I have been avoiding all assignments posted requiring students to read Electronic Texts in the past week. The purpose of this post is to form an explanation as to why exploring these texts repulses me to the degree that it does.
The simple answer is that I have not been able to grasp conceptually their significance. In class we looked at several “texts” which I found to be confusing and slightly (well in the case of the birds.. VERY) annoying. Birkerts is concerned about the distraction involved while reading electronic texts and I believe that he has a valid argument.
My intention for this assignment had been to ignore the Electronic Texts Archive altogether and to explore Wikipedia instead. I had hoped to write a simple paper regarding how great the site is, how easy it is to navigate, and how fantastic those little blue underlined hyperlinks are. However I decided to be brave and to choose an electronic texts at whim. As I scan the web page I panic and click a hyperlink titled Regime Change. THERE ARE INSTRUCTIONS. Yes that’s right there are instructions on how to read this text. They’re a paragraph long. So back I go. Next I choose The Jew’s Daughter; there are instructions for this one too but I’m running out of time and I’ve accepted their inevitability. The instructions tell me: “Text is driven by moving the mouse over highlighted keywords. There is a hidden navigation box in the upper right hand corner that can be expanded and used for referencing and accessing specific page-states.” Okayyy. We’re off. (That’s how I feel with these electronic texts; I’m not just opening a book and beginning, I’m reading the manual, strapping myself in, and pointing that little hand over my destination. CLICK. We’re off.)
My first read didn’t go so well. I forgot the instructions and had to start over. The second time through I begin to understand the concept; this text, at least, is sound and image free. All that one need do is read and follow the story’s changes. It would most likely behoove me to read the text again but my mind rebels. While I must admit that this was a well written text, its catchy little electronic text features completely detract from my ability to comprehend and enjoy the story. Had I bothered to read the author’s description before beginning my little journey I would have known what I was getting myself into..”an interactive, non-linear, multivalent narrative, a storyspace that is unstable but nonetheless remains organically intact, progressively weaving itself together by way of subtle transformations on a single virtual page.” I can understand how this would excite some people. People who are bored with the linear progression of books, people who need to interact, to be involved with, their texts. I am not one of these interesting people.
I will conclude by saying that while I personally will probably never read another story posted in the Electronic Text Archive, I cannot denote their worth. While these texts allude me, they could certainly engage others. It is a matter if preference.. I prefer for the words to engage me and for my only interaction to be my thoughts. I prefer to read texts on a linear format without images flashing and sounds emerging. I prefer not to have to prepare myself with instructions before reading. But that’s just me.
