art, education and new media

http://www.burningpress.org/va/index.html is a near-anthology of hypertext poets and their work, some fabulous stuff. somewhere at http://epc.buffalo.edu/e-poetry there is also supposedly lots of web-based work, but even after tooling around on the site for a little bit i didn't find the links to it, maybe someone else can. probably just my semi-web-illiteracy preventing the finding of it, honestly.

oh... there it is at the http://epc.buffalo.edu/e-poetry link... at first i just got course schedules or something but it's a treasure trove of stuff, too.

While looking around at the hypernarratives on the web, I came across "What Fits" by Adrienne Eisen. The address is http://www.eastgate.com/ReadingRoom/WhatFits/
It was so great. It's set up as a novella. You click on the title on the home page and it brings you to the first excerpt of the novella. Then on the bottom there are four different links with four different titles. You can click on any of them and it will bring you to that particular excerpt. As a reader it's great because depending upon which link you click on, it can totally alter the way the story goes. I could have spent all day just reading through all of the excerpts, trying to create different flows of the story. The story is also an easy one to relate to since it's audience seems to be targeted toward women in their 20's and 30's. It's a great site...you should all take a look!

After much searching I went back to one of the first entries I looked at. This one was on the resource list. I enjoyed how the text became illustrations in themselves. The words moving around and rearranging themselves also reminded me of a puzzle. I liked that the words changed meaning throughout the poem. Because of the transient nature of the text I found that I had to pay attention... and was intrested in what was coming next and how it connected to what I had already seen.

I think I don't identify with some of the more artistically-done hypernarrative sites. Must be my dominant left brain. I like to have things set up more linearally so that I can easily return to what I just saw and recreate the experience. The Robert Kendall and World of Awe websites (listed under Resources), made me impatient; they were too circuitous and abstract. I enjoyed What Fits (http://www.eastgate.com/ReadingRoom/WhatFits/) by Adrienne Eisen. It was non-linear, but the traditional story aspect held my attention. And there were no heavy graphics held up by my dial-up. My favorite of those listed was Pleasures of Melancholy by Thomas Warton (http://caxton.stockton.edu/pom/). I liked that it was linear and that the links could just be rolled over. And what a treat that it was a vocabulary lesson--I'm serious (geek!).
In searching for other pages, I came across a site I probably should have visited years ago: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/ Good, well-organized, linear, colorful, limited graphics website for the Guerilla Girls, a feminist group that uses humor and unconventional costumes to get their message across. Their intended audience is probably me, or someone like me, who appreciates that there are others out there who are approaching issues and reporting on them. The site could be a source of information or a way to connect to others or a way to get involved. I think I benefitted most from the reminder that issues should always be broached with a sense of humor.

The non-linear organization of hypernarrative #5--http://costarica.hku.nl/project/hypernarrative_5/hypernarrative_5.php--felt like someone was twisting my arm. It's difficult to break from the linear organization. It is very curious that when I create a painting or sculpture I make an effort to create a non-linear experience, or perhaps show that life experiences are non-linear.
The hypernarrative I explored is a virtual tour of Costa Rica and a person's experience in various places. Eventhough he is narrating a story I chose my own experience by moving according to my own curiosity.

http://incident.net/works/incidence/
A visual presentation by artist Reynald Drouhin.
Using an image search engine and your request Drouhan serves up a grid of 100 thumbnails. Each is linked to the page where it is found (although the interface does not, intentionally I'm sure, provide a way to follow the links). Clicking on an image opens up a larger, force-fit version in the bottom frame of his grid. While his engine seeks images that correlate to your chosen word, the idiosyncratic naming conventions employed by all the individual web authors out there result in surprising juxtapositions of images. This interface is intended to present those juxtapositions as an evolving visual narrative of sorts; its goal is not to be a "useful" search engine, although with minor adjustments, it could be used as one.
Found at http://www.rhizome.org

A Party in Woodside - By Judy Malloy

I liked the atmosphere this narrative establishes - sort of cheap/cheesy and sinister at the same time. Lots of words like "cheese balls", "plastic", "pink stucco", and "puffy". There's this girl at a party, who is kind of an outsider so she's taking in a lot, but it's all disjointed and random, plus running through it is her own personal story that has a different quality than the tacky party.

Oops - didn't get the site up:

http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/uncleroger/party19.html

The www.eastgate.com site is great. It gives access and information not only on digital hypertext , but print versions too. I didn't even know books like that were out there. The Reading Room section of the site offers a great selection of hypertext examples. I personally wasn't into the What Fits site so much, but really liked www.eastgate.com/LastingImage/Welcome.html. The images go well with the text, it's nicely designed, and the language/story is seemless no matter what way you choose to read it. The writing also varies between prose and poetry wonderfully. The images illustrate the story and the treatment of elements in and out of focus not only reinforces the themes of this non-linear narrative but serve the function of linking the sections together. I found the site intuitive and aesthetically well crafted esp. compared to other sites I've seen. Perhaps it's not a "true" hypertext example as it uses images for links instead of words, but someone must of thought it was since it's included on a hypertext website.

Sorry! I forgot I wasn't in word!

http://www.eastgate.com/LastingImage/Welcome.html

I too searched many sites, all of which were very interesting and unique in their own ways, and came back to my initial choice. Robert Kendall's hypertext poetry was my fave, particularly his poem Faith. The stanzas' interaction on and dependance on each other for their coherance, the sync of the music, movement of text and meaning of text was real poetry on so many levels. The dance of words, verse, concepts, color and song was moving. Kendall's Clues was very complex, but the mystery thing is not for me.

World of Awe was my second choice. Its complexity was mind boggling to me, and the artistic elements were beautifully woven into the theme of the site.
Others ranged from pleasant to uninteresting. I surfed for a while to try to find Jenny Holzer's hypernarrative site that I had discovered at least 5 years ago, but could not find it. Doesn't mean it isn't there, so give it a search, it was really great, even way back then--- a pioneer!

.

This sight is a collection of interviews with former slaves. Between 1936 and 1938, the WPA set up a huge project interviewing and documenting former slaves' life stories. Over 2300 people were interviewed. Beside the interviewee's name, is his/her picture. The interview begins with the interviewer giving a brief description of the interviewee. Generally they are described as very old and feeble.
I enjoyed reading the dialects the former slaves spoke in. Some stories recounted were painful, others joyous. All were poignant. The text is very compelling.

www.hypertext.com/sh/no7/choc

Life in the Chocolate Mountains - M.D. Coverly
This is a short story narrative with illustrations. At the bottom there are links that take you to different points in the story and towards the end of each passage the there are links that jump you to ohther areas. This story is calle dhypertext narrative, but youcan only link one place from each passage which seems pretty linear to me. I didn't get a chance to explore this story completely, but what i read was interesting. I really like reading the story this way, (in bits of almost complete stories) but if I we're authoring a story in this manner I think I would be hesitant to give up control.

The link above is missing the very last part of the url, here is a new one.

http://hypertxt.com/sh/no7/choc/achoc.htm

I thought this site was a good attempt at creating a story about a subject that most people don't find incredibly interesting. It is about busses... The photographs are cropped and you can click on them to see the entire picture and they all seem to be composed fairly well. The signs are of all the varying destinations that the bus goes to. The images are accompanied by text but I found the photographs the most interesting part. I liked the use of color and that you really explore the sight because of all the tiny boxes of imagery.

I guess the address would help!

http://costarica.hku.nl/project/hypernarrative_3/hypernarrative_3.php

I found 2 sites both within the Walker Art Center's new media online gallery called Gallery 9. Here are the addresses:
http://theplace.walkerart.org
http://www.walkerart.org/salons/shockoftheview/space/disalvo/index.html
The first site is called The Place and was created by a former professor of mine at the University of Illinois, Joe Squier, in 1994. I think it's a interesting exploration of text and image in a non-linear format. And it's surprisingly still relevant so many years later.
The second site was commissioned by the Walker for a project called Shock of the View: Audiences, Artists and Museums in the Digital Age. It's an essay about space (real vs. virtual)

This is an interesting example of a hypernarrative that uses only images. I know hypernarrative isn't the right word because there aren't any stories, or any poems, but for lack of vocabulary, it is the same idea, but using pictures instead: http://web.idirect.com/~artseen/door1.html. It was composed by some folks in Canada, who wanted to demonstrate the nonlinearity of their memory of a particular place. One part of the doorway has certain associations, clicking on another part will bring up other associations, not necessarily in any chronological order.

This second site is a better example of hypernarrative using poetry: http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/control.html. After clicking on the RESET in the middle of the screen, a second screen appears. On the second screen, nearly every word is a link, to a page full of many more words that act as links. All in all, it is very easy to become lost amid all the links. The layout of the page is very discontinuous, as though to make the surfer feel lost and in a way helpless in finding their way back to the home page.

enjoy,
chris pontbriant

neither of my previous links is working.

try this for the second one:
http://www.survivorsartfoundation.org/gallery/fiction1.html#PSwet
Go here first, and find the link for Judy Malloy, under the name,
"The Roar of Destiny..."

try this for the first one:
http://web.idirect.com/~artseen/door.htm
and click on "The Doorway" link at the bottom of the page.

I hereby enlist among the many fans of the Adrienne Eisen/What Fits piece- nicely, simply done, and a great read! As for my own two cents, I found Ed Holroyd's "Counterpoint" story featured on www.lesscrowded.co.uk very engaging (more due, I'm afraid, to its fancy accompanying visuals as opposed to its non-linear text). But the story and the variety of ways to experience it are worth checking out alone. The premise is this: Pages upon pages of scribbled prose are found bundled together in an empty room; amid these pages is a letter asking the first person who comes along to sort through the pile and make selections (to, I assume but didn't get that far, publish or post ). The excerpts drawn from the pile may be read sequentially or otherwise; each "chapter" and index feature a background of perpetually moving, quasi-abstract imagery in dreamy, muted hues. Somewhat somber but very pleasing. Go to the Visual/Audio area on the site's homepage to find "Counterpoint" and a few more Holroyd pieces.

http://www.coloria.net/dig.art/bookofdays/

Artist - Paivi Hintsanen
Title - The Book of Days
Background from Artist-
"The Book of Days" asks questions about time and origin, and about living now in this time. The sense of history is around us but we can't see it well. The world is full of places we haven't visited, cultures we haven't experienced, but we learned about them in schools, books and media. This is richness yet also a loss; when nearly everything is somewhat available, the endless information flow turns out to be just scratches on the surface.

Knowledge and information are changing into confusion:
who am I?
where am I?
where do I belong?
do I even need to know?

My comments -
The Book of Days is a visual hypernarrative created with basic html and some simple javascripts. Using simple technology, this artist has created a highly memorable user experience. I love the fact that I haven't yet been able to get through the entire thing.

Some of most interesting and extraordinary hyperactive, hypernarrative, sites are to be found on www.bostoncyberarts.org. Once there, link to bostoncyberarts hype arts space and just begin to explore. This sits really presents in my opinion a range of topographies in new media, from sculpture,to text based art, to flash art. These landscapes are fresh, and worthy of sometime and travel.

In the text based section, the inventiveness of oooxxxooo, by Juliet Martin blew anything else I viewed on the resource page out of the water.

The Flash section put me on the offensive as far as exploration, learning and interactivity. www.liteshow.org features, Flax, by Carl flax kept me guessing all the way through.

http://www.yugop.com
This site is one of the most visually striking I have seen, and also functions seemlessly and quickly. Move your mouse along the bullets on the bottom edge of the frame to try all kinds of interesting, interactive pages. Try "re-issue 02 shift." The artist's use of typography is amazing. I must go back to explore this site even more.

I found this site through educationworld.com. Though it is quite commercial, I thought the art 'edventure' game called 'Go West Young Artist' was effective. It is overall linear with some interactive choices that led you to different outcomes and information. Perhaps it is not the best hypertext example, but it brings together several disciplines in a game that is ultimately focused on art education for the student.

This site was one of the more origional interactive hypertext layouts I stumbled upon. The site comments on a British Romantic poem called, "The Unsex'd Females". You can learn more about the specifics of the poem by clicking on the highlighted words. I found it helpful to be able to still see the origional text while researching further on the right side of the screen. It's also humourous. Check it out.

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~worp/