Douglas introduces us to the notion of books without pages – a metaphor for the opportunities digital media brings to story telling. Interactive narratives are thus born through digital media, but particularly through networked media a narrative can be formed providing various alternate pathways and an interactive experience. Therefore, separate pieces of an interactive narrative can be connected by the user in particular ways that create individual meaning. Meaning the original intentions of the author for the meaning of a text can be completely changed as new associations are formed by various users. This shows how networked media increases the ambiguity of the author’s message.

I’m sure the majority of you are aware of last week’s iCloud scandal that resulted in many photos of nude celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton being leaked to the world wide web. Right well as it turns out iCloud was not breached, but rather individual accounts were targeted and hacked. However the fact that the images were stored in a remote storage server (believed to be floating high in the sky somewhere, when it’s likely to be sitting in a giant server building in the US), means that the images are far more vulnerable. Ted Nelson formulated a new model for how online networks could be structured called the Nelsonian Network, as discussed in this week’s symposium. Nelson’s vision requires each internet user to have a physical hard drive located within the home (for example), to be used in replacement of remote servers. In addition, the Nelsonian Network would be comprised of two-way links, instead of one-way links. Meaning the context of every material is preserved as every copied material knows where it is and when it is being used. Does this mean the Nelsonian Network could have prevented last week’s photo leak? Although there would still be of course, a way to duplicate material without creating a link in the Nelsonian Network, the presence of personal storage in replacement of online storage would have added an extra level of security, making the task of hacking the photos of others far more challenging as it would hacking require remote access.

Sam is stoked for the release of White Bird in a Blizzard after finding out that the film is directed by Gregg Araki, the man responsible for directing one of Sam’s all time favourite films: Mysterious Skin. He likes Araki’s unconventional filmmaking style and proceeds to give his review of Mysterious Skin in this post, claiming its relevant to the course because “networked media is pretty mysterious” haha I love it.

Michael joins Instagram and speculates that each new digital platform he uses, designed to be a online representation of one’s character, may actually be forming an increasingly disjointed reflection of his original self, spread across the extremities of the digital world.

Mitch reviews some of his work from ‘writing media texts’ last semester, picking up on small mistakes and things that could have been done differently. Overall a very intriguing image Mitch, good use of the rule of thirds and at the end of the day I think it is great to learn from old work because if we aren’t able to notice previous mistakes how in the world can we improve?

Expendables 1 = awesome!

Expendables 2 = awesome!

Expendables 3 = awes…

I suppose one does not go to a Hollywood action classic like the Expendables for deep storytelling and engaging narration in particular, however I still found that the Expendables 3 did not deliver. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) forsakes his team and attempts to replace them with a younger crew which brings the destructive momentum and hilarious nature of the original two movies to a grinding halt. This is completely out of character for Barney Ross and defies the tradition the Expendables had going.

Image Source: Warm Jello

Isn’t it interesting the way text has transformed over time and taken many forms throughout history in the transfer of information? From text used as a method of recording information (in the case of scribing), as a medium for signalling or illustrating particular situations (in the case of signs), as a means of creating stories, sharing fiction and non-fictional texts (in the case of novels), and as a means of communication (in the case of the letter and later digital messaging). Text is a large part of modern human existence and as highlighted by Jay Bolter, the structure of text has also evolved throughout history. The post 1960s electronic text structure has enabled the use of hypertexts, which are defined as a text that contains links to other texts. This concept is interesting considering it transforms text from a material that communicates information in one way or another, to a gateway into new information. Hypertexts are the basis of contemporary digital literacy and embedded (no pun intended) throughout the entire functionality of the internet as we know it.

What exactly is hypertext you ask?

Here you go                             — (a little bit of free self promotion can’t hurt)

Nate