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Conclusion
Reading this hypertext is almost a pleasure. The reading model is very easy, as the author shows you the path you have to follow most of the time. I think it is quite hard to follow a different reading model than the one the author gives you. Since the beginning she’s giving you the clues to follow the right path, the clues to understand the text and the structure of the hypertext. So I think I can say I’ve been following the path, or the reading model that the author wanted me to read. She guides you through the text with tutorials, but also with signals like flicking images telling you: click me!, or with pages of text organized with numbers, so you always know that first you read the number one, then the number two, and so on. And also there’s always a little map, a great tool to move forwards and backwards the hypertext, and where is easy to know where’s the beginning, as all of the places where you follow Flora have assigned a number. And so, the first place is the number one, the second place is number two, and so on. As it is made by flash, it has a very well looking appearance, because it is full of images, animations, music, sounds… From my point of view it is closer to multimedia than literature. And maybe because of this structure made by flash, the text itself is quite linear. There are no links in the text, because the links are externals, and most of them are images. About the dialog with the author, or with the text, it is another easy point of this hypertext. You are all the time in contact with the author’s opinion, the author’s help. The author not only guides you to follow a reading model, she also guides you to understand a little bit more the text, outside it ( in the “About this project” part) and inside it, using the Right-screens, where she gives you her point of view, her personal opinion of Flora’s trips, of Flora’s feelings. So, in this text the dialog is very easy because you can easily know all of the time when is Flora talking to you, and when is the narrator, the author. The structure is a very important part of the story. The story is based in that trip Flora did, and so, the structure is made in a way that really makes you feel it all like a trip. The pictures, the little map with which you travel across the country like Flora’s did, the different music and sounds in each stop, Flora’s thoughts exposed all over the screens, hidden behind images and animations.. The story is more about that feeling of freedom, and with that trip and that structure it is easier to understand it all better, and feel a little bit closer to Flora, just like the author did.
In short, this reading model is a very interesting way to narrate the story. I really enjoyed reading it because of all of the elements that are used in it. And also as it is made by Flash, it gives it the appearance of a game, and it makes it more attractive to me. Let’s play the game of Flora’s trip; let’s have a Tool’s Trip.
Academic year 2008/2009
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