Eve's Week 4

I enjoyed reading through afternoon in class even though it didn’t work properly. The story was interesting, and I would definitely revisit it given the chance. However, I did wonder if hypertext was the correct medium for this story. This is an earlier work of hypertext, so I understand that it was somewhat experimental, but I found myself getting lost. In stories like this I don’t always understand the point of having multiple links going multiple places because it made the story more confusing. Hypertext works for me when you can click through to any link and still have it make sense. While reading afternoon I felt that I was missing parts of the plot and didn’t gain much from the experience. This could be because it wasn’t working the way it’s supposed to, but this is an issue I’ve had with a few hypertexts. 

Entre Ville by J.R. Carpenter was my personal favorite from this selection of readings. It describes her neighborhood in Montréal through poetry, images, videos, and audio recordings. I like the poem that you scroll through on the page relates to all of the different links you can open by clicking on different visual aspects. The videos, text, and audio recordings bring her text to life and make the story feel more real. I like that she utilizes a lot of different elements to put the story together, but it still doesn’t feel overwhelming or difficult to understand. If you read the poem first and then click through the different parts, it doesn’t matter which order you go in because it all comes together easily. 

My Body by Shelley Jackson is a piece that I have read before. I like that she included her own sketches for the art because it feels more personal. I like that you can start at any body part and continue through the work clicking on any link and have it make sense. I also enjoyed her writing style.