week 8

hypertext: "texts composed of blocks of text and the electronic links betwen them"(landow2001,p100)
" Hypertext most often refers to text on a computer that will lead the user to other, related information on demand. Hypertext represents a relatively recent innovation to user interfaces, which overcomes some of the limitations of written text. Rather than remaining static like traditional text, hypertext makes possible a dynamic organization of information through links and connections (called hyperlinks). Hypertext can be designed to perform various tasks; for instance when a user "clicks" on it or "hovers" over it, a bubble with a word definition may appear, or a web page on a related subject may load, or a video clip may run, or an application may open."(wiki)

hypertextual: "hypertext which links a passage of verbal discourse to images, maps,diagrams and sound as easily as to another verbal passage, expands the notion of text beyond the solely verbal" (landow2001,p100)

culture characterisations of books: cultural characterisations of computer-mediated texts:
- durable - ephemeral
- bounded - evanescent
- fixed - flexible
- finished - fluid
- kaleidoscopic
- multiple
- plastic
- provisional
- transient
- vibrant
- volatile

non-linearity:
"one must distinguish between non-linearity in time and non-linearity in space. non-linearity in time is imaginary; it is a fundamental contradiction of terms and necessarily impossible. time is linear, at least the time that is required to read and write hypertexts. reading and writing are linear phenomena, they are sequential and chronological, conditioned by the durative ordering of time, although their positions as stored and in space may have a non-linear organization" (Liestol 1994,p 106)
"nonlinearity is never actually experienced directly. It exists only as a logical negation and at distance on both time and space…the moment one reads into non-linearity by clicking on one of the icons… one reduces non-linearity to linearity"(liestol1994,p106)

The Death of the Author:
"the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author"( Barthes 1998 p172)
"like so many extensions of our sensibilities, hypertext is an odd creature, one that simultaneously promises more autonomy to its readers while offering authors a degree of control unthinkable with more conventional materials - seemingly as two-faced as any politician's promises." (Douglas 2000 p125)

The Absence of an End:
"Our sense of arriving at closure is satisfied when we manage to resolve narrative tensions and minimize ambiguities, to explain puzzles, and to incorporate as many of the narrative elements as possible into a coherent pattern… Unlike most print narratives, however, hypertext fiction invites us to return to it again and again, its openness and indeterminanacy making our sense of closure simply one "ending" among many possible." (Douglas 2000 p88)

Hypertext Pedagogy:
"Traditional writing emphasizes the presentation of a clear, coherent thesis supported by examples and illustrations leading to a definitive resolution or closure" (Duguay 1999 p15)

"Instead of a single thesis, a hypertext can offer multiple positions and viewpoints privileging none of them" (Duguay 1999 p15)

Cybertext:
"a cybernetic system that generates a different sequence of signs every time the work is experienced" (Ryan 1999 p16)
"In cybernetics the term cybertext is used to describe the concept of organization of the text in order to analyze the influence of the medium as an integral part of the literary dynamic, as noted by Espen Aarseth in 1997."(wiki)

type of cybertext:
chatterbots
story writing programs
interactive fiction
multi-user dungeons

Identity
"I'm not one thing. I'm many things"(Turkle 1995 p185)

Community and Power
"Cyberspace at the end of the twentieth century has at its heart a constant battle between the individuals and the propagation of an ever more powerful virtual elite. By providing ever more powerful tools to the individual, cyberspace seems to offer power in various virtual possessions. Yet, the reliance on these tools ensures individuals become ever more dependent on a expertise-base elite who create and maintain these tools." (Jordan 1999 p7)