FINAL PROJECTS: THE HYPERTEXTUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

INSTRUCTIONS
gleaned from the course readings (including Text Book):
  1. The hypertext will not be linear, but rather MULTI-LINEAR.
  2. The hypertext will be a FRAGMENTED text.
  3. The hypertext will be composed of WORDS and IMAGES.
  4. There will be THREE "LEVELS" which will be linked in the hypertext:
  5. The PERSONAL level will demonstrate that EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE is valid in a "research" project.
  6. 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.
  7. Along these lines, we will TRUST OUR FIRST THOUGHTS.
  8. To choose your SOCIAL HISTORY/ISSUE:
    1. Write down every IDENTITY GROUP--born into or chosen--to which you belong.
    2. Freewrite about each of these (including intersections of one or more).
    3. Choose an historical event, period, situation, figure or social issue TO WHICH YOU FEEL SOME EMOTIONAL CONNECTION-- fascination, disgust, curiosity, etc.
    4. Do some RESEARCH on this "text"; read around, collect images, look for potential "links" with your other levels.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. MARGINALIA (a la Coupland and your own Essay #3 Hypertextual Anecdotes) will be one way of LINKING and commenting upon all the levels.
  12. RECURRING IMAGES may be one way of using visuals in your hypertext.
  13. EMOTIONS are key for these hypertexts; our reading suggests three emotional paths for us:
    1. HUMOR--including sarcasm, cynicism, and irreverence
    2. PATHOS--including seriousness, sadness, and poignancy
    3. COMBO OF THE ABOVE (e.g., as in Postcards, Rivethead, and Bulletproof).
  14. EMOTIONS will come through in VOICE and MOOD.
  15. 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.
  16. We are each ETHNOGRAPHERS OF THE SELF, showing/bridging a self (or selves) who has (have) experiences and a self who analyzes them.
  17. 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.
  18. "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).
  19. The PROCESS is as important as the PRODUCT. WE are our most important "AUDIENCE."
  20. Our LOGIC OF LINKAGE is POETIC ASSOCIATION--metaphor, metonymy, puns, and the like.
  21. We will include AUTHENTICATING GESTURES such as quotes, stats, and "facts" (as in Incidents, Live from Death Row, and Generation X).
  22. 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:

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

back to mandala "base"