1. Summary Discussion Cybertext Vs Hypertext Sm2220 writing machine April 26, 2005 Linda Lai

2. Hypertext Vs Cybertext Hypertext: Broadly referring to textual activities on the computer platform Cybertext: a term created as critique of the current practice of Hypertext

3. Hypertext  *multiple reading paths  *chunked text  *some kind of linking mechanism

4. Cybertext: a critique What hypertext is capable of doing is also and already possible in the book form. [consider the works of the OuLiPo, ergodic literature and factorial fiction in general…] What is so unique about textual activity on the computer platform?

5. Cybertext: a critique What are some of the unique features and capabilities of the computer that we should explore? -- How does the material condition/feature of computing affect quality and experience of writing and reading?

6. Cybertext: a critique Self organization… Emergence (emergent qualities)… e.g. Levitated, Jared Tarbell: http://www.levitated.net http://www.levitated.net Flight404, Robert Hodgin: http://www.flight404.com http://www.flight404.com

7. Cybertext Specific problems for the written text HOW TO OVERCOME THE CONFINE OF GRAMMAR, STRUCTURE & MEANINGS?

8. Cybertext Specific problems for the written text HOW TO OVERCOME THE CONFINE OF GRAMMAR, STRUCTURE & MEANINGS? Possible solutions: Automatic writing Algorithm, combinatorial permutation and other mathematical methods Calligramme (Apollinaire, William S. Burroughs) Haiku

9. Three generations of electronic literature N. Katherine Hayles – Writing Machine (2002)  1895-1995  1995 and after  Possible futures?

10. Three generations of electronic literature  [1st generation]  Hypertext theories (roughly 1985-1995):  Mainly verbal text with little or no multimedia components  George Landow, Jay Bolter, Michael Joyce…  -emphasized the importance of the LINK  Examples of first-generation electronic hypertexts:  Joyce’s Afternoon, a story  [exclusively verbal, employed Storyspace software to link one screen of text with another through “hot words” the reader can activate by clicking]

11. Three generations of electronic literature  [2nd generation]  Generally written 1995 and after: combine verbal text with graphics, images, animation, and other multimedia components.   move away from Storyspace interface to explore the rich diversity of interfaces available in various commercial software packages as Flash, Shockwave, Dreamweaver, SGML, VRML, and other web-oriented languages

12. Three generations of electronic literature: 2 nd generation characteristics:  experimenting with ways to incorporate narrative with sound, motion, animation, and other software functionalities. Key work: Espen Aarseth’s Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature  argues for an electronic literature that is fundamentally computational in nature – CYBERTEXT  includes a wide variety of texts that use combinatorial strategies: e.g. Queneau’s Cent Millie Milliards, Afternoon a story, computer games, and even I Ching  LINK extended to include new concepts such as perspective, access, determinability, transience, dynamics, and user function.

13. Electronic literature: future?  [3rd generation]  future prospects????  -- the need to centre the interactions between the materiality of inscription technologies and the inscriptions they produce.   Technotext: text that foregrounds the inscription technology used to produce it.