Creative Hyperlinks: Writerly and readerly effects of links in hypertext fiction

Creative Hyperlinks:

Hyperlinks Study

Research Questions:

Do readers form expectations for hyperlinks and, if so, how do they negotiate these expectations?

What is the relationship between reader expectation pre-click and interpretation post-click?

Hyperlink Theory

Hyperlink Typologies

Hyperlinks are “the element that hypertext adds to writing” (Landow 2006 [1992]: 13).

“The process of linking itself implies a rhetoric of repeated disorientation and reorientation” (Ciccoricco 2007: 80).

• Internal/External
• Exploratory/Ontological
• Structural implications (dynamic, feints, cycles, etc.)

Relevance theory: Links have “suspended meaning” that the reader applies after they’ve followed the link and made connections between lexias (Tosca 2000).

Schema theory: Readers’ familiarity with conventions, expectations (Bell 2014).

e.g. Bernstein 1998; Parker 2001; Ryan 2006, 2015

Writerly and readerly effects of links in hypertext fiction

Introduction

• Hypertexts, Readers & Research
• Types of Hyperlinks in Digital Fiction
• Putting Links Typology into Practice
• Reader Responses
• Conclusions

Methods

References

• Establish meta-hyperlink typology (based on current literature)
• Create a hypertext incorporating all link types
• Conduct empirical research of readers reading hypertext

Reading Digital Fiction

Series of studies:

Many theoretical approaches based on close readings and textual analysis; few based on empirical studies of readers.

AHRC-funded project aiming to introduce more readers to DF, & investigate DF reading using cognitive & empirical approaches.

Reader Immersion in DF - WALLPAPER

Reader Response to Textual "You" - The Princess Murderer

Writer Response to Digital Composition

Writing the Hypertext

Reader Protocol

Hyperlink Meta-Typology

Basic Navigation

Douglas, J.Y., 1992. Gaps, Maps, and Perception: What Hypertext Readers (Don’t) Do. After the Book: Writing Literature/Writing Technology, 2(3).

Douglas, J.Y., and Hargadon, A., 2000. The Pleasure Principle: Immersion, Engagement, Flow. In: HYPERTEXT ’00 Proceedings of the eleventh ACM on Hypertext and hypermedia. San Antonio, TX: ACM.

Affective Exploration

19 Creative Studies & Media students at Bangor University

https://readingdigitalfiction.com

Alice Bell, Astrid Ensslin, Lyle Skains, Jen Smith, Isabelle van der Bom

Narrative Exploration

Affective Navigation

Bell, A. (2014). Schema theory, hypertext fiction and links. Style, 48(2), 140-161.

Brooks, P. (1984) Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative. London: Harvard University Press.

Bernstein, M. (1998) ‘Patterns of hypertext’, Watertown, MA: Eastgate systems. Available at: http://www.eastgate.com/patterns/Print.html. Date accessed: 05 Aug. 2016.

Tosca, Susana Pajares. 2000. ‘A pragmatics of links’, Journal of Digital Information 1 (6). Available at: https://journals.tdl.org/jodi/index.php/jodi/article/view/23/24 Date accessed: 05 Aug. 2016.

Parker, J. (2001) ‘A Poetics of the Link’, Electronic Book Review. Available at: http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/electropoetics/linkletters. Date accessed: 05 Aug. 2016.

Ryan, M-L. (2006). Avatars of Story, London: University of Minnesota Press.

Ryan, M-L. (2015) Narrative as Virtual Reality 2: Revisiting Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.

• RA observed subjects reading hypertext
• Audio recording, links noted
• Paused at specific lexias to ask questions about hyperlinks (pre- & post-click)
• Short structured interview after reading
• Demographics questionnaire

All versions available at http://lyleskains.com/Fiction.html

Lyle Skains

MIX Digital 2017

http://tinyurl.com/SkainsMD17

Bangor University

r.l.skains@bangor.ac.uk

@lskains

Results & Conclusions: Readers

Results & Conclusions: Practice

• Reader data: qualitative analysis (NVivo)
• Initial impressions

• Purpose of link types used vs. reader effect
• Digital fiction "genre" & commercial implications?

(Initial) Reader Conclusions

Reader Results

Conclusions: Practice

Results: Practice

Basic (Navigation)

: used when necessary, but too much tends toward "CYOA"

: most common link used; often revised to other types in later drafts

Affective Navigation

: most playful of the links; "tricking" the reader, but usually letting the reader in on it

: infrequently used; often used in "illusion of choice" links

Narrative Exploration

Reading for the Plot: "seeking in the unfolding of the narrative a line of intention and a portent of design that hold the promise of progress toward meaning" (Brooks 1984: XIII).

Readers Identify with Character: internalizing the 2nd person narrator with own moral reasoning; applying to narrative choices

Affective Exploration Links either explored for unique personal reasons, or avoided because a clear relevance for characterization or plot cannot be determined.

: felt "literary" or "writerly"; parallel narrative techniques, e.g., flashbacks or inner monologue

: most familiar; usually led to looped structures (rather than branched)

Affective Exploration

: avoid using because I dislike them as a reader

: least frequently used; added only in later drafts