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Forepaper by
Colin
Gardner
for Messenger
Morphs the Media 99
What are the ways in which scholarly and 'artistic'
hypertexts place different constraints and demands on the
writer? I have two web sites: one is my own personal poetry,
the other is a site containing research materials.
The
poetry site is illustrated with edited images taken from
photographs of sculptures and architectural details. When
making these images and combining them with my writing, I
was conscious of making decisions that could not be easily
measured. For example, some of my decisions were based on
feelings about colour, others stemmed from various effects
made possible with my photo-editing software. Although this
issue is pertinent to non-hypertext forms, if the focus is
on the way colour and image combine to create powerful
'cues' to interaction, hyperfiction seems to have greater
relevance.
The research material site is less concerned with
establishing moods through colours, and images. Instead, it
seeks to inform, to order, not delight. It tries, above all,
to make the text 'amenable' in a perceivably less 'creative'
way.
As a brief overview, my research project is related to
the 'materiality' of text. I am investigating, generally at
this stage, the various factors that go into the reading
experience, ranging from psychological, perceptual aspects
(colour-perception, reading problems...) to those which can
be viewed as referring to the object (colours, luminosity,
contrast...). In this project, I am seeking to combine
interests in the physical medium with theoretical approaches
to hyperfiction.
Therefore, taking a cue partly from Aarseth's
distinction between practical and literary forms
(Cybertext), partly from cognitive hypertext
research, I am interested in exploring the tension between
accessibility and creativity. What
concessions/considerations are, or can legitimately be, made
in this art form? Does the reader bear responsibilities? Is
there a general strategy for reading in this medium, or does
that depend, to whatever degree, on individual systems?
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