In this week’s unlecture, Brian pointed out that hypertext is not a new idea but simply making used of pre-existing technologies.
Related to another reading “The Double Logic of Remediation” I have done in Comm. Histories & Technologies from Bolter, J. David, we are challenged to appreciate the integration of different forms of media. New media presents themselves “as refashioned and improved versions of other media”. Hypertext provides readers the linear-perspective reading to a whole new level. New media refashion older media and in the another way older media refashion themselves to reaffirm their status and face the challenge of existing with new media.
“No medium today, and certainly no single media event, seems to do its cultural work in isolation from other media, any more than it works in isolation from other social and economic forces.”
“If the book is a highly refined example of a primitive technology, hypertext is a primitive example of a highly refined technology”
Douglas describes that hypertext uses the printed word as the basis for technology that extends the boundaries of writing. Hypertext opens Pandora’s box with endless links that actually may not lead the readers back to the original story. There is no closure. Yet Douglas suggests that hypertext is at its early stage of becoming an advanced piece of technology.
I find it fascinating about the idea that stories change their shape every time I read it. Creating open ended novel and page-less books with hypertext changes the formal literary reading. To me, stories become more interactive, and lively as there is continuous connection to unlimited possibilities.
Is this a kind of design fiction before the digitalisation of literary texts?
Yet, readers are totally in control of the development of the story; will they get lost in how the story is assumed to flow? Readers are able to make own decisions from the beginning of the story and choose their own conclusion to finish it. without endings, so even the authors don’t know what the final part of their stories is. Novels may lose its original meaning. The author no longer can express their signature touches or their styles.
I like the points Jasmine raised by comparing the online content to a personal diary. I am fascinated by the idea that the possibility of our stuff being read by anyone has influenced on how and what we write rather than the actual viewers. The things I write in my journal is so much different from what I actually write in my blog because nobody will actually see it. I reckon it is more about one’s purpose on doing it; so it is still validated even if nobody views or consumes it. Adrian mentioned that like writers still write even though their work will not be published. At least to us, what we write, as Adrian said, even for an imaginary audience, write it well, then the imagined will eventually become real one.
There is also the discussion about hypertext. Hypertext does not only refer to just multiple meanings. From Adrian, the thing we read or watch each time changes in itself, what we are actually reading is also multiple. I think it is about how readers can navigate and make connections with the pieces of context together rather than just read between the lines. Hypertext let readers interpret things more than what the relation the text being arranged. Hypertext has allowed readers to digest the meaning of texts according to their knowledge and perception, even their mood. I can’t recall who but one lecturer explained that the first experience of reading the past literacy readings will be different from the second time in the future. Relating to hypertext, it is more about revealing readers the things they have not noticed before . Authors may use hypertext to give readers informed ideas; yet our reading still determines how the link goes.
I like the other idea that Adrain bought up that books are now important only in their relationship with literature. Look at how many textbooks and cookbooks are actually online; in the e-book format. Books are dead in this sense. For literature, the experience probably comes first. E-readers cannot give the feeling to readers with for example, the crisp papers and a leather binding of the physical book; the experience in reading a literature. Digitalisation of literary texts only provides the ease and fast access to the information we need; but most important, it no longer holds the value of appreciating the texts on paper.
Here is a Youtube video about hypertext fiction I find interesting. They described hypertext fiction as “choose your own adventure” based online.
I like early mornings. It is the moment when I feel like the whole world is still sleeping and I am the only one who is awake. I kind of forget all my problems; nothing to worry about. Everything in the early morning is just so unreal. I feel like at that moment when I open my eyes, there is only this little me, this big world and that beautiful sunrise.
Yet I seldom wake up in the very early morning unless I have morning class. When I wake up late; it is usually with heaps of unknown worries.
Some stupid thoughts always come up in my mind from nowhere…
I am just too normal to live an amazing life…
http://vimeo.com/73406948
“Paperman”, an Oscar-winning animated short film
I love this short film. It is so romantic. The story is bold and beautiful even without a single line of dialogue. It shows that magic can flourish in this cold world.
What Adrian said about “the content is not king, connection is” sticks in my mind for a whole day. What I take away from it is that rather than to contribute the content, to have response and communication with the contents people contributed is also important. The job title of a “content producer” sounds cool and creative. Instead of simply produce what appeals to the people concerns, Adrian encourges us to be the creators – to explore and discover new contents. I took away one of the classmates’ idea of amateur. It is so true that so many young genius or amateurs out there are more successfully than me. I guess why I bother to do so… Maybe I can just drop out of university and focus on producing media. A university degree can’t help to be outstanding in the media world definitely. However, Adrian stated that we have to sell our experience; and that is what we can gain from this course. “How to collaborate, how to work in/on the network, how to think creatively and critically even when it is all change”. I do have to start accumulating my experience on making marvellous stuff.
“There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say, to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter.” (Alice in Wonderland)
Mad as a hatter? People who worked in those Englsih hat factories in 18th and 19th centuries were exposed daily to trace amounts of metal, which accumulated in their bodies over time. Some workers suffered from some sorts of impairment caused by mercury poisoning. Therefore the phrase “Mad as a Hatter” became popular as a way to refer to someone who was perceived as insane.
Which unluckily I am not… Doing a media degree is not easy. Everything is about creativity. I daydream a lot and give myself very good idea to try out something; but I seldom work on it. I have several high school friends doing either media or fashion design at universities. They always laugh at me that I don’t believe impossible things. And they said there is no use trying only if I believe impossible things. They said it is a great pleasure to do what people out there say you cannot. I guess I should try stay as mad as a hatter… My mum once told me, “just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” True, every cloud has a silver lining. No matter what I am goign through now, I will keep hold on my faith. It is doomed at the moment; but I believe a miracle is going to happen.
I am not Alice but I am in Wonderland. Either I take the blue pill, then the story ends and I wake up in my bed; believe whatever I want to believe. Or I take the red pill, I can probably stay in wonderland and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Ummm… I’ll choose the red.
I have friends who are so obsessed with success. They are always aware of the “who what how”; who is who, and what they have, and how they get it. They like being around people who know what they want and how they going to achieve it. I think they are living in psychotic misery. I can’t imagine being close friends with them for more than 6 years. That’s crazy because I don’t actually know what I want.
Image from http://pinterest.com/pin/188025353165148957/
I love Adrian’s dancing metaphor to describe Networked Media. “No one knows where it leads and no one knows the steps”. This got me thinking about both the future of this mysterious media industry and mine. The destiny remains unknown. Nobody even me can tell where we are going after university, or just with this course. I guess probably it is hard to find our steps or sometimes there is no way to imagine what the direction we should go; yet we should still keep dancing. It is like an adventure. We shouldn’t give up as I think we are already on the right track – being here. Before that, Adrian asked at the beginning of the lecture if we feel like we need an university degree to get by jobs in future. Well…who knows? Keep dancing and we will find out. All we need to do now is to prepare ourselves in this dance to take up any challenge.
“Knowledge is constructed”. Everybody knows something; knows a lot about that and less about this. Somebody creates things; certain things they are interested or good at. We all see things differently and so we learn things in our own way according to our preferences. I reckon that is the notion of blogging. In our blogs, we post things that are constructed in the way we want. Others read our blogs; in that way our stuff become a knowledge to them and they learn it.
