The Wednesday workshop of week 3.2 felt a little bit of a hump day of sorts for me. After this class, we would have a full week off due to the Australia Day holiday on the Monday, and we would also be exactly half-way through the Summer Semester!

But let’s not get too carried away.

In this symposium we were tackling the topic of hypertext narratives. It was mentioned that hypertext is quite a unique technology, and therefore cannot be compared to print media. The hypertext narrative must be treated as its own entity.

A question was then raised about why we need or would want a text with no clear meaning? And I must say that I struggle with this notion as well. If we direct the meaning of a text, then what’s the point of us reading it? If I’m the one designing or determining the storyline, then it kinda loses the significance in my eyes. I may as well be the author of the book, writing it for another’s enjoyment. When I’m reading a book, I’d probably rather that someone else has placed the contents together in a way that they feel would be best for me.

I dunno, maybe we’re just so used to books, magazines, newspapers and print media in general. Or is it just human nature to want something definite, rather than having a choice of how a narrative might end? Maybe we’ve been trained to just be passive readers, and therefore we have trouble adapting into the active reader mindset?

I guess it comes back to viewing print media and hypertext in a different light to each other. Hypertext is fluid, whilst print text is stationary. They do differ, so there must be a place for both these days. We just need to learn to enjoy and value the unique qualities of both.

You should also read Jake’s enlightening post, Reconfiguring Narrative.