vogmae interactive networked video practice

What follows was only published via the original hypertext.RMIT server as a report into the first iteration of the Hypertext Theory and Practice course that I developed and delivered in 1995. The imagemap is currently not available, neither are there student examples available for download. Storyspace has progressed considerably since this report was written but all that I have (rather poorly) described here still applies.

Storyspace and Hypertext

This document was written and refers to work and subjects undertaken in 1995. As a hypertext writing program Storyspace facilitates writing from the 'ground' up. Unlike HTML, Storyspace writing is intuitive, direct, and allows a form of 'cognitive' modelling of writing, thinking, and arguing.

It is principally text driven so there is no 'dilution' of traditional academic writing skills within the subjects where hypertext is offered as an assessment option, and the nature of the program encourages students to explore ideas in ways that the standard essay discourages.

It relies on a linking structure that is 100% controlled by the writer. It supports multiple links from any part of a web to any other part of a web, from word to word, word to phrase, word to sentence, word to paragraph, word to graphic, word to movie clip, word to text space, or any combination of these. All linking is achieved by a simple click and point process.

All writing and linking is done within the one program, and no programming skills, of any sort, are required. Being a digital technology it allows the easy incorporation of image, movie, and sound into a web. Furthermore it supports links within, between, and to images. Storyspace allows export to HTML so that World Wide Web publication remains an option, but this is done after the writing process is completed.

Finally, in terms of 'multimedia' production and writing it offers a relatively 'low' technology solution. The software is cheap, easily learnt, able to run on virtually any Macintosh, and has very low resource requirements (in terms of computers, software, and training).

For anyone wanting additional information please feel free to contact me. I am more than happy to show the work that students are doing, or to demonstrate the program. In a short while it is hoped to have some standalone examples of Storyspace webs available for uploading, though to begin with they will only be in Macintosh format. In the meantime I have set up a clickable image map of a Storyspace screenshot which will give some explanation of what the program is, and how it works.

Our Working Understanding of Hypertext

Hypertext is probably best approached as a pragmatic exercise. In terms of teaching and using hypertext authoring environments any effort of definition is towards its quotidian use, rather than an effort to produce an account that seeks to get it all tied up.

The emphasis within the lab classes, and the use of hypertext for writing, submitting, and assessment of work, is on a definition of hypertext as digital non-linear writing and publication.

As many writers on hypertext correctly point out, there are many printed texts that are basically non-linear (the Talmud, encyclopedias, dictionaries), but the interest and use of hypertext that the project wishes to develop is one that makes literal the possibilities of available digital technology for the publication, presentation, and more importantly the writing of non-linear documents. Within this definition of hypertext there is an emphasis upon the idea of the link as the performative possibility of the text. Without such links a digital text is not regarded as hypertext.

This is why this project started with an introduction to Storyspace, rather than HTML, since Storyspace is designed principally as a non-linear writing tool. This is in contrast to HTML which, while exciting, should probably be regarded as a publication tool and not something particularly conducive to writing.

(An analogy I use is that of using Microsoft Word (well, perhaps not version6.x) and PageMaker. It is easy to write and edit things in Word, but really, to try and write an essay in PageMaker requires a particular sort of masochism. On the other hand to lay out a brochure in Word is a pain, but PageMaker makes the job much easier. And, yes, of course you can do either job in either program, up to a point, but then you could try and run a marathon in ski boots too.)

The digital aspect of hypertext is self evident. It is a method of writing that is computer based, computer mediated, and read via computer. Its role is not to write things that are then exported into some form of hard copy (though of course this is always an option) but to take advantage of the computer's random access abilities to present text, sound, image, and video.

While some understand the non-linear nature of hypertext as a product of the computer's random access abilities it is probably more relevant to reverse this and consider hypertext to be a product of the links. Links are possible and made literal because of the random access nature of the computer, and it is the fact of the links that generates hypertext. This is why a dictionary is not, in this definition, a hypertext.

As a consequence hypertext is a form of writing and publication that does not need to be as sequential or linear as traditional writing, and allows readers and writers to move through it in various ways. For example within Storyspace any part of a web can be linked to any other part, whether this is considered in terms of spaces, paragraphs, sentences, words, pictures or movies. In addition any source link can have multiple destinations (unlike HTML) so that a key term could be linked to a glossary entry, a discussion of its use, and all the other instances of its use within the text. The user is generally free to follow whichever links they prefer, and links can be named.

This combination of links and spaces (in HTML this would be anchors and pages) means that hypertext can be written around several different models (and indeed can do each simultaneously):

• The Logocentric Text: a traditional linear text with a single and consecutive pathway established through its spaces

  The Arboreal Text: a central linear text is provided with a branching structure of annotations, commentaries and discussions opening off this central thread (the tree)

  The Rhizome Text: a non-linear text that may or may not have various central 'nodes' joined in multiple ways with other text spaces, these links are understood to be thematically determined and defined (the potato)

Virtually all of the preliminary work that students have produced probably falls into the 'arboreal' model, as does most WWW publication.

The Original Project

The Hypertext Project has been offered to third year students undertaking HM302 Advanced Seminar in the BA in Media Studies [now the Bachelor of Communication (Media)], within the Department of Communication Studies [now the School of Applied Communication] at RMIT during semester two of the 1995 academic year. The Hypertext Project is an effort to remove the distinction between technologies of writing and the practice of writing. For students this is already the case with pen and paper. For some students it is already the case with a word processor. It is hoped to make this also the case for hypertext.

The aim is to allow student work to be submitted in three 'standard' formats, any of which they are free to choose. These are: the traditional written essay, Storyspace webs, HTML and World Wide Web publication. The object is to incorporate these modes of submission into the everyday practice of specific subjects (currently only HC342 Modernism in the Cinema and HM302 Advanced Seminar) and not to treat the hypertext component as a separate subject, pedagogic technology, or something alongside (or outside) of the 'usual' assessment procedures and practices.

While HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is widely used for the distribution and publication of course material students are generally only encouraged to use this medium for the digitisation of their 'usual' written projects (if they choose to submit in this format). This is because HTML , while a valuable publication technology, is a poor writing tool and students tend to lose sight of their work in the intricacies of designing web pages that they like, or do what they want to 'do'. For students to write their text, convert their graphics, write links that are appropriate, make the necessary changes to image and video files - then put in on a server - is to introduce a significant distance between the act of writing and the task of publishing. This gap is removed in Storyspace as the use of all the elements are internal to the program. However, if students wish to use HTML, then they are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the hypertext nature of the medium, and so convert their 1500 word essay into, say, three 500 word web pages with multiple links between them.

While the project has only had a limited time and resource allocation, several issues have become clear:

• defining hypertext
• understanding how to use the medium
• familiarity with the technology
• assessing work
• generating content

These issues shall be integrated into an expanded project for 1996 where it is hoped that further applications of contemporary communications technologies will be introduced.

Problems

Various unexpected problems have arisen during the teaching of hypertext to students in the context of computer labs and writing essays in this format. In addition there have also been some unexpected advantages that have become obvious as students become familiar with the computer.

The Problems

In general the problems that developed throughout the teaching of the computer labs fell into two general sorts. The first were to do with fundamental computing skills, the second were to do with the relationship that the students actually developed with the software, and what happened during the course of the laboratory sessions.

Computer skills

An optional introductory session was offered to all students in the first week to familiarise themselves with the use of the computers (Macintosh only in our laboratory). However many students, since they thought they knew how to 'surf the net', and how to use a word processor, assumed they knew how to use the computers, and so did not attend this session.

However, in general students had little understanding of computing fundamentals, such as file naming, renaming, moving, and being able to control where a file is saved. This became a recurring problem throughout lab sessions, and there were always instances where these basic skills needed to be reintroduced so that students understood what it was they were doing. The ability to have several programs running concurrently on the Macintosh remained a confusing issue for many students, though the use of HTML editor in conjunction with Netscape helped clear this issue.

Likewise once students began saving all their work to the department server (an account was created for the subject and all enrolled students in HM302 had access to a shared folder in which to save their work) there was continuing confusion about where their work was, how to find it, how to move it, and how to name it appropriately.

In retrospect a basic and compulsory introduction to these fundamental skills should have been undertaken (even with the time restrictions imposed by the hypertext introduction being 'bundled' with the existing HM302 Advanced Seminar (this subject was offered during second semester 1995, and its subject guide is no longer available). Such an introduction would have saved considerable time and frustration through the lab sessions, and will be incorporated into the future teaching of hypertext authoring. Any such introduction will require the demonstration of these skills through a simple exercise (for example the writing and copying of a file in a folder that the student has named) .

Students and Storyspace

In the first sessions where Storyspace was introduced there was a high level of excitement as the students become confident in the use of a technology that had previously been somewhat mysterious. This was both in terms of the specifics of Storyspace and the general use of a computer.

As graphics were scanned and imported, digitised video incorporated into Storyspace webs, and students became comfortable with the 'style' of writing that Storyspace encourages and makes possible students more or less drove the pace of the sessions. However, after these skills had been more or less taught, student excitement had diminished. This I believe was because the 'gee-whiz' factor had declined, and students were beginning to realise that any more work using the software would require them to actually have to concentrate on issues of content.

It was at this point that the hypertext work in the sessions moved from Storyspace to HTML, and student excitement once again tended to control the pace of the lab sessions.

Students and HTML

A similar pattern was evident as students developed a basic competence in HTML authoring. There was a great deal of preliminary interest and excitement in having their work on the Web, but this initial enthusiasm very rapidly diminished as students began to understand that things like graphics and fancy headings needed to be produced in a graphics program, and not in HTML.

However, all students rapidly made use of anchors and placed graphics on their pages, and I believe were beginning to reach a point where some were beginning to realise the opportunities for work that it offered. There are several students within HC342 Modernism in the Cinema who are producing essays for HTML publication, and will probably take advantage of imagemaps as a method of film analysis.

Early OutcomesStoryspace

During the assessment of the student's preliminary Storyspace work it was apparent that while most of the fundamentals of the program had been understood the particular problems of thinking of their work as a 'web' had, in general, been misunderstood. Students had produced documents that were only partially non-linear, with most of them tending to consist of series of linked spaces, each link following a more or less particular thematic line. The problem with this is that the text tends towards a series of dead ends, whereas a web, properly speaking, should be what its name describes, a web. This requires each text space to at least allow the reader to enter another space, and where a space may be a 'cul-de-sac' this should, in some manner, make thematic sense.

In the terms I have used to define hypertext they produced what might be considered to be 'arboreal' texts rather than rhizomes.

This problem could not be adequately addressed within the project due to the extremely limited time that was available in the computer labs. However this is being addressed in HC342 Modernism in the Cinema, where several students have undertaken research essays using Storyspace to write and submit their work.

HTML and the World Wide Web

Content remained an issue in writing web pages for students. Given the time constraints of the subject this was not unexpected. Students quickly realised that most of the effort in HTML was towards 'design' issues, that hours could be spent making changes and getting their pages to be what they thought was 'right' or 'liked'. The lack of access to graphics facilities (in terms of software, time, training, and expertise) tended to frustrate students as they wanted to make their pages like those they visited. This was also partly due to some confusion on their behalf about what was involved in generating graphics, but also a related misunderstanding about HTML and its relationship to graphics. For many students there was an assumption that HTML was as much a graphics program as a writing program (this misconception was also apparent in their Storyspace writing). I believe this was also a basic misunderstanding about 'multimedia' where these particular students did not recognise that many software tools and skills are needed to produce text and graphics on a computer.

There have also been major benefits as a result of this project.

Outcomes

Apart from the technical, theoretical, and practical problems that are arising through the laboratory sessions there are substantial positive outcomes.

Technological comfort: as students begin to consider hypertext as a non-linear and link driven method of writing and publication there is a significant (but often not quite recognised) shift in their relationship to this technology. For many students this was simply a new familiarity and comfort with computers, extending to include an appreciation that even when their computer 'crashed' nothing had broken, nor had they done something 'wrong' (usually).

'Multimedia' uses: Several students immediately took advantage of hypertext's possibilities and in some cases started using Storyspace to write essays, plan essays, and to think about film scripts. In other cases previous work was marked up in HTML and placed on the web, and there are currently a group of students producing essays for HC342 Modernism in the Cinema as Storyspace and/or HTML documents. The ability to incorporate scanned images, film stills, and digitised video clips in their work was also immediately useful to many students and several are currently using these facilities to produce cinema studies essays.

Virtual access: one of the advantages of working in this medium, and one that students quickly took advantage of, was the easy accessibility to their work that digitisation and computer networking offered. For example a student could come to my office (or send me email from any of the web pages I've written, which includes all of the pages for HM302 Advanced Seminar and HC342 Modernism in the Cinema) and we could view their work from my office computer. In this way any errors or problems could be immediately fixed, and if necessary a brief 'tutorial' conducted.

Similarly I can review a student's work, when requested, and simply leave a note or link containing my questions within their work for the student to read. This is particularly effective in Storyspace, where I write a text space that contains links to all the areas of their web that I wish to comment upon.

Collaborative writing: finally, with Storyspace some webs are being written in small groups and we have developed a system whereby a web can be made 'public' so that all members could have access to it simultaneously. This meant they could work collectively, while at individual computers, and at the end of the session they would send me email and I could incorporate all of their new webs into the original shared web, and this in turn would become a new shared web.

In general the major outcomes of the project are still being evaluated (particularly as students are only just beginning to produce major pieces of assessable work in Storyspace and HTML). However the short term benefits have been obvious and highly effective. These include

• 'demystification' of HTML and the WWW
• familiarity with digital texts and issues of 'digitisation' ability to offer multiple modes of assessment within subjects.
• ability for students to incorporate multimedia elements within their work (this has particular benefits within HC342 Modernism in the Cinema)
• substantial shifting of students understanding of multimedia issues, practically and theoretically, towards questions its implications for knowledge 'work'
• recognition of design and content issues in multimedia, internet, and hypertext authoring and publication
• development of vocational skills in computing and hypermedia authoring

What has been obvious in many cases is the pleasure that students have experienced as they actually manage to do something that they didn't think they could. Indeed, many students have commented to me about the excitement that the medium has generated, and most are disappointed that it has only been offered to them in the final semester of their final years study.