Massquerading Communication: A Case Study of Reader Empowerment in Hypertext

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Mass(querading) Communication A Case Study of
Reader Empowerment in Hypertext

• Emily Fidelman
• 12/7/05
• INLS180 FINAL Project Presentation

(http//www.cybergeography.org)
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Readers, not Authors, Determine Meaning

• As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a
  view to acting directly on reality but
  intransitively, that is to say, finally outside
  of any function other than that of the very
  practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection
  occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author
  enters into his own death, writing begins.
  Roland Barthes (49)

(http//www.lendoomundo.blogger.com.br)
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In order to be fully empowered, readers must read
be able to read the text in different ways

• Deleuze Guattaris Rhizome
• It has neither beginning nor end, but always a
  middle from which it grows and from which it
  overspills.

(http//www.natur.cuni.cz) .
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If readers are complicit with the text in
determining its meaning, they cant differ with
the text. But they can differ in their reading
of the text

• The main reason I think hypertext does not
  appropriate alien points of view, and thereby
  exclude them under the guide of pretending to
  include them, lies in the presence of the active
  reader because the reader chooses his or her own
  reading paths, the responsibility lies with the
  reader.- George P. Landow (184)

(http//www.victorianweb.org)
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But if different paths come to the same end,
readings arent so different

• The relative autonomy of the machine component
  of hypertext reading has been uniformly
  downplayed by its theorists. Christopher Keep
  (174)

(http//web.njit.edu/cfunk/SP/hypertext/time.jpg)
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Okay, different paths mean different ends

• Jay David Bolter Afternoon cares little about
  its own closure. (156)
• Espen Aarseth the absent structure of
  narrative is the key problem in hypertext (74)
• Jane Yellowlees Douglas Readers form hypotheses
  about the present in order to anticipate an
  ending that will, in turn, confer meaning and
  significance on the hypotheses. (161)

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A readings path determines its end because it
determines where the reading cycles.

• When the story no longer progresses, or when it
  cycles the experience of reading it ends.
  Michael Joyce (qtd in Landow 113)

(http//www.media.kau.se/next/fri03.html)
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Couldnt two different paths cycle on the same
page?

• tthe number of links to a page
• Lthe total number of links in the hypertext
• Probability the page will be visited
• (t/2)
• Probability the page will be revisited
• (t/2)(t/2) OR (t2)(t2)

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In Joyces Afternoon, a story, probability of
revisitation on a given page

• tnumber of links to a page
• Ltotal number of links in the hypertext
• dnumber of links which die when used
• Probability of revisitation
• (t/L)(d/t)((t-1)/(L-1))(t/L)((t-d)/t)(t/L)
• OR
• ((dt-d)/(L2-L))((t2-dt)/(L2))

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The hypertext cycles in some places more than
others.

• Found significant differences of probability of
  revisitation between pages.
• Range 0.01012580
• Mean 0. 0000058898
• Median 0.00009877
• Mode 0
• Standard Deviation 0.00001711
• Standard DeviationgtMean, therefore statistically
  HIGH dispersion

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There arent many places where the hypertext is
likely to cycle.

• Found that there were fewer pages at higher
  probabilities of revisitation.

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• Places where the hypertext is most likely to
  cycle are similar in content.

she said.
she
she thought.
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Really, the Content is Similar

• links to each of the most likely conclusions

she refers to the character, Lolly
she refers to the character, Nausicaa
Remaining links do not link directly to any
character, and readers are most likely to
associate with them with the most often visited
character, Lolly.
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Joyce isnt a bad guy or anything, but

• Different readings are one thing. Different
  readings with the same conclusion are entirely
  another.
• MASS COMMUNICATION
• Readers cant really differ from one anothers
  readings of the story because they all conclude
  the same way. In this sense, the hypertext is
  mass communication.
• WITH A TWIST
• But the reader cant differ from the authors
  thesis or narrative, because he/she believes
  her/himself to have participated in its creation.
  This makes hypertext an extremely persuasive
  version of mass communication.
• THIS IS JUST ONE CASE STUDY, BUT BE WARY

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SUMMARY

• What I intended to do
• Investigate the claim that readers can have full
  responsibility for determining the ending of a
  hypertext.
• What I did
• Determined that the end could be
  operationalized as pages where a text is most
  likely to cycle, i.e. which pages are most likely
  to be revisited. Calculated the probability that
  each page would be revisited, plotted the
  relationship between increasing probability and
  number of pages at increasing probabilities, and
  analyzed content on the pages most likely to be
  revisited. Determined there were only a few
  likely ends which were all very similar in
  content.
• What Id do differently
• Try to incorporate in the probability equation
  some accomodation for the paths to different
  pages. Do further case studies of other
  hypertexts to see how common it is for a few
  likely ends to exist to the exclusion of
  others.

(http//www.biffonline.co.uk/hypertext.html)
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Works Cited

• Aarseth, Espen J. "Nonlinearity and Literary
  Theory." Hyper/Text/Theory. Ed. George
  P.Landow. Baltimore The Johns Hopkins
  University Press, 1994. 51-86.
• Babbie, Earl. The Practice of Social Research.
  Belmont, CA Thomson Learning Inc., 2004.
• Barthers, Roland. The Rustle of Language. New
  York Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1986.
• Bernstein, Mark et al. "Architectures for
  Volatile Hypertext." Proceedings of the Third
  Annual ACM Conference on Hypertext. San Antonio,
  TX ACM Press, 1991. 243-260.
• Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space The Computer,
  Hypertext, and the History of Writing.
  Hillsdale, New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum
  Associates, 1991.
• Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. "Selection
  from a Thousand Plateaus Capitalism and
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  and Criticism. Ed. Vincent Leitch. New York
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• Douglas, J. Yellowlees. "How Do I Stop This
  Thing?" Closure and Indeterminacy in Interactive
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  P.Landow. Baltimore The Johns Hopkins
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•  
• Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing Machines.
  Cambridge The MIT Press, 2002.
•  
• Joyce, Michael. Afternoon, a story, hypertext
  document for Macintosh computers, Eastgate
  Systems, Cambridge MA, 1990.
•  

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• Jonsson, Stefan. Subject Without Nation.
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•  
• Joyce, Michael. Of Two Minds Hypertext
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•  
• Keep, Cristopher J. "The Disturbing Liveliness
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•  
• Landow, George P. Hypertext The Convergence of
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•  
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•  
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•  
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•  
• Ryan, Marie-Laure. Cyberspace Textuality
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•  
• Storyspace. Eastgate Systems, Inc. 2005. 19 Oct.
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• Warnick, Barbara. "Looking into the Future
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