Vicki Henriksen, e-mail posting for 5/15/97 class:

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Hello all,

I'm posting early because I'd like you all to DO something. First, I beg your indulgence and ask that you place yourselves into the roles of students. This section of S & H deals with pedagogy, but as educators, before we can begin to teach and evaluate hypertext, I would like you all to gain some first-hand knowledge of the medium. I'm hoping you all will, by experiencing a hypertext (fiction), you will achieve a "situated literacy" as discussed by Duin and Hansen (89). You know that old adage: to teach something, you really have to know it. After we know it a bit, maybe we can begin a discussion of the heady questions posed by Moulthrop and Kaplan, and one in particular: "What value to these changes (hypertext vs. print) have for students and teachers of texts? I'm asking for your participation, which fits with the whole spirit of hypertext, No?

But what will you DO, you ask? For my "big" project, I'm constructing a hypertext fiction, and what I'd like you all to DO, is look at, read, and reflect on a portion of this hypertext as it's in progress. I'll e-mail with the URL/where to find it very shortly; I hope within a day of this posting. If you have any experience with other hypertext, either in creation or reading or both (fiction in particular) please feel free to add that into your reflections and commentary.

Selfe and Hilligoss raise a lot--a whole lot--of issues, and by necessity I will only touch on only a few that captivated me. First I'm intrigued with this whole notion of "vertigo and euphoria" (hence the working title of my hypertext). Johnson-Eilola writes: "common distinctions between 'writer' and 'reader' begin to collapse...hypertexts such a (Michael Joyce's) AFTERNOON can give readers a rush of euphoria, or for the same reasons, vertigo or euphoria" (195). As you navigate and interact with hypertext, what is your experience? What is the effect on your reading? What are you enabled to do? Are you confounded, as Dryden writes, becoming "lost in hyperspace?" (283).

I'm also intrigued with the question, "Is it (hypertext fiction) literature," or is it something else entirely? There are plenty of examples, explanations, and definitions of hypertext in these chapters. Does hypertext fiction require teachers to "remap their conceptions of literacy (Johnson-Eilola 204), and if so, then what does the map look like? Does the electronic text become a "dynamic, expansive system, 'a structure for what does not yet exist,'" as Moulthrop and Kaplan argue? Do the "constraints of hypertext exactly invert those of print?" (235).

These claims, to me, while interesting, seem rather lofty in light of the hyptertext fictions I've experienced. On a simple level, I can say that I, reader, do have more control (although I'm not sure I want it). I do know that hypertext fiction allows me to "play" with a lot of neato technology, but sometimes I wonder if all this hoopla over hypertext is just that--hoopla. For further explanation, look at Dobrin's rather funny examination of "hoopertext." I'm inclined to agree with Dorbin's notion of "hypertext as contraption."

Dorbin states that Hypertext is a "weak text form that needs to be nurtured," and that current hypertext forms are "temporary solutions that need far more work" (313). If you're like me, you've had this thought once or twice while experiencing a hypertext, no doubt while experiencing my hypertext (don't worry too much about my feelings). I've found most hypertext fiction I've encountered to be mediocre (if not outright badly written), and hard to follow. I'm bothered by the lack of stability, "groundedness" in hypertext, and even more disturbed by theorists who seem to gleefully proclaim that this lack of stability, of order, is what hypertext is all about. I'm just not buying that philosophy about my life or literature, no matter how trendy it may be.

On a practical level, I've found links in hypertexts to be intrusive, and in crafting my own hypertext, I only placed links at the bottom of the sections (called nodes in the hyper-lingo). As I read my own work, and linked through the nodes, I found myself at times jumping back to a link I'd already read. As reader, that annoyed me; I wanted to get on with the story. I also noted that my own nodes are often-times longer than those of other hypertext fictions I've read. I don't know if this is good/bad, a help or a hindrance. I hoped by varying longer/shorter sections I'd preserve the spirit of hypertext while allowing my reader to experience depth reading discussed by Birkerts. One thing I wanted to do that I didn't was allow you, dear, gentle readers, the opportunity to construct your own text. Would you relish the opportunity to develop Elaine's character in a way you see fit, to add or change scenes, events? Or, would you find this plain work. Would you want to construct as you are reading or go back after you've finished one path? Finally, if you'd like to construct any scenes, characters, background, etc., and the sky's the limit, please do so in e-mail. I'll try to add it into the text as a link, or option.

I'd like to have your responses by Wednesday evening (before 9:00 if at all possible) so I can look them over and figure out our agenda for Thursday's discussion.

Happy hypertexting, and I'll be getting you that address in a jiffy.

Vicki