Then we'll kick off the Interactive Fiction segment by learning basic webpage creation. This means learning a bit more HTML and also understanding how to upload to your SFSU webspace.
Here's a template for creating a very simple HTML document. Click the link to open it as a web page, then do View Page Source (command-U, or use the Firefox "View" pulldown menu) to see the code. If you're feeling ambitious and would like to do fancier HTML, w3schools has excellent tutorials with a view-as-you-do function that makes it really easy to experiment.
Here are the basic steps for uploading your .html documents to the SFSU server:
- Create your document in TextEdit (on Mac) or Notepad (on PC) and save it with a .html suffix (mypage1.html). Be sure TextEdit or Notepad is set to "plain text" and not "rich text" or any other fancy stuff.
- Open Fetch or other FTP program. Log in to your SFSU account (hostname orion.sfsu.edu, pluto.sfsu.edu, or apollo.sfsu.edu).
- Open your public.html folder. Choose "New Folder" and name the new folder "storyfolder" or whatever you choose. Double-click the new folder to open it (it will be empty). NOTE: Never use spaces or hyphens in folder names; it's easier to use all lower-case letters, too, because your URL must match the folder/file names EXACTLY.
- Drag your .html files from the desktop into your story folder. If that doesn't work, choose "Put" and select your .html documents; hit "choose" and you should see the documents in your story folder.
- The URL for the page you've just created will be: http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~yourSFSUusername/
storyfolder/page.html (remember to put any subfolders in the filepath as well). For example, the URL for the template above is http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~mdrennan/interactivefiction /index.html ("interactivefiction" is the name of the folder; "index" is the name of the page).
- Create a 7-page hyperfiction piece: a start page with two choices for the reader (lit up as links); those 2 result pages, each with two more choices lit up as links; and those 4 result pages as endings (no more choices to follow). Total of 7 separate .html documents. Each page should have at least 50 words of text. The reader choices can be embedded in the text of the story or they can be listed separately on the page — just make sure the links work! Remember the difference between internal links (pages that live in the same folder on your server) and external links (full URLs). Post a link to your start page in a comment to today's Class Blog. Due 9 a.m. next Thursday.
- Explore the Electronic Literature Directory and choose 3 projects (any category or genre) to review in a comment on the Class Blog. Discuss the following questions: What makes these projects interesting (or not interesting)? Do you find the interactive format empowering (being able to choose how to navigate through a story) or confusing (not being able to see the big picture, getting lost in all the clicking around)? Are there ways that the interactive form can enhance a reader's experience, compared to reading a linear narrative? What writing techniques need to be developed in order to facilitate that enhanced reading experience? Include a link to the fiction project itself (not to the ELD).
- Sharon, Tauri, Josh and Claudia will present interactive fiction projects and talk about the forms of interactivity going on. (For IF, there isn't always a record of community/users, so for this round of presentations it isn't necessary — though if you can find examples where there is a community using other forms of online communication/organizing, great!)
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With the theme of interactive fiction. Marvel Wiki
I changed my site that I will be presenting, instead of Yelp I will be doing Lostpedia
In debt
I found an interactive fiction place and a Collaborative fiction site. YAY!!
I will discuss the collaborative fiction site Soap Zone: Hyperfiction
This is my interactive fiction website: Protagonize
I can't save my plain text document as an html document. On the computers in class, it is not allowing me to save the plain text I typed as a .html. It will only save as .html if I make it a rich text format.
Grant and I are working on it and are stuck.
I'm having trouble doing the html assignment on PC. Does anyone who own a PC know how to do it? I downloaded the FTP program on my PC and still having trouble with some of the basic steps. None of it is working for me or Tony.
Hi Tony and Grant -- can one of you get on google chat so we can talk the problem through?
I'm mariedrennan@gmail.com
I will also be working on PC so if anyone can provide any tips that would be great.
These are my ELD reviews:
Abductions is a hypertext narrative with embedded photos and illustrations. Little cloud icons are clickable for navigating to new pages. There are half a dozen or so pages in total that come up on a small, self-contained, window platform. The text involves the alien abduction phenomenon and includes pictures and descriptions of the infamous “grays”. It makes a handy reference guide for all abductees and wannabes. Kind of fun but no better served by this type of format than a basic, old, webpage.
Suicide is a one-page essay about the thought processes of a suicidal person, the common fallacies in such thinking, and an explanation of the problem as a medical condition. The authors describe their own path to treatment after a long illness. There are no bells and whistles on this page; the highest level of wizardry is in the extra large text used to highlight the most important ideas in the one thousand plus word screed. It didn't excite me but it didn’t make me want to kill myself either. It’s not interactive in any way, just a regular page.
Global Porn Trap is an interactive flash animation site with highly pixilated, erotic, images and an ambiguous, repetitive, soundtrack. It gives you options of typing into a bogus chat area or changing the image size, which will make the screen go crazy. It then invites you in to try slowing down the flashing but only begins spitting out perverse and insulting invectives like “you are gross”. It’s a lot of work and clicking for very little payoff. What are you going to do? Most art sucks.
The Bang This is my piece of interactive fiction.
As for reviews. I started to read about five different pieces and became incredibly frustrated with the format that they were in.
I wanted something much more like the "choose your own adventure" books. What i got was more like an annoying artistic project for an English major. I specifically looked at Carrier, 8 Minutes and Hegirascope.
I was unimpressed by the first two which were more or less just confusing and not very well documented. I am also not a fan of any site which automatically switches web pages for me. Which the 8 Minutes and Hegirascope both did. I was much more intriqued by Hegirascope than the other two. Based on its weird "dream like" premise.
I am just put off by much of this kind of writing, its much too confusing for me to figure out. Especially if it lacks much of an explanation at the beginning. Which all three of these failed to do.
The three projects I chose were:
The Flatness, 360 Degrees, 24 Hours With Someone You Know…
I chose The Flatness because I thought the creators kept the interactive format pretty simple. It is a short non-fiction piece of a man who grew up in Indiana. He writes a beautiful, descriptive piece that flows easily. He has chosen to include music and a few graphics, while keeping his message clear. The user is able to move to the next paragraph with a simple click. I don’t think the writing needs to be changed because he uses colorful words to paint a visual picture. The setup of this project, made me think of how we could incorporate a similar format into our BECA community. It would be nice to be able to incorporate teacher profiles or information on the different BECA emphasis.
The next piece I chose was 360 Degrees: Perspective on the U.S. Criminal Justice System . This site was so interactive and very easy to navigate. Bubbles floating around help you decide on a topic. If you click on the bubble, more options with additional information pop-up. This site is loaded with information and organized well. I think if it is possible, this would be a great way to organize our BECA community. My only problem with the site is that the text moved pretty slowly in the Adobe Flash Player. I thought the site provided other great features such as quizzes, forums and timelines. I think the creators of the site did a great job!
My final piece is 24 Hours With Someone You Know… I chose this piece because it was very similar to the assignment our class had. It is a hyper fiction short story that places you in a scene and then allows you to choose your path. The story is written very well. At no point, was I confused about where I was or where I was going. The author was able to make the transitions from scene to scene well. The author also included a small picture to help set the scene. This piece seemed it could continue forever. (I never got to the end). But overall great because it kept my attention and kept me intrigued.
I first read John Tranter, Poetry: Issue 4. What makes his poetry interesting is that his works is a reflection of life in his Seattle home. The format of his works was not at all confusing because it was all on one page. All I needed to do was scroll down to read the rest of it. I don't know if anything new is needed to enhance new reading experiences or any techniques I know of.
Sonja Porcarco's Ambrosia is long poetry. What I trouble finding interest in is what the work is about. It was a little confusing for me to understand. I think it could improve the way readers read poetry either in print or online. Again like the first poetic piece I mentioned, I don't know what techniques are needed to enhance the reader's experience.
What's interesting about Martha Conway's short fiction work
8 Minutes is that every few paragraphs are in their own separate pages. What was confusing was that going into the next few pages I didn't have enough time to read them because they change every few seconds. It would be nice if the entire story was on one whole page than separate pages which can hurt your eyes a bit if you keep going back to read what you've missed. Her work is good but would be best if the writing was still presented in customary fashion as it is in traditional storywriting.
ELD Review:
It took me a moment to get what was going on. When I read/watched 8 minutes I liked that I could sit back and read a story. The pages were timed, so I was able to stay into the story without clicking on anything else. I am not sure though, if it would have mattered if the story was on one page. That feature gives the feeling of a book, and maybe people would prefer that. This story was boring, but how it was told was the only thing that kept me reading.
When partaking in Accounts of the Glass Sky I did not realize people did this sort of stuff. This poem/story was a bit abstract and not to interesting. But if the right audience comes around I can see it's potential. This is creative story telling for this medium (without using video). The writing can be weird and abstract if it reaches it's niche. The interactivity is either really interesting or annoying. That just has to do with who is watching what.
Lastly when I interacted with Changing the Story I felt these stories can easily be drawn out. Towards the end of the story there were so many sub categories popping on. I think the author would have to make it a point to not get to the side of clutter. It is interesting that you can choose the order of your story, but as a reader I would like most of the job done for me.
I can see how these stories can entice readers who are into this. But as far as grabbing people who aren't, it's a bit heavy. It is a lot to digest.
My interactive fiction story is here
The hyper fiction projects that I viewed were as follows:
Kathy Acker
Zin Har
The Labyrinth
I found most of the projects that i looked at to be confusing. I just couldn't get into the projects. The first one, Kathy Acker, was essentially a pretty quote board.
I find it difficult to get into this kind of writing because I feel like most of the projects start strong but then drop off after they catch your attention. For example, the Zin Har project began by posing a question about hand-held biological identifiers. The first link was aesthetically pleasing but after that it was confusing and possibly able to cause seizures. Which is a reminder that you can have as much pretty stuff on a site that you want but in the end content really matters.
I think it is interesting to think about the process of hyper fiction and interactive fiction but after having done a small one myself I have to say that linear stories are still the better medium for good story telling. Speaking for myself, I want a story to take me somewhere and lead me through an experience, if I wanted to make decisions I'd go to the DMV.
Finally, I believe that having to divert your attention in so many different directions ultimately takes away from the story. As a writer of interactive fiction you have to think about every "what if" possible for your story. It takes time and effort to come up with one outcome to a story let alone 12.
Hello classmates and Professor!
Here are my stories:8 minutes,Cutting Edges,Everything after that
Here are my answers per story:
Story 1: 8 Minutes
1. What makes these projects interesting (or not interesting)? People who have time to make these interactive fiction stories this process itself is just interesting. Making time and this medium, these to me are privileges with limited access, so it’s very interesting how we choose to engage or use this medium.
2. Do you find the interactive format empowering (being able to choose how to navigate through a story) or confusing (not being able to see the big picture, getting lost in all the clicking around)? With this interactive story my experience was not empowering. I very much dislike how the author timed the pages and the story keeps going. I like to read slow and reread things before I move on, I like to take my time to read.
This is why I like books and DVD’s so that I can go back and forth. Even with live TV or on demand, I like to do this too. I guess because it’s new I have to get used to this or I can still not like it? I don’t know it just felt embracive as an audience member.
3. Are there ways that the interactive form can enhance a reader's experience, compared to reading a linear narrative? What writing techniques need to be developed in order to facilitate that enhanced reading experience? Well all stories for me are effective when they’re clear, concise, and the message is intensified. That’s what I’ve learned and I think it’s something story tellers should go by. Interactive is great if done well and using the methods above. But I wonder if say we show someone the unicorn they’re riding in the story, what happens to their own imagination, are we limiting that? But on the other hand what if we were able to install photoshop, assuming our audience knew how to use it, and said here design the unicorn you’re riding. I’m not sure? But there is probably a good balance between the interactive form and the traditional form.
Story 2. Cutting Edges
1. What makes these projects interesting (or not interesting)? I liked how this author made the complete story cut up with different parts and the content in them. It was interesting to see the content for love, hate, peace.
2. Do you find the interactive format empowering (being able to choose how to navigate through a story) or confusing (not being able to see the big picture, getting lost in all the clicking around)? With this story clicking was easy and straight to the point. No matter what part of the story I chose to do first, the story was complete.
3. Are there ways that the interactive form can enhance a reader's experience, compared to reading a linear narrative? What writing techniques need to be developed in order to facilitate that enhanced reading experience? As mentioned in my answer for 8 Minutes, I think more audience testing needs to be conducted because what I like might be different. I like things easy and straight to the point because I’m interested in content. Kids and people, this is generally speaking like fast/high motion energy interactive experience, so once again I’m not sure.
Story 3: Everything After That.
1. Discuss the following questions: What makes these projects interesting (or not interesting)? I love how the author used a personal story that was interesting.
2. Do you find the interactive format empowering (being able to choose how to navigate through a story) or confusing (not being able to see the big picture, getting lost in all the clicking around)? This story was empowering because it felt like I had a choice to pick the parts of the story.
3. Are there ways that the interactive form can enhance a reader's experience, compared to reading a linear narrative? What writing techniques need to be developed in order to facilitate that enhanced reading experience? I think that because this story is a life story and the links are different months this makes interactive fiction cool. But then I ask myself, but could I just too do this in a book? Maybe because I can’t hold the internet in my hand like a book it seems cooler to mouse. If I had a book I would want to go in order not from page 20 to page 80 to skip around, I’m not used to that, it feels wrong. And then I think, well sometimes I read books and magazines backwards, I like to pick and skip. Basically I can do that here to on the web but something about it makes it seem so cool. When I can engage with the message and all of the visuals and texts and other mediums all in one.
A side note: I chose all women stories purposely because I noticed that this site is bombarded with men authors. When I do my assignments I try to culturally analyze as well.
here is my interactive fiction story. And these, are the stories I looked at.
1.)24 Hours with someone you know: I thought this story was interesting because it took the concept we have just learned and really expanded on it. This was a deep story with multiple characters. There were multiple possibilities in many situations, but only one choice in others. My ending was somewhat disappointing. But the story itself was fulfilling.
2.) M is for Nottingham : This site reminded me a lot of the viral ad campaign that was created for "The Da Vinci Code." The book publishers created a very in depth online mystery for readers and fans of the book to submerge themselves into. This story is very similar in that it uses multiple websites to create a mystery story that requires the reader to involve themselves not just in the story being told. But in the world that has been created for them. The cool part about this story in particular is that it was written at a writers conference by a group of writers who it seems, really didn;t have a great idea of what it would become. This lends a very organic feel to the creation. The story seems to still be evolving.
3.) Winchester's Nightmare : This was most definitely my favorite of the bunch. The creator invented a very engrossing interface for the story that really made you feel like you were creating the story as it happened. You control Sarah Winchester the matriarch of the Winchester estate. You give commands for her in different situations, and then are prompted as to what occurs due to your decision. This is a great example of the blending of literature and technology. The format of this story enhanced the experience and was absolutely empowering from a readers standpoint. I highly recommend giving it a try.
This assignment was tough. My hands and wrist hurt. I will admit I did Have fun though.I hope you guys enjoy my hyperfiction page called Do what you like
Click on the link to see my Interactive Story
Here are my ELD reviews:
1. 8 Minutes. As I read and watched this story, I was drawn in by the ability of the start up page to link to another page of information. Each page preceding the start page continues the story. The story was empowering in the context of how it was presented, but not on the overall content. The pages were timed in a way to provide sufficient time to get from one part of the story to the other. For this story, I believe a writing technique I would suggest is to write in a clear voice in order not to lose the readers.
2. 24 Hours with Someone You Know. If the title doesn't get you to read, then I don't know what will. What makes this peace interesting is that it follows the concept of hyper fiction short story we had in class. The author did a great job placing a scene and letting readers choose their path. As one scene dives into another, I noticed images along with the story which totally enhanced my reading experience. Overall, the content of this story was great and highly recommended.
3. Everything After That. The story was very personal which is something missing in many narratives today. Not only can you follow what the author is saying, but as the reader, you can also choose the parts of the story. The experience alone gives me ideas on how to do story pieces because it allows me to connect with the audience by adding some personal story
When I first started to navigate the assigned website, I initally was put off. At first glance it was hard to figure things out, but after a little searching I kind of realized what this hypertext stuff
is really about. Confusion had me at first, but I realized that people find all kinds of ways to express themselves through this technique of writing.My first example was a site which seemed to come across to me as a kind of diary.
lOveOne I felt tried to use each page to express something different about herself in her own unique way. My Next example
Fingerprints on Digital Glass was really different from the last example.This site was more like a small collection or library of stories. What I liked was that the idea of "books" is very abstract. One book Tide Land was the third volume of a series. The book consisted of Scattered words, which were in turn related to other words on other pages which were artistically places and when clicked, an abstractly laid out poem was there for me to comprehend.
My last and final example I thought was the coolest.
A Show of Hands Was interesting because there was a collage of hand pictures.You had to pick a hand and then there was a related mesage that went with that particular hand. I think that people submit a poem and a hand jpeg.Neato.
Waking up is my interactive fiction piece.
I decided to review:
8 minutes
The story was good, and she's a decent writer an all, but the format threw me off. It wasn't an interactive format like we were assigned to do. The most you could do was click a button that made the page turn, which I guess is in some way "interactive." Unfortunately, the page would sometimes change on its own, which just made me feel bad for being a slow reader. Damn you "8 minutes"!!
next I tried Mr. Tokyo
This story was weird as f**k. I'm still not sure I understand what was going on. And the choices the author gave you to advance the story at the bottom were even more confusing! It wasn't like: do you decide to do this or that?.. it would be like an excerpt from the bible or some random rambling. I couldn't even tell who was doing the rambling. Very weird, not sure I was all that into it. Sorry Mr. Tokyo.
Lastly, I will talk about The Gift
Now this story was neat. The website wasn't confusing. You basically just click on a link and it pops up a new window with some neat graphics and the story all in one long passage. The story was actually pretty decent too, and graphics actually helped you get a sense of where the story was. I think this was the best example of interactive fiction (or whatever it was we were looking for) of the three, I read.
To properly review the ELD, I afforded myself two long browsing and reading sessions. My first session was predominately familiarizing myself with the different categories, randomly viewing works by whim, and walking away to digest the experience. When I was ready for my second session, I approached my exploration with a curiosity in how I can experience text through the various approaches of interactive storytelling. My findings are as follows:
Accompanied by visuals, music, and animated text anywhere is an engaging short poem narrated in linear form with spoken audio, and . While this piece of work by Steve Mantanle wasn’t exactly what one would call “interactive” (which involves no clicking) I was still able to find pleasure in my consumption of his prose.
Far is an interactive poem that is presented with a composite of square images. Navigating around the page is simple, and at best, I can describe the experience to be similar to having a whole bunch of images and cut out words layed out on a table; and you, the reader, gets to mix and match the pieces to create your very own collage. It’s a matter of rolling the mouse over one of the squares, where a full image is unveiled with a line of words, and rolling on along accordingly for a poetic experience.
Arteroids is probably the one piece of work I spent the most time with. Presented in game format, this poem is quite unique in providing a whole new different approach and experience to interactive poetry. The users weapon is desire, and using the arrow keys as a navigational tool, you can direct your aim to the flying lines of text, and launch fire by pressing X. If you succeed in hitting your mark (text), the words explode and remain on the screen leaving behind debris of letters and numbers. It can be highly addictive, and its appeal, to me, is the integration of play and prose. Could this mean that I’m a closeted gamer? Highly recommend to check out, at least to just see what it’s about.
The first piece of work I decided to select was titled “24 hours with someone you know…” at the time I had no idea how
many other classmates has also selected this story. The author, Philippa J Burne, used the approach we learned in class using links to make the story interactive. The writer’s style of writing really caught my interest with their rich text and descriptiveness. In this story in particular I do not feel that the interactive format empowers the story. Often they only gave us one choice to select from which I found to be pointless. The ending of the story was really disappointing, not in a way that made me sad but in a way I just found to be well, quit honestly LAME. I went back to the start and selected different choices but in the end all selections lead to the same pages, some just bypassing by others. I feel that if you are going to be using links to create interaction with the reader you need to provide them with options, and multiple ending or else it seems pointless.
After my first choice bombed, I decided to look on the class blog to see what students were recommending. After reading Claudia’s review on “360 Degrees” I decided to go ahead and investigate it some more on my own. I found this page to be really interesting and interactive. The interaction of the page is very beneficial. You can click on a bubble icon with a photo inside and read about the story. These are not just any stories, these are stories of convicts. The content can definitely be controversial and there is definitely a viewpoint. I would not change anything about this site.
I decided that my last review would be on one that no one else had reviewed. I clicked to page 12 assuming that no one else in the class had made it past the 3rd page and found a title that struck my attention. “Forward Anywhere” by Judy Mallow and Cathy Marshall is a great read for snoops like myself. As I have mentioned before I am probably the biggest self-proclaimed snoop out there. I get click-happy and once I start to look at something I need MORE MORE MORE! “Forward Anywhere” had a table of contents in which I selected “I studied my email from October almost a decade ago,” assuming that this would be a topic I would find myself familiar with. It is exactly what it says it is a review of ones emails. I was a bit disappointed with the links because not all of them worked, but I am guessing the link is broken due to the gap in time from when the piece was made to now. The interaction was ok, but not as good as other sites I have viewed. In the end I feel that more reader interaction would have really benefited the site. And also maybe they could have set it up to look like an email account and you can click and open up an email instead of clicking forward….just a suggestion.
I don't know why my name didn't show up in the last post but I, Amanda McAneney wrote the last post. haha.
I first found Winchester's Nightmare. I did not spend a lot of time with this one, and most of the time I was very frustrated. Sarah Winchester didn't know how to do anything I wanted her to do! It was well-written and descriptive in the beginning, then it prompts you to decide what Sarah will do next. But it kept saying, "This verb is not one she will be able to directly act upon at any point." I just don't know what it wanted me to type in order for Sarah to do something. I got frustrated and bored with Sarah.
The next site I visited was Animalamina. This was kind of cool, and very easy to navigate. I think its meant for children, but I liked it. It was a mix of animation and video, but had no real story to it. You would click on an animal and it would tell you little riddles pertaining to whatever the animal was doing. It was a lot of easy interaction. Sometimes I just clicked all over the screen until something happened. You would click on a rug and a flea would pop up. Then you click on the flea and a cat would appear. Then it says something like, "The cat has fleas!" Then you see the fleas jumping all over the cat. I could have spent a lot more time on this site checking out all the different animals, but I decided to move on.
The last site I found was Planetarium. This one was pretty interesting, and I would like to spend some more time exploring. It is very well-written and involves some interesting graphics. Throughout the story, you have to solve riddles, explore rooms, and learn more about the characters. It is very creative and stimulating. I could navigate it better after a cup of coffee.
here is Amanda McAneney's interactive fiction page
If You're Going To San Francisco..
The first one I reviewed:
24 Hours with someone you know.
It was pretty cool. The main thing I liked about it was the fact that a lot of the things happening to the main character were things that I could see happening to anyone. The characters were believable and I felt myself getting sucked into the story. I didn't like the choices very much and it took a while to get to the point, but I liked the situations.
Here is the second that I reviewed:
I thought it was a little confusing. The thing that was the most confusing was also the most interesting aspect about it. It let you choose your story based on a location. So the story could start wherever you like instead of what we learned. We learned starting a story and giving choices for which direction you want to go. This was very different.
Hungry at the Dive . . .
[My 1st interactive fiction. What a long, learning process of trial and error for such a simple assignment! Time consuming, when you have no idea what you're doing; nonetheless, the fun!]
Sorry for posting this now at the class break. I finished it last night when I e-mailed you. Thanks. Save Yourself
Tony takes you down under the earth's surface to Rocker Hell
The site Electronic Literature is set up pretty hard to follow. I did not see any direct links to stories like the ones we have worked in on class.
The first site I looked at is Minima
The written material was awkward but interesting. I feel the writer was being to artsy and forgot to make a real point. It was interesting because of all the imagery the author describes. The piece is very simple to visualize. It is confusing because it seems to just end randomly. It is too flashy linear scripts are simple and easy to follow. I would tell the rider to focus on a particular idea or purpose they are trying to convey.
The next site i looked over was Michael Rothenburg's-Man In Paris. Michael Rothenburg. It is interesting because it talks about the night life in Paris which is something that I don't know much about. It isn't confusing at all until the end, when he talks about matrimony's fragile breath. It almost seemed like a linear story with how it is laid out on the website. The writer should be descriptive with his abstract thoughts in order for the reader to connect.
8 minutes was a fun story that lead the reader along through typed passages that would appear for eight minutes.The author writes as the reader follows them through their life. The story keeps on moving on to a new page automatically and if I don't read fast enough I can't keep up. It is like a narrative but i don't have control over the pace of the turning of the pages. The writing is well organized and detailed.
30 Days of Rain is a very interesting story that would not be able to work if it was not interactive. The reason why, is because it is not a story that can be told in a linear way. It is a creative work of poetry that would loose its creative effect if it was read all at once. Through the way is presented, the viewer is able to grasp each message separately and breath on it; then he or she can move to a new though at their own pace.
This piece presents a conjuction of short thoughts that really, have nothing to do with one another. Without the interactivity it would just be a bunch of thoughts put together with no common sense. Through interactivity, all the thoughts seem connected. It gives the perspective that these thoughts have one thing in common, the person who is thinking them. The way it has been visually set up, it feels as if someone is thinking these thoughts as they look out the window. Through the window, you can see what the person is thinking behind each thought. The way the story is set up is extremely creative. You have to click in each square of a calendar to be able to listen to each though. I enjoy the fact that there is no particular order of clicking in it. It really makes the whole experience possible and much more valuable.
This butterfly-book story, is a little too weird for my taste. Even though it is on my native language, I did not understand half of the things I read. I am not sure if they were written with a scientific purpose, since it seems as the site is done for such a purpose, but it is defenately not desing for the common reader. However, although I may not understand it I have to admit it seems like a very creative way to talk about different types of butterflies. You have to click in each butterfly in order to find out what is written about them. Interactivity makes this piece more interesting to read, and presents the information in a manner that can be easly digested. If this story was told in a linear form, I feel it would be too much information for the reader to digest at one glance. Interactivity helps the reader not to be overwelm and bored with all the scientific information given. Through interactivity this story that would otherwise be very dull becomes entertaining.
Although this piece is call Digital Nature, I have no idea what it has to do with nature. In fact I am not really clear on what this story is about all together. It kind of moves all over the place and does not seem to have a common theme. So, there is no way I can see this “story” at all possible with out being interactive. I think that through interactivity this person has been able to combine a bunch of thoughts on different subjects, as well as personal stories, all into one place. To be honest, this is a very creative site. It visually appeals the reader to go in and explore what the site is all about. The site is very clearly set up. It shows how to access the different information clearly and it does at good job at making it easy to navigate. Also, the way he breaks things into short paragraphs makes it easy for the reader to follow the creators train of thought.
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~lzuluaga/interactivefiction/index.html
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