Comments on: hypertext http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:10:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kathleen Fitzpatrick http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/three-texts/hypertext/#comment-514 Kathleen Fitzpatrick Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:06:20 +0000 http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/?page_id=133#comment-514 Alas, this may be one of those moments where you guys are reading better than I'm writing; I was definitely attempting to distinguish between hypertext and IF, but I hadn't fully processed (ha ha) the role of the parser, and the ways that the parser affects the future production of emulators.  Thanks so much for these comments; this is important food for thought. Alas, this may be one of those moments where you guys are reading better than I’m writing; I was definitely attempting to distinguish between hypertext and IF, but I hadn’t fully processed (ha ha) the role of the parser, and the ways that the parser affects the future production of emulators.  Thanks so much for these comments; this is important food for thought.

]]> By: William Patrick Wend http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/three-texts/hypertext/#comment-511 William Patrick Wend Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:31:23 +0000 http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/?page_id=133#comment-511 I like the distinguishing between hypertext and parser/IF. When I was writing my MA thesis, I was writing for advisers who had basic knowledge of ELit but not a lot more. I made sure to differentiate between hypertext (Afternoon, The Unknown, etc) and IF/Parser (Zork, Book & Volume) in order to be clear about the differences. These helped in two ways: It made it clearer what I was more concerned with (hypertext fiction) and made defining terms/differences easier when discussing my work with my program or while speaking on campus. I like the distinguishing between hypertext and parser/IF. When I was writing my MA thesis, I was writing for advisers who had basic knowledge of ELit but not a lot more. I made sure to differentiate between hypertext (Afternoon, The Unknown, etc) and IF/Parser (Zork, Book & Volume) in order to be clear about the differences. These helped in two ways: It made it clearer what I was more concerned with (hypertext fiction) and made defining terms/differences easier when discussing my work with my program or while speaking on campus.

]]> By: dennisjerz http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/three-texts/hypertext/#comment-499 dennisjerz Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:15:50 +0000 http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/?page_id=133#comment-499 I see that you are carefully distinguishing between hypertext and parser-based texts.  I wonder whether the casual reader, who may have no direct experience with either "Afternoon" or "Zork," and who therefore sees them both as examples of "interactive fiction," will catch the distinction you are making here.   There may be something about the grammar of that final sentence that loses me... Something about this sentence seems to suggest that the reader has to do work in order to update classic IF games, or at least that's the impression I got when I read the statement that Storyspace readers have not updated StorySpace texts.  It's not the story itself that IF geeks updated, it's the tools used to run those texts -- though of course as Aaerseth points out, the interpreter and interface are part of the cybertext. Infocom designed a virtual machine in the 80s, and wrote interpreters for each of the dozen or more personal computers on the market at the time... if Emily Short writes a game in 1999, she doesn't have to put any additional work into making that game work on new platforms (PDAs, iPhone) that didn't exist at that time, and all the new interpreters can read the same game file. I see that you are carefully distinguishing between hypertext and parser-based texts.  I wonder whether the casual reader, who may have no direct experience with either “Afternoon” or “Zork,” and who therefore sees them both as examples of “interactive fiction,” will catch the distinction you are making here.   There may be something about the grammar of that final sentence that loses me…

Something about this sentence seems to suggest that the reader has to do work in order to update classic IF games, or at least that’s the impression I got when I read the statement that Storyspace readers have not updated StorySpace texts.  It’s not the story itself that IF geeks updated, it’s the tools used to run those texts — though of course as Aaerseth points out, the interpreter and interface are part of the cybertext.

Infocom designed a virtual machine in the 80s, and wrote interpreters for each of the dozen or more personal computers on the market at the time… if Emily Short writes a game in 1999, she doesn’t have to put any additional work into making that game work on new platforms (PDAs, iPhone) that didn’t exist at that time, and all the new interpreters can read the same game file.

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