewhat “taking over” the “older” forms of media. His main point throughout the excerpt seems to be that the immediacy of all forms of media is what is most important in today’s culture. Interactivity is also a very prevelant and important component of new digital and online mediums. MLB.TV offers live streaming video of any Major League Baseball game you’d like to watch — provided you pay the fee. Just like the NFL package for any cable TV provider, this service offers any baseball game to be viewed right from your own computer screen. Convenience is also another aspect of newer forms of media that we all take for granted.
When comparing a new form of media like the Internet with one of the oldest forms of written-media — the newspaper — this concept of immediacy comes in to full view right away. A newspaper is updated daily, while the Internet can be updated immediately as events occur. This seems to limit the amount of timely coverage a newspaper can produce because they print one edition per day. The Internet would seem like the most logical choice for most people who are interested in current events, but then again, not everyone is able to afford an Internet connection or even a home computer. While this excerpt does focus on the new mediums for presenting written work, it seems to assume that everyone has the ability to take advantage of the immediacy that is being presented.
Just as Jobensch2 stated, I also found this reading much easier to understand and take in, as opposed to the Aarseth piece. While I was able to comprehend most points that were being made, it was still a little more difficult to get through.