Space - text approached from my opinion

This story happens in Japan, in a small village below Yokohama. I t don’t happen in a solely room, but there are more spaces where the action takes place.

The text is a human narration because the narration is included in the story, so it is not fiction, but it is real. Therefore I can say that the space define the text.

There are two different kinds of spaces: internal and external. Regarding internal space I can say that it is not guided by the authors, but it is guided by the own narrator what means that the verbs used will be in first person plural. With regards to external space, I must say that to move in this hypertext you must click on little arrows and then, you will appear in another page.

I have realized that the text is written horizontally. On each image, there are three lines at the most; just an exception which is the first image that has six lines.

The majority of spaces described are realistic and this is mainly due to the fact that the narrator participates on it.

Regarding the language used to describe the spaces is not descriptive. Michael Joyce and Carolyn Guyer only mention them with a short description, many of them even with no adjective. It can be bad to the reader because in many cases he/she must look something up on the internet to know about it since it is necessary to continue reading. In my case, I have done it and it doesn't mind me since I have learnt new things.

The thing I liked the most is the fact that if you click on any image it takes you to another space which sometimes explains or describes the image with some sentences written on it.

From my point of view the space of this story is a big part of the narrated story because it takes part in its work. There are some images that are vital to the understanding of the hypertext, for example, the one which shows us the fishermen’s huts. I think I would have never imagined them as they are, or for instance, the inn where the narrator and his friends sleep.

In general, I think the space of Lasting Image, like most hypertexts, is mostly a conceptual and experimental space. When we move from one part of the story to another it often feels like moving from room to room.  In the case of Lasting Image, there is a feeling of a series of galleries of images that are related, sort of like an art exhibition in a museum.  Sometimes you can see through to something beyond but until you move in that direction, it's hard to know what it is. 

From my point of view, In Lasting Image  there are two versions of the "art exhibit."  One is blurred and has little patches that you can click on to go to other images.  The other version, which is more in focus, also has places in the image that you can click on, but you can't see where they are, so you have to move your cursor around on the image to find them.  You can also move along in a straight line by clicking the little arrows at the bottom.
I think all these different ways of moving around in the work definitely give the sense of being in space.

I must say that the narrative which accompanies the images also helps to make the views seem more like a real place.  That is, the story reinforces the sense of a location and therefore of space one can occupy.

An interesting thing I have asked myself is: Why do you just can click in a specific place of the photo? Why certain words are clickable? Are they more important?

I think they take you from the image to another related image. The new place you are, it is added information about the image or it is a place connected with the exact place you clocked on the former image.

For example, there is an image which sown the Buddhist Temple and there are long staircase, where there are three people; so, if you click on the clickable of the image you will can analyse this staircase more closely.

The one I liked the most is where you can click on the eye and it takes you to a beautiful image which shows us the searing light in the distance a blind man watches.

In the same image (the one which shows us the Buddhist Temple) there is another link to click which takes us to a curious place: we can see the grim-faced man with sword shellfish on polished black stone sudden blush and flesh. This is the man who fished sea urchins.

With regards to the clickable words, as I said, you travel from one image to another. This is a good way to demonstrate that the text and the images are connected. I will explain some examples: the first is “fishing village”, which appear in the first image. These words take to the fishermen’s huts in order to show us how their houses are.

Another example is the word “blind”: if you click o it, it takes you to the image where it is explained why Meisetsu lost his sight.

An interesting example can be the word “photographs” since it takes us to all the photographs: a webpage where you can see all the images.

Everything I have said is related to the space of the story. I think that this is an absolutely important part of a hypertext because the action must take place in any place.

Page last modified: 4th of December