DIGITAL LITERATURE UNIT 2

 

Unit II : Digital Literatures

HYPERTEXT LITERATURE, A DEFINITION

Coined by Theodore Nelson, a pioneer in the computer industry in the 1960s, the term hypertext describes “non-sequential writing — text that branches and allows choices to the reader, best read at an interactive screen.”

Hypertext literature, then, follows the same definition. It’s literature that is non-sequential with branching storylines or pages. The reader drives the story by different clicking hyperlinks.

“When the story no longer progresses, or when it cycles, or when you tire of the paths, the experience of reading it ends,” Michael Joyce wrote in the introduction to the first hypertext piece of literature, “afternoon, a story.”

His story was distributed via floppy disk. It was the late 1980s. Readers navigated by clicking various hyperlinked pieces of text on each page. The story was not linear. No, readers clicked and clicked and clicked until they got bored and clicked away.

This is hypertext literature. Like a digital version of a pick-your-own adventure, writers of hypertext literature compile various segments of narrative, images, and other digital-based pages. Readers then navigate through these at their own pace and leisure. There is no beginning, middle, or end. No start or finish. The reader reads until they do not want to anymore and then they move on with their day. Some readers may spend hours navigating the pathways of a hypertext story. Some may spend only five minutes.

Which leads into another unique aspect of the genre. Every reader who interacts with pieces has a different experience. No two people will click exactly the same hyperlinks in exactly the same order. Readers can come to the same narrative again to experience it in a different order. The takeaways vary each time.

Hypertext literature isn’t simply a story written online. You can’t print these pieces out or write them in a notebook. By doing that, they would cease to function. To exist. In the digital world is where they survive.

EXAMPLES OF HYPERTEXT LITERATURE

Another example of hypertext literature is “I Have Said Nothing” by J. Yellowlees Douglas from 1994. The piece explores the death of someone the narrator calls Sherry and the notion of what death is in and of itself. It asks, “Shall we begin?” and “but does it stop?”

“my body — a Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson from 1997 includes sounds as the reader clicks various parts of a woman’s body to reveal memories the narrator has with those body parts. The shoulder section talks of swimmer’s arms and Frankenstein. Her eyebrows feature stories of makeup and 7th grade.

“These Waves of Girls” by Caitlin Fisher, which won the Electronic Literature Organization award in 2001, navigates the narrator’s queer identity at ages 4, 10, and 20 years. Images and words or phrases link the three time periods together as audio plays through some of the pages.

Kendall’s “Penetration” is an example of hypertext poetry, another facet of hypertext literature. In it, readers select phrases like “deciding” or “daylight” from portions of the poem to reveal more.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE GENRE

Popular in the late 1980s and through the 1990 and early 2000s, hypertext literature was said to be a threat to the typical, linear way of storytelling at its height. But, as it turns out, writing stories that aren’t linear is hard and the genre posed issues that were hard to get past. Due to the nonlinear nature, the introduction of storylines or characters had to be done on each page, leading to repetition for readers as they clicked through.

While many of the aspects of hypertext literature pervade our daily lives (Wikipedia linking to other Wikipedia pages or a Tweet linking to a news story that links to yet another, for example), the genre of hypertext literature itself did not survive. As proof, I couldn’t even get “These Waves of Girls” to load on my computer when writing this.

While the genre did, in fact, predict the hyperlink-heavy time of today, the hyperlink literature didn’t last as long as they expected. Storytelling is still, majorly, linear.

Elements of Hypertext

The elements of Hypertext consist of nodes, links, buttons, trails, navigational tools, browsers, and editors.

Nodes

Hypertext sometimes called a network of nodes. A node is a collection of data organized around a specific topic. This node is linked to another node, forming a network. Node is a fundamental unit of hypertext, although there is no agreement as to what really constitutes a node.

Links

Links are also fundamentals unit to form hypertext. Links are almost always anchored in at their departure point to provide users with some explicit object to activate in order to follow the link. The destination point is reached by activating the anchor.

Buttons

Button is a visual cue in a node that alerts a user that a link is exists. In other words, button is a visual representative of a link in a node. By clicking or pressing button, the user is activating the link.

Editor

Editor is used in order to create a hypertext page/node. Editor is part of the hypertext system that enables user to create a node and link it into the network. Sometimes editor is not included in the hypertext systems, because the system is merely a presentation-only system.

Navigational tools

Browser

Basically, a browser is a program or sub-program that can display a diagram of a network of nodes.

Maps

Maps serve to improve spatial context in a hypertext network. Map is tracking all of the documents or nodes linked to the current document which is dynamically updated.

Overview diagrams

Overview diagrams serve as navigational aids. It can provide an overall view and serve as anchors for local overview diagrams.

Trails

A trail is a record of the nodes that a user has accessed in viewing a hypertext network.

Attributes

Attributes are any information related to the component. E.g.: ownership and content type of the component.

Presentation specifications

Contain information on how the component is displayed. It may include things like the preferred number of colors to display a gif file, the size of the window to be displayed, the location of the window, etc.

Anchor

There are two properties of an anchor; they are anchor id and an anchor value. The anchor value is used to locate a part of the content of the component. It depends on the structure of particular applications, documents, or data types on how to interpret an anchor.

Xanadu

What Does Xanadu Mean?

Xanadu is a hypertext/hypermedia project first conceptualized by Ted Nelson. Although originally conceived in the 1960s, Xanadu was still in development when it was eclipsed by Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web in the 1990s. Nelson introduced the term hypertext. As a result, Xanadu is considered an important part of Internet history, as well as an inspriation for what future networks may be like.

Techopedia Explains Xanadu

Xanadu differs from the Web in many important ways, including: Two-way linking, allowing the user to track an original source as well as see content derived from that source Three-dimensional browsing (Xanaduspace) displaying a graphical line between hypertextual links A system of micro-payments that are paid to the rights holder whos content is copied Versioning of content to allow side-by-side comparison Project Xanadu released XanaduSpace 1.0 in 2007 as a prototype ofan eventual system, but Xanadu's broad ambitions have yet to be properly realized, whereas the World Wide Web is already out there and growing. That said, many of the features originally set out for Xanadu have been incorporated into the Web. This incorporation may continue as the Web evovles Xanadu owes its name to the mystical land of Xanadu from the poem “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Coleridge.

Project Xanadu was the first hypertext project, founded in 1960 by Ted Nelson. Administrators of Project Xanadu have declared it superior to the World Wide Web, with the mission statement: "Today's popular software simulates paper. The World Wide Web (another imitation of paper) trivialises our original hypertext model with one-way ever-breaking links and no management of version or contents."

Hypertext fiction

• characterized by linking structures (afternoon, a story by Michael Joyce; Patchwork Girl by Virginia Shelley)

• earliest form of electronic literature

Network Fiction

• diversified forms of hypertext fiction, such as narratives that emerge from data repositories (Twelve Blue by Michael Joyce)

• combines other media forms, like audio and video, in a networked structure (These Waves of Girls by Caitlin Fisher)

• defined by David Ciccoricco as digital fiction that "makes use of hypertext technology in order to create emergent and recombinatory narratives."

Interactive Fiction

• Has more game elements; varies in the amount of narrative components

• Inspired Nick Monfort to coin the term “interactor” to describe the combined reading/authoring role of IF users

• Noted for innovative uses of convential literary devices (Savoir-Faire, by Emily Short, for example, plays on the concept of literary metaphor, while All Roads, by Jon Ingold, encourages a self-referential critique of the empowering nature of the hypertext environment.)

 

Locative Narratives

• The “next step” in the evolution of the hypertext narrative: from digitalized three-dimensional spaces to actual ones

• A trendy variety of electronic literature, similar to email novels (popular in the 90s) and serial fictions communicated though cell phones

• location-specific narratives that can be played as audio tapes or keyed to GPS technologies used by the reader or listener (for example, The Missing Voice by Janet Cardiff is a “part urban guide, part fiction, part film noir” audio tape that the user plays as he or she goes on a tour of London. Her Long Black Hair takes listeners on a narrative journey through New York’s Central Park.)

"Codework"

• A natural language is hybridized with programming expressions; in its purest form, executable code

• Two addresses: human readers and machines

• “Broken code” pieces are more common; they contain literary devices associated with the print form, such as puns, parallel structures, neologisms (check out to Perplexia by Talan Memmott)

Generative Art

• Uses an algorithm to create and re-create text and/or visual components

• Draws attention to the transformation of temporal and logical relationships between reader and writer in digital space (Regime Change by Noah Wardrip-Fruin; On Lionel Kearns by Jim Andrews)

Flash poem

• Another creative approach to literature that incorporates programming languages and functions

• Sequential screens that generally progress without interactivity (although poems that GO offers a fun selection of interactive pieces. The Dreamlife of Letters by Brian Kim Stefans is a non-interactive Flash poem.)

The genres presented here are not exhaustive and this list does not represent a standard followed by all critics of electronic media. It does, however, suggest the vast range and complexity of electronic literature and give a glimpse at the evolution of the form since early experiments with hyperlinked narrative structures.

Aspects of digital media

Non-linearity

In a book, the same information is presented to the reader in the same order every time the book is read. This linearity allows readers to have a similar reading experience when they read the same book. But a hypertext narrative is not necessarily linear; it may “flow” differently each time it is experienced. Hypertext media doesn’t have to have a beginning, middle and end like a traditional codex; instead, it may offer multiple entry points and contain many different pathways to the reader (Snyder, 1996).

Connectivity

A reader of print media is finished reading a text once he or she has read all the pages. But the connectedness afforded to digital literatures makes it possible to get entangled in a labyrinthine web of hyperlinks that never have a definitive end. The relative amorphousness of digital text has lead to the questioning of the finiteness of the reading experience, which Sheilds refers to as the “myth of totality” (2000).

The connectivity of the web also transforms the concept of narrative structure. In a traditional narrative, one might consider the structure of a narrative in terms of the arrangement of details in a paragraph or the progression of ideas in an entire work. Hyperlinks afford new ways of thinking about structure; for example, Mark Bernstein (1998) offers a classification of hyperlinked structures that could be useful in the criticism of e-literature.

The connectivity of the web also makes it possible to offer a viewer or a reader an unprecedented amount of sensory stimulation. Learning how to “hear” audio or “watch” video is paramount to learning how to “read” text in the digital environment (Miall, 1993).

Interactivity

Particularly with some genres of electronic literature, like interactive fiction, the interactivity of the user in the creation of the narrative itself blurs the traditional distinctions between reader and writer. Hypertexts vary in the amount of interaction required from the user, complicating attempts to classify e-literature based on user participation. Whereas “a print bound text is the result of many individual choices made by its author from among several available alternatives… a hypertext consists of many virtual texts with may be the work of different writers. Each reader makes one or more of these virtual texts an actual text when choosing which links to follow and which to ignore” (Snyder, 1996).

Contextuality

Electronic text offers instant links to or embedding of images, videos, audio, and other media. While print texts may refer or allude to extemporaneous texts or events, obtaining the information is not instantaneous as it is in an electronic medium. The task of reading online, then, includes experiencing and understanding the media that is alongside or within the text itself. Because of the diverse range of media that are available on the Internet, developing an understanding of the cultural, social or historical context all types of media is crucial to developing a critical perspective of electronic texts. Literary analysts (and teachers and students) must delve into the domain of culture and media analysis to more fully understand the texts they encounter on the web.

Interpretation Techniques

As the name itself indicates, interpretation is a way to convey a sentence spoken in one language to another.

Now, there would be people who might get confused between interpretation and translation.

Let me clarify, interpretation conveys the vocal conversation from the source text to the target language whereas translation is done in a literal way like converting books, documents, and so on from one language to another

Popular Interpretation Techniques

Interpretation is an important stone to step in for breaking language barriers and allowing easy communication. If you looking for techniques to satisfy your error free interpretation needs, then here they are:

1. Over the Phone Interpretation

What you’ll do, when you and the person with whom you want to communicate are not available for face-to-face interaction? How will you ensure fluent communication if they speak a different language than yours? That’s where you’ll need telephone interpreting.

The technique is possible when both parties establish an appointment and the participants of the call can hear only the voice.

 

Just imagine, how much your business will get profit when there will be no language barrier. You can communicate with utmost ease. Today, when the facility of VOIP and telephone is everywhere, performing phone interpretation has become convenient.

2. Consecutive Interpretation

Have you ever gone to an event where you have heard an interpreter speaking after the actual speaker has finished his speech?

This is what the consecutive interpretation technique looks like.

In this technique, the speaker pauses for some time in order to allow an interpreter to interpret from the source language to the target language. This is one of the most popular types of language interpretation. Consecutive interpretation is divided into two parts:

✓ Long Consecutive Interpretation-

Here the interpreter takes notes of the speech to convey a long interpretation

✓ Short Consecutive Interpretation-

Here the interpreter works relying on his/her memory. Each speech segment will be short enough to keep in mind.

3. Simultaneous Interpretation

Commonly known as conference interpreting, this technique is meant to be used for people who have limited English proficiency or the ones who doesn’t understand the language you speak.

 

Simultaneous interpreters interpret simultaneously along with the speech given. They listen to the speech through headphones and understand the meaning of the sentences, so there are no mistakes.

The direct audio feed is transmitted to the conference room where the interpreter sits and within a few seconds after every sentence finishes, interpretation is given. It’s of course complicated but it is a very effective interpretation technique. Furthermore, this might helped you know what is simultaneous interpretation.

4. Whispered Interpretation

It’s a quite simple technique where the interpreter sits or stands next to a small group of audience that belongs to a different culture and whispers an interpretation of the speaker’ spoken sentences. It can be done through headphones and microphones as per the preference of participants.

5. Video Interpretation

You might have heard about video interpretation, it’s really famous in the corporate world. It’s the most innovative technique used by companies to connect with hearing-impaired listeners without much hassle.

Isn’t it really nice to finally have something to look after the convenience of deaf or hard of hearing participants in the meeting? It’s popularly used in sensitive situations.

The most crucial benefit it gives is that an interpretation doesn’t need to be physically present, it can be done from a remote location very easily.

Video interpretation can easily connect you with clients without much fuss.

 

Working with the right company, with the right interpreter, and choosing the right type of simple interpretation or elite language interpretation according to your needs will make you realize it’s really worth every cent invested.

Conclusion:

Interpretation is the easiest way to make the speech or message understandable without much hassle. Especially when you have a professional interpretation company like Tridindia, the understanding becomes guaranteed. Tridindia has been serving clients for more than 18 years and has enough experience to provide with accurate interpretation.

Temporal Manipulation

Overview

The users of this ability are able to selectively alter the flow of time in a variety of ways. Temporal Manipulation is broken down into several branches.

Branches of Temporal Manipulation

Temporal Stasis

Temporal Stasis is a branch of Temporal Manipulation that allows the user to completely stop the flow of time.

Temporal Acceleration

Temporal Acceleration is a branch of Temporal Manipulation that allows the user to speed up the flow of time over an object.

Time Traveling

Time Travelling is a branch of Temporal Manipulation that allows the user to move through time and space into the past or the future.

Techniques to Manipulate Time

There are plenty of ways to control the flow of time so let’s look at some of them.

Linear time in a story

The most basic use of time is to show events in sequence. For example, in a novel, it is possible to have the character born, growing up and then reaching adulthood. The most basic method of using time in a narrative is to show events in the linear order of when they happen.

Some books are written entirely in this fashion, but most tend to have most of the story told in the order of events, thus written using linear time with minor usage of other techniques now and then.

Non-Linear time in a story

Non-Linear time allows the author to change the focus and order of events in a story. For example, it is common to have backstory inserted into the narrative. Although the main events may be linear, some parts showing the past to show context for why a character acted a certain way or details showing the future revealing the results of actions can be inserted.

Speeding Up the Action

Another very often used technique is to speed up the passing of time using an accelerated timeline. For example, if a character is on a long journey on foot, it can be accelerated to allow the story to focus on more exciting events.

You can have a jump cut to just move to a later time, maybe having a chapter break. One chapter ends getting on the bus, and the next chapter starts immediately with the character getting off the bus at their destination.

These timeslots can also be used to insert other pieces of action that bridge the time gap you want to remove. For example, you can use a flashback.

Flashbacks and flashforwards

A flashback is when a character remembers something that happened in the past. This is good to add context to the story. For example, your lead character can visit an old school and tell the reader via a flashback that he wasn’t so cool when he was younger. Revealing an embarrassing story about the first time he met his love interest in school would give an unfamiliar perspective on your now cool and successful modern hero.

A flashforward is when they see something that will happen in the future. This can be used to foreshadow events or just make the reader curious about what will happen next. For example, you could suddenly jump forward to reveal that the hero’s rival has won a prize for inventing an exciting new technology. Back in the current timeline, we can follow to see how the events unfold toward this potential future.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing gives the reader a hint of some future event and creates suspense and drama or unease. It can give subtle clues to the reader about good or bad events that will be coming, and as an author, you can use it to keep the reader turning the pages late into the night.

It can also be blunt such as a character discussing a future meeting or a deadline that gets referred to more subtly before occurring so the reader will wonder about the significance.

Pacing

Pacing in a story is how fast or slow an author writes a part of a story. The pacing in a story can build tension or cause the reader to become bored, depending on the effect the author is trying to achieve.

For example, you could write a very long section with lots of details about the small town and farm the family has just moved into to clearly message the reader that this is a slow-moving story. Or you could write this description quickly using short sentences with a sparse level of detail enough to convey the traumatic experience of the family’s need for a last-minute move. Using this technique brings an uncomfortable feeling to the reader.

Different genres typically use pretty different styles of pacing. A fast-paced detective novel will typically be more action-packed and have fewer descriptions of the surroundings and more on the characters and events.

Parallel or Multiple Timelines

Parallel or multiple timelines can show different timelines that affect each other. The grandfather died failing to break a speed record in the past timeline. In the second modern timeline, the grandson is determined to achieve what his grandfather was unable to do. The story can dramatically switch between them to show the relationship of the two efforts and build tension with the reader as we see the grandson unknowingly repeating some of the same mistakes that lead to his grandfather’s death.

Reverse Timelines

The reverse timeline is the opposite of the linear storytelling technique. A story is told beginning at the end and moving backward through time. A lot of flashbacks are commonly used in this style of story. It can be tricky to do, but if done well, it can be almost as compelling as a story told chronologically (though with its own kind of dramatic tension).

Failing Memory

Having a character with a failing memory can open all sorts of possibilities for writing. Sometimes a character will have no memory of parts of their life, sometimes they will have only fragments, and sometimes they will have no memory.

Authors can use this to build a mystery or mystery sub-plot. For example, a love story of a wife trying to stay connected to her husband who has a failing memory by capturing and preserving their life together as he remembers less and less.

Chapter and Section length

Another very common technique used by authors to control the reader’s perception of how time passes within a story is to vary the length of sections and chapters.

In one chapter, you can have several pages cover the activities of the detective, while in the next, you can describe far more briefly what the murderer is doing at the same time. The much longer descriptive section for the detective helps the reader perceive that the detective has to do a lot to catch the murderer. In the murderer’s chapter, using shorter sections and faster-paced language will help show the reader that the murderer is moving quickly and staying one step ahead of the detective.

Groundhog Day or Time Loops

The time loop plot, well known as the groundhog day trope, has been done in every media format many times over and yet still remains immensely popular.

Carefully done, you can build a tale of mystery and intrigue that relies on the idea of repeating the same day over and over again.

Yes, it is very well covered, but it can still be an exciting basis for a story, so do not rule it out if you have an idea.

By far the most popular episode of Star Gate is the groundhog day style episode Window of Opportunity.