Creating a hypertext analyzing David Clark’s 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein was a very enlightening experience, but I felt it was also a sobering one. It was particularly challenging in that hypertexts are by their very nature nonlinear, thus forcing me to rethink how the “narrative” should be structured (if at all, given the recombinant nature of many such works).
In the end, I decided to create a “home page” of sorts for the hypertext, with a couple of paragraphs explaining the purpose of the site and containing links to other posts. This would, however, contradict the idea that a hypertext needs to be random in nature. However, the hypertext The Unknown (written by William Gillespie, Scott Rettberg and Dirk Stratton) also explored a similar issue (one of the emails in its correspondence section debates the necessity and appropriateness of a starting point), and provided a home page as a starting point. Even the most complex work in this genre, then, would need to be at least somewhat accessible, if for no other reason than to keep some semblance of organization.
One of the most difficult parts was not just the creation of the hypertext itself, but making everything read and flow coherently given the format. To this end, one of my main goals in creating the blog was to ensure that every post stood on its own in terms of content, with the various in-text links providing further context when opened–which would themselves lead to more posts and their own links, eventually coming full circle as most posts are linked to each other somehow (not unlike 88 Constellations itself). To avoid overextending my reach, however, I decided to focus on a single theme in the hypertext–in this case, silence. But even that is just a fraction of the breadth of thematic content 88 Constellations offers, which may prompt further expansion in the future.
-17 October 2013
"88 Constellations" Assignment (EN-3750-01) 