FINAL PROJECTS: THE HYPERTEXTUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY
PART B: THE ACTUAL HYPERTEXT
INSTRUCTIONS
gleaned from the course readings (including Text
Book):
- The hypertext will not be linear, but rather MULTI-LINEAR.
- The hypertext will be a FRAGMENTED text.
- The hypertext will be composed of WORDS and IMAGES.
- There will be THREE "LEVELS" which will be linked in the
hypertext:
- The PERSONAL--including "anecdoubts" and material from
the unconscious
- SOCIAL HISTORY/SOCIAL ISSUES
- An ENTERTAINMENT TEXT
- The PERSONAL level will demonstrate that EXPERIENTIAL
KNOWLEDGE is valid in a "research" project.
- The UNCONSCIOUS material can include: dream descriptions,
non-dominant hand writing, "dialogues," "unsent letters," and
other writing/images created from similar techniques. This
material also draws upon the tradition of SURREALISM.
- Along these lines, we will TRUST OUR FIRST THOUGHTS.
- To choose your SOCIAL HISTORY/ISSUE:
- Write down every IDENTITY GROUP--born into or chosen--to
which you belong.
- Freewrite about each of these (including intersections of one
or more).
- Choose an historical event, period, situation, figure or
social issue TO WHICH YOU FEEL SOME EMOTIONAL CONNECTION--
fascination, disgust, curiosity, etc.
- Do some RESEARCH on this "text"; read around, collect images,
look for potential "links" with your other levels.
- You will choose an ENTERTAINMENT TEXT as directed by Text
Book (and some of the autobiographies we have read): think of
a narrative text--film, television show/series, cartoon, book,
childhood story, or comic book--with which you identify. Re-view
or re-read this text; do a bit of research on what others have
said about it (reviews, etc.). Collect your written research,
images, and personal experience with the text; look for "links"
with the other levels as you create the hypertext.
- At this point, it should be clear that creating this
hypertext will be a RECURSIVE process: as you explore one level,
you will think of more to do/write about from another level.
These texts will EVOLVE as they are CREATED; they will not be
totally pre-planned and then put together.
- MARGINALIA (a la Coupland and your own Essay #3 Hypertextual
Anecdotes) will be one way of LINKING and commenting upon all the
levels.
- RECURRING IMAGES may be one way of using visuals in your
hypertext.
- EMOTIONS are key for these hypertexts; our reading suggests
three emotional paths for us:
- HUMOR--including sarcasm, cynicism, and irreverence
- PATHOS--including seriousness, sadness, and poignancy
- COMBO OF THE ABOVE (e.g., as in Postcards,
Rivethead, and Bulletproof).
- EMOTIONS will come through in VOICE and MOOD.
- There will be a POLYPHONY OF VOICES: dual/multiple voices and
perspectives (including different perspectives and voices FROM
WITHIN US). Thus, there will be a MUTLIPLICITY OF TEXTS/STORIES
in one hypertext.
- We are each ETHNOGRAPHERS OF THE SELF, showing/bridging a
self (or selves) who has (have) experiences and a self who
analyzes them.
- MOOD is created through not only words, but also through the
use of COLOR, through the VISUAL LAYOUT of pages, and through the
LINKING used.
- "Meaning" will be created through JUXTAPOSITION--both in
terms of individual "page" layout (e.g., as in photomontage) and
in terms of links (e.g., as in filmic montage).
- The PROCESS is as important as the PRODUCT. WE are our most
important "AUDIENCE."
- Our LOGIC OF LINKAGE is POETIC ASSOCIATION--metaphor,
metonymy, puns, and the like.
- We will include AUTHENTICATING GESTURES such as quotes,
stats, and "facts" (as in Incidents, Live from Death
Row, and Generation X).
- We will create a text which requires more than usual effort
for VIEWER INTERPRETATION (as in the Surrealist tradition of many
of our readings).
A few "DON'Ts" for our projects:
-
We will avoid strict chronology.
- We won't sound like a history book/text book.
- We will not produce something which looks/sounds like a
formal academic paper (at least the hypertext itself won't).
- We won't showcase our own lives as the example the
reader/viewer should follow (a la Iacocca).
- We won't have tons of text/info on a "page" (a la Laura's
Florida Tableau).
- We won't use an overly frustrating or confusing link set-up.
Note: The process of determining which material from each
level goes into the hypertext is one of SIFTING (to continue our
recipe/cooking metaphor).
back to emotions are key
back to mandala "base"