Category: Reflections

After reading this piece, I don’t see the connection with this piece with the rest of the hypertext that has been used in the class.  There were no links that I found that lead to an outside source, i.e images, related links which could further enhance the story as a hypertext.  Another noticeable difference is there is only one way to move through the story.  Pressing Yes goes on to the next page, Pressing No simply goes back to the previous page.  Therefore it was the same as reading a regular printed work for me.  Again no choices are really presented. I also found it hard to follow the story. At some points, it is clear the narrative is divided by two.  The narrator is walking through the woods describing the trees and scenery during one half.  The other half the actions of seperate characters and their surroundings are described.  For example, a house with lawn chairs and siding and other random objects were noted.  I was unable to make a connection betweent the two halves.  I would say the only the connection to hypertext is that the narrative is so random.

The stories involved in Afternoon seem shuffled and re-shuffled and the same paragraphs are even embedded in different pages and seemingly different naration lines.  There seem to be numerous narrators and I am at times unsure as to the narrator’s gender which can become confusing at times.  However, generally the story involves many memories and charactors.  Although at times I am unable to assess which character belongs to what purpose or description.  Perhaps I jumped about too much ;).  Regardless, My inevitable conclusions seem similar to my classmates experiences so, I am assuming that the information stays relatively the same.  I got trapped in cycles several times, rereading the same path over and over.  Though, I was able to link out of it once I figured out the process. 

Whenever the writer alludes to an ending of sorts which never really seems to occur he gives insight into the pattern of the program.  He often says "There is no simple way to say this."  Throughout the story and upon an "ending" of sorts.  "When a story no longer progresses, or when it cycles, or when you tire of the paths, the experience of reading ends."  This is how he explains the closure within this type of reading.  So, it seems it may end several times throughout reading, but the experience ends when the reader chooses to end it.  He continues to give hope that words may take the reader to a different place each time and in different situations.  Similar to Hegirascope, there are quotes from different books and poems perhaps one of the characters’ intermingling with the narratives. 

So, the story can change based on the links you choose and upon answering questions with innumerous possible paths.  I wondered whether the system mixes paragraphs up or whether he just reuses them to create memory.  I suppose it is the latter however, as each page is titled, and presumabley each is already written.  There are many references to movies within memories and musical relations.  I suppose this is because it is tyed to so many of our memories and the paths our minds take when recalling them.

Afternoon, a story is not as obvious as Hegirascope that it is a hypertext fiction.  Afternoon does not seem to present as diverse a possibility of tangent paths from readers to readers.  I wonder how many different variations that Afternoon offers.  There is one line that stuck in my mind as I explore the story, it is found on the lexia titled "Hop Scotch", it states, "In its own way, this book consists of many books, but wo books above all."  Then the the paragraph goes to describe how this book of many books, consists of two books depending on the way that the reader reads it.  The different method determines the book, one reader can go almost a linear path without clicking on the possible links, whereas another readers can skip around like in hop scotch but still remain somewhat of a linear progression through the story. I am wondering if we all read Afternoon long enough, we will all come out with the same information and understanding of the plot and characters?   Is it just one great narrative with the same information but presented to the readers at different orders depending on what paths the reader choices.  The idea of the order of information reminds me of the main character, well at least the main characters for me in my experience of Afternoon, his ex-wife name is Lisa and his son is Andy.  There is a episode when the main character reflects upon his marriage, in one sense, on the literal level, he is addressing his marital failures between him and his ex-wife, on the other hand, metaphorically, this can address how some readers like certain control over what information is given to them and in a specific order. 

 I am really curious to know what other experience and narrative of Afternoon is like, because I am wondering if this hypertext is more linear, or if it has more diverse paths imbedded in the stories than I thought. My version of Afternoon so far center around the male narrator with the ex-wife that was never named.  Then I discovered more about Lolly, Nariscaa, Lisa and Wert’s different past and their lives.  A correlation that I found consist in Afternoon that also exist in Calvino’s novel is the unidentify shift in narrations.   The readers found out from whose  perspective the passages are coming from through the hints of that persons situation and characteristic to find out who is speaking.  In Calvino’s novel, the point of view is in second person throughout the main narrative, and then it shifts to different first person narration in the incipits.  Afternoon the passages are usually written in the first person but coming from different person at different time. 

Afternoon, a story was very similar to a lot of the other hypertexts we’ve looked at so far. It reminded me a lot of Hegirascope. Like Hegirascope, Afternoon is a story guided by links within the text that is more like pieces of a puzzle that need to be put together. These links within pages of the ‘text’ will also divert you to other pages.

Although Afternoon and Hegirascope  are similar in many ways, there are many ways they also differ. Hegirascope only relies on the reader’s choosing of links and the systematic changing of pages to guide the reader. It also does not allow any ‘backtracking’ of the story (this is not intended by the author, although you can ‘cheat’ this system by pressing your backbutton on your browser to view a previous page or by going back to previous links). However, Afternoon has a backbutton that can allow you to backtrack if you want to go back to a previous page. You also have a "Yes" and "No" button so that you can answer the questions that are asked of you in the story (a click on "Yes" or "No" will guide you to a different page). It also keeps a record of what links you have chosen and the history of pages that you have visited. You can also type in a response in the blank field at the bottom, and your response will send you to a different page. In this way, is like Afternoon maps your course for you as you explore it.  

In Afternoon, you also have the option to ‘bookmark’ pages if you want. The reader can also read this story at his or her own pace – there is no systematic turning of pages as in Hegirascope. The reader MUST make a decision (click a link, click yes, click no, hit the backbutton) in order for the story to continue. In this way, Afternoon is very similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books we read. Like the Choose Your Own Adventure books, if the reader does not make a decision as to what they want to do, the story cannot continue. Hegirascope, however, will continue whether the reader has made a decision or not.

With the reader being able to make all of these decisions, I think that Afternoon engages the reader much more than with Hegirascope  or with the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

When I first started to read through Afternoon, a story, I went through and read what was said.  It all started out as what seemed to be a fairly "normal" story that had a linear progression to it.  In the beginning of reading this, however, there were a few instances of when all of a sudden the characters, settings, and subjects being talked about would seem to change.  I didn’t think much of it at first, but after I noticed this change the second time, I hit the "return to previous writing space" button and tried to make sense of what the connection was.  Usually I couldn’t make a connection and just went forward with the reading.  After spending more time with the story,  I felt that the pace was staring to pick up and I wasn’t as confused at the content I was reading about as I was in the beginning.  Then, once I started to be able to follow a story-line (it seems there are a few here), there would be a page that I had read before.  When I read it the first time, it didn’t make sense in the context of what I was reading.  When I read it the second time, however, it did seem to flow and make sense.  An example of this is when I first read about the two men in their office and the waitress comes to them with coffee.  One of the men made a crude comment to her and she walked on out.  It seemed like this page was just thrown in there in the beginning of the story to possibly throw the reader — or maybe keep his/her attention due to the comment.  The second time this page came up, it seemed to have more of a propper fit with the rest of the story.  There seemed to be more supportive pages surrounding it, rather than just having a random page pop up.

Maybe it was due to the fact that I would hit the Y or N button when a question was asked.  I noticed that typically, neither button took you to a different location, even when answering a question.  I hit the "return to previous writing space" button more than once to make sure I wasn’t missing anything by not hitting the Y or N button.  It turned out that no matter what I hit — enter, left-click, Y or N — it would take me to the same page.  I had the thought of the CYOA books while going through this, but as it turned out for me anyway, it didn’t seem to have as many branches as a CYOA novel.  For the most part, I felt it had a linear progression.  In a few ways, it did break from the normal novel-writing convention. 

"Into the Sunset"   western edge desert motionless dissolute "Amanda" sky mystery truth naked ants thighs prude "Catalog  of Dreams"

What is so intriguing about this particular version of text is the presence of a familiar descriptive tone of voice- describing and setting the stage for each fragmented scene, (lexia), just as it would appear in a paragraph of a novel. Images are merely placed between the lines of ink and typed pages of blank screen; the style, the medium that this author utilizes, is not far from the tools that creators alike have found necessary to use for the intended message to be conveyed. In simpler terms, this piece is not far from the earlier pieces of literature, writing that our brains are so accustomed to interpreting- our eyes so attentive and molded to scan.

Aside from the textual media through which the author performs his message, (more like directs his audience through) the medium of writing as a linear composition is somewhat present. It is, as discussed in class, reminiscent to stories spoken through print. It carries the same element of sentence structure, of paragraphs, and descriptive themes that transport the reader to the desired location. However, the very precedent that determines whether a certain text is considered a book is twisted- twisted and shaped by a flash of screens, fragments of hypertext- lexia.

This lexia enables the separation of each of the scenes; essentially, it breaks up the paths in which the author intends for his audience to follow. Is it intentional that you can only form a particularly set road of travel? No. This form is still, as you know, closely related to- if not merely founded upon- the ancient form of linear construction.

As you journey through Higerascope, you encounter flashing screen with text. Immediately, this poses as an ultimate indicator that the author has set a definite pace for his readers, participants, and daring adventurers. It is apparent that, even in the midst of traveling through the dialogue- presented by the creator as general means of storytelling- the flashing lexia tell otherwise.

One lexia, in particular, titled “Into the Sunset”, paints a picture of a traveler on the road- perhaps on the road of discovery, of wandering through a desert land, in search of some place that had been awaiting his arrival. The words included in this lexia reflect the title, including the terms drive, objects unfold, arroyo, dry wash, mesquite, red rock. “A dissolute early moon slouches over some mountains. Motionless at 90 mph, Marshall drives with quiet dread into an American sunset which, as he has long suspected, was always there waiting for him.” Clearly, the language of Higerascope maintains a novel-like, descriptive nature. Available links for this particular site includes the western edge, desert, motionless, dissolute. One might assume that the links are determined by the nature and terms used in the lexia. However, this is not completely the case.

For the lexia titled “Amanda”, the links connected are not explicitly related to its body. Yet, the context of this story relates itself to its previously linked lexia, “Into the Sunset”- this linked by the term “desert”. Although this lexia consists of verbal links that are not explicitly linked to the text, these links are implicitly connected to the story. Essentially, doing so provides background information on the context of each lexia, and even strengthens any given information for a more cohesive understanding of the desired form of journey, (preferably an active journey) that the creator would have his audience take. Other links of the lexia, “Amanda”, include the desert, the sky, the mystery, the truth. Each term may not be explicitly found in the body of text on this particular lexia, but their relevance to the content of the story line exemplify there insertion. The sky, in itself, could represent the endless possibilities for this particular lexia’s ending. Boundless and infinite, the sky holds little background information as it pertains to the story, but does it pertain to the third lexia? Yes, this will be addressed later. The link, “the truth”, presents the idea that discovering the detail of the case—finding ‘the truth’— is an important part of the story. As of now, it remains a “mystery”.      

“Catalog of Dreams #14”, is the third lexia examined. It is about lust, a form of carnal desires, wanting so badly, for sake of those that carry its sensual charm, to disguise itself as love. Summer love, lying in the grass-losing yourself in the endless flow of the sky– (which, even as this term appeared to hold no significance in the secondly discussed lexia) appears in the third lexia. This third lexia incorporates the links naked, ants, thighs, and prude. Like the first disclosed lexia, #14’s provided links are terms explicitly found in its body of text.

Successfully, the creator of Higersacope opens the doors to an astoundingly different yet similar form of storytelling, in relation to its printing predecessor. Each discussed lexia is formatted in such a complexly different manner, unique to printed forms of storytelling. Simultaneously, it includes the very essence of a good story- the descriptive words, personal journey of, and/or the personal experiences of the premiered character.

The term hijerascope, stems from the root words hijera, meaning departure from, and scope, referring to the act of investigation. Higerascope, and the framework of each lexia, essentially represents the investigation of the departure of text from the past mediums of conveying a message- these past mediums solely restricting themselves to the printing form. Through these stories, he displays their effectiveness in showing and telling a story, the stimulating quality of treading the line that separates these two forms (print and hypermedia), and perhaps, how this balance act affects the reader’s interpretation.

While going through the Hegirascope, the reader will come across many different pages and many pages that seemingly have no relation to each other.  However, if one reads for long enough, they will encounter fragments from many different stories and begin to slowly piece together each story.  It would take forever to figure out the entire Hegirascope, so when I found a couple of pages that directly related to each other and directly linked to each other, I figured I would start there.  The first page that I decided to begin with, titled Amanda, (http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS078.html) seems to be a letter or an e-mail written by a woman named Amanda to her husband or boyfriend.  She is telling him about her experience in Oklahoma City, just after the Oklahoma City Bombing.  Specifically, she is talking about her initial observations about the emergency response, and how many rolls of film she shot and where she shot them from. 

From there, I clicked on the link titled "Stop Worrying" (http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS135.html).  It caught my attention because of the fact that it was essentially the last thing that Amanda said in her letter.  Clicking that link brought me to a page titled "Amandus", which was seemingly a response to the letter or e-mail that Amanda had written.  It seems to be a general update on life from the other character in the letters, detailing the daily happenings.  As I was reading this letter, the page automatically updated to what appeared to be another letter from Amanda in response to the Amandus letter (http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS136.html). There is some highly personal discussion going on between the two individuals, and it’s interesting to see the back-and-forth conversation between the two in letter form.

An interesting point in these letters is that the links provided on the side of the page are all words directly from the letter.  However, they often times don’t link to something directly related to the word which is linked.  Most of the time you can’t make a direct path between segments of the same story simply by clicking on links.  Typically you just happen across another piece of the story minutes later, and you must reconnect what you had already read.  To help you link stories together, pieces of the same story on different pages use the same background color and the same font color.  This tends to cause a "haven’t I seen this page before?" reaction, but you quickly realize you haven’t once you start reading.

This approach is very successful.  While reading what seems to be a random assortment of fragments of stories wouldn’t seem to be all that interesting, attention is retained by the fact that you begin to anticipate finding the continuation of a story buried somewhere in all the links.  Also, you can’t help but wonder "what’s next?" and either wait for the page to automatically update, or click on a link.  It’s strange to think that the author of the Hegirascope would want to make the tempo of browsing the sight so fast, since the pages automatically update every thirty seconds or so.  It almost causes a sense or urgency in the reader, giving the feeling of "I have to read fast or I won’t finish this page".  Again, this makes the reader want to keep on reading, and it really makes the Hegirascope a successful piece of digital text.  It really is a "text machine".

http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS011.html First Link

http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS025.html Second Link

http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS045.html Third Link

The first link in the series that I have chosen deals with different meanings and uses of the word "one".  Actually, it only deals with the meaning in the sense of "one" being a number, and the sense of "one" being the word used for a singular person. 

One does not eat oysters with a spoon
One carries nothing to extremes
One thought fills immensity
One of anything is never enough
One is the name of truth
One for me and one for you
One signals faithfully across the void
One is the number of my true love’s heads 

This sort of poem has four links surrounding it "The One", "The Two", "The Singular", and "The Only".  For this assignment I decided I would choose the link that contained the word that first appeared in the content of the page.  For this page I chose the link "The One" because "one" is the first word that appears.  From this page I was directed to a page that "Catalog of Dreams #401".  Obviously the title has the number "one" in it, our first relevency to the last page.  This link is about a single red rock that has saved the world.  This simple red rock is containted in a cartoon landscape created by George Herriman, a famous pioneer cartoonist, as I found out.  In this landscape there are cacti, mesas, and clouds, but they all have no color.  Only this simple red rock has color; copper, rust, gold, and many others that make up this red rock.  The reason that this rock has saved the world is because a man named Hearst, who i later concluded would have to be William Randolph Hearst, has become intrigued by this rock.  Heast was a man who created a communications empire, an empire that was becoming so large that it threatened to be a monopoly over the entire nation, and eventually the world.  The problem is that he because he was so enthralled with the color of this rock, that Herriman had created, Hearst spent much of his money on trying to develop a new color theory.  What "color theory" means i am not exactly sure of, but it stunted the growth of his communications empire because he spent so much money in doing so, therefore the rock saved the world. 

Now, how does this related to the last page?  Well, the first connection we see is that the number "1" appears in the title.  One could also be referring to George Herriman as the "one" who saved teh world by creating the red rock.  One could also be connecting to Hearst, as the "one" who is threatening the world by creating a vast communications monopoly.  I think it refers to that "one" red rock amidst all the other whites and blanks that has created the reason for Hearst to become enthralled and has saved the world.  However you look at it, there are a number, no pun intended, of connections with the first page to the second. 

The links that outline the second page are as follows "farbenlehre", "red", "rock", and "black and white".  Sticking with my first word choice link preference, I chose the link "red" because the first word in the text of the second page is "red".  Upon clicking this link we notice immediately that our text is in the color RED, our first relevance to our last page.  The title of this new page is "Hark! Teh Mystery Looms".  This page tells the story of a woman Hattie Malloy, enchantress of the outland sea.  A failed Disney movie of some sorts.  And what color does this enchantress have? RED.  so there is our second link to the second page.  As we read on we see a connection to the first page in the line "Your chances of connecting to this dream are about one in the Sahara Desert".  This refers to the fact that this story has been locked in the vaults of Disney, and you will never be able to see it, it really sounds like a line that could be in the first page poem.  This is however the only link to the first page that I was able to find.   Other links more hidden that connect two to three are as follows…  The talk of Disney, which as we all know is a cartoon empire, perhaps George Herriman, a cartoonist, once worked for Disney and pioneered the beginning of that company.  Another link that can be made is that Disney went on to become one of the most influential empires to exist in this country, perhaps an empire that Hearst would have been jealous of in his life. 

Hegirascope goes on to prove that anything can be connected in this hypertext environment.  Whether it be linked by a number, profession, name, color, anything can connect two pages in hypertext.  Some links are more obvious than others, but still they are connected in the exact same way.  As in our lives, each decision that we make can be connected to other decisions.  Of course our days our connected to each other because we cannot escape our bodies or minds, but it is the decisions that connect those days that make it so unique.  Every person in the world can be connected in some way, it might not be as small as five degrees, but eventually we are all connected, just like hypertext.

The first three pages that were linked together which I selected are the following:
http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS0B4.html,
http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS097.html,
http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/hgs/HGS113.html.

The first page that drew my interest happened to be the shortest. The main section states in big, bold letters, “Good news about the end of the world.” This phrase is surrounded by two other phrases on top and bottom. On top, an ominous message says, “It’s always later than you think.”
On bottom, it reads “Feeding your fears since 1945.” I immediately concluded that this page was referring to the beginning of the Cold War (1945) and the age of nuclear weapons. The first line refers to two meanings. The first being that the end of the world and the onset of darkness are much closer at hand then most of us realize. The second I thought referred to government warnings or reassurances that were used to mislead the public and preventing mass hysteria. The “…since 1945,” section was satirical because it played off on the commercialized American society with this popular corporate slogan.

The second page was titled “Drivers.” The story begins with two people, a couple perhaps, waking up late. There is a foreshadowing of trouble in the first stanza which relates back to the theme of the first page. At the beginning there didn’t seem to be much of a connection, but by the third stanza, war and death are mentioned as one of the characters, Bent, is unable to get up and attend the program. I assume the “program” refers to a government sponsored therapy for veterans.
War is an obvious connection of the two “lexia.” Other commonalities include fear and anxiety.

The third page was titled “Epigraph.” The definition of epigraph is: a motto or quotation, as at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme. At first glance there were some obvious differences in the formatting of the page compared to the other two that I examined. The first noticeable difference is that unlike the other pages which have four different links leading to four separate literary pieces, “Epigraph,” has four links which all lead to the same page. I found this odd. The second one was that this was the only piece with an author listed at the bottom: Taylor and Saarinen. This work addresses the intellectual discussion about the end of history and time. One of the key phrases, “The issue is neither philosophical nor literary but technological,” is interesting because I related the technological aspect back to the nuclear reference on the first page and use of advanced weaponry, possibly chemical, that could’ve affected Bent on the second page. The other theme of this piece, was the inevitably of time taking its effect on the world and the impossibility of putting down “brakes.” Hence, this is why all of the links on this page are titled “Faster.”

All three linked pages are connected together by common themes and social issues. Every piece makes an allusion to war. From war, and our self-destruction comes the realization that whether through nuclear warheads, biological weapons, or being just naïve or arrogant, we are doomed. The end is near and the world of men will come to a close.

In relation to the Hegirascope, these pages share the element of unity. On first reading, some of the connections and ideas might seem a stretch, but when broken down by sentence and phrase the similarities are blatant. In this exercise, I think it was key to discuss three links instead of just two, this really helped in illustrating the connections that exist throughout the matrix that is the Hegirascope.

Encountering this text was perplexing at times, at times intriguing, and peculiar to navigate.  At first it seemed as though none of the stories connected in any way, they would jump around based either on what was chosen or inevitably automatically.  Perhaps not very “inevitably” as sometimes I had to go back and finish what I had read, although it seemed to go back to the same place it was directed to originally.  Through the cyclical reading I noticed that there were connections amongst the intents of the overlapping stories.  Similar words were manipulated throughout the stories and interspersed quotes. 

It was most curious to run into the hidden link pages like when you click on, “darkness” (pg HGSXX2) on most screens you run into a completely black page with hidden quotes.  At first one may believe some technical error has occurred but if explored, many paths may be followed. The reader can choose “Hark!”, “Pissed off yet?”, “True meaning”, “Five finger exercise”, “Doppelganger”, “of looking at”, “A dead parrot”, “Same old same old”, “Don’t Click Here”, “Fourteen ways” or “Windfall Lever”.  These links are not visible except through the little hand that appears when you’ve found a link.  However, this particular screen does not appear to transform on its own. 

I chose windfall lever which brought me to “Chapter One: I am dead” (pg. HGS076) this is a rather morbid examination of dreaming death, though more as a beginning than and end.  It entices an idea of journey in finality and a cyclical or everlasting realm similar to this text.  “We commit his person to the sky in hope of no resurrection beyond our bodiless hegira…”  There is an escape through death and the use of hegira as in the title “Hegirascope”.  Subsequently, the word flight is used in many of the other escape sequences.  A similar storyline was linked through the side word, Wake and it took me to the scene called “How it played in the Boardroom” (pg. HGS211).  The first line was a similar flight “They couldn’t understand him so they shot him into space.”  An inherent connection, as the two are written in the same color, orange, on a black background and have a seemingly similar tone but no actual transition  from one idea to the next, aside from the word “wake.”

The scene in the boardroom progresses to the widow’s son sleeping and the ascension of us all.  However, if I had chosen the word “zero” on the previous page, “Chapter One: I am dead” it would have taken me back to the same black screen with hidden links and the choice of a new direction.  Finally, “Boot Me Up and Call Me Rider” (pg. HGS212) emerges from our ascension in the “Boardroom” and the man is a dark type with apparently no dream beyond his own.  Inevitably, this sequence ends with “wake up rider and dream.” There is a cynical optimistic obscurity to this progression; there is no feeling of close personal accounting or connection in this second person narration. The theme is illusory in nature falling in with the dream sequences throughout the relating stories. 

 Similar to that of a “choose your own adventure” book, there are some areas which have scenes that seem to last two or three pages due to color, tone, and often theme.  This is exemplified in the previous arrangement, through the resemblance in tonal quality.  However in this text, the reader has several choices throughout the excursion.  The word links on the side, extracted from the writing in the center of the page, seem to hold a connection to the word at hand and often the word later in the story will lead to a continuation but not always.  The continual transient structure and continual collision of sequences creates an ever changing patchwork of imagery.