New Media

Hypertexts read thus far:

Sunshine ’69, Doll Games, My Body, These Wave of Girls

Sunshine ’69; Didn’t so much like the organization of the site, lots of randomness and chaos, but did enjoy the events and the way the story of the people’s lives were woven into the history of the period.

-Very much understood the overtone of the freedom of summer, and then the reality check of the coming months after

Doll Games: Liked the organization of the site, but not the retrospective analysis of removed childhood experiences, looses organic feeling and freedom and switches to sort of a research-type of site

-the pictures were drawing and strange (disarticulated dolls)

My Body: Liked the personal memories of the site and they way it was set up (actually image of the body that was interactive and clickable), felt like the writing was present-tense and raw, as if it’s being experienced with the point of view of the reader

These Waves Of Girls: personal/poetic feelings, vivid and explicit memories, uninhibited writing

*Like Stars in Clear Night Sky: Simple, yet cool layout with the black screen and the stars. Simple talking and sentences, the story was important not so much the interaction of the site.

*The Cape: Fragmented, yet collective layout of the sight, liked the life/black and white photography of the site.  I don’t really like posed photos so the art of this site was cool for me, to see images in the moment.  I really liked the frame of  reference of the site and especially the simplicity of the story which lent to the motif of the page. (Favorite thus far)

-fragmented story of the person narrating the site and the photos, fictional

Heima: Liked the randomness of the site, the map of their tour stops (nothing was necessarily in any kind of discernable order). The still photos really helped to capture the essence of Iceland and the places they traveled, which lent to mystery of the trip (which was the most important part, the story, the experience that is had)

-Contemplative

-Liked the  intro kind of gave reader some bearings before experiencing the site in totality

Sigur Ros:  I really enjoyed the interactive topographic map (might want to include that in my stuff),  liked the photoblog and the fading images

Chemical Landscapes: Did not necessarily enjoy this page, liked the fact that it was whimsical in a way, but the entire experience was kind of wasted because the text faded away so quickly I couldn’t get a good read on it

Maus:  I’ll post more on this later, but just to get some thoughts out now…

Artie’s need for answers about his father’s experiences during the war in book 1, his frustration/coping with those answers in book 2 and how that effects his view of his life, his family, and his future as person

Different frames of reference in the narrative, the way it’s drawn and played out in black and white, Vladek’s memories and his experience as a young man and a prisoner

Artie’s ID as a jew, as an author, and as a man?

Jew’s Daughter: An interesting hypertext to try to experience.  The idea of storytelling really shows through this site.  I felt that the entire narrative almost commanded attention.  The page wasn’t at all flashy and there were not a lot of cool images or links here.  However, the really cool thing (that I initially found annoying by means of functionality) was the fact that the highlighted words in the text when touched would change to the next part of the story.  This was a clever text device (one that I would like to try), but at first I found it a little daunting when I was just trying to follow the story. 

Accounts of the Glass Sky:  I liked this site as well, but not for the same reasons as the Jew’s Daughter.  I did not feel that at-length storytelling was emphatic here.  But rather, this story was conveyed largely through photos and some other abstract images.  The site opens with a graphic and you end up clicking on the images which takes you the next step in the site.  The text wasn’t blocked but instead the site creator made great use of scrolling and fading techniques.  I would like to try this if I am able.  It gave a really profound effect to the site and documented experience.