After reading the Gavin Inglis
hypertext named “Same Day Test”, I’m going to do a formal analysis focusing on
the tools and the way the author has written it. Bearing in mind that I have to
do a formalistic approach to this hypertext, I have to see it as form and its
content as the content of the form, so that, the content of this hypertext may
be helpful to support our arguments, but it is not our main interest.
I would like to start talking about
the programming and how Gavin creates the hypertext: style, images, links, different endings
and language.
As he says in his personal webpage (he also said it to me via e-mail) his
background is in computer science, he was able to write a GCI script which kept
track of the appropriate links, among other small things which made the hypertext
complete.
To access the hypertext we can enter
to Galvin Inglis’ personal webpage
clicking on <read my fiction>
or link to it from Bareword (the page where we can find
all his hypertext fictions and those of his students) and choosing “Same Day Test” in both web pages
From the point of view of the form,
we can say it is a simple text and I think it is a good example for those
people who are in contact with this kind of writing for the first time. Even
Gavin Inglis told me “I don’t think it is a particularly innovative text. I am
more concerned with telling a story than pushing the boundaries of the form”.
Although hypertexts are supposed to be “non-limited”
for the reader, I could distinguish about 40 different pages which are related
in different ways, so that readers could create a totally different story
depending on their choices. All pages the hypertext has are composed within the
same pattern: it can be considered simple to navigate, perhaps because the
intention of Gavin Inglis is to keep a certain aspect of linearity yet it is
not linear.
On a white background reading turns out fairly easy as
it is typed in black and using bold in the clock that heads every page and the
two options that we usually have to choose from (although many times we only
have one single option). The white background is placed on a black background
which shows us the “Bareword” icon
and the title of the hypertext “Same Day
Text” too; both names are clickable: the first allows the reader to come
back to the Bareword index page, and the
second allows the reader to come back to the beginning of the hypertext so that you
can start reading the story following a different path.
So begins the hypertext:
We can have access to the first page of the hypertext by clicking on the
word “begin” or by clicking on the image of the syringe.
Once you have clicked, you go to the first page. This page can be
considered as a pattern because every single page will have the same structure:
an image at the top, a clock which behaves in a realistic way (moving forward a
long or moving forward a little depending on the reader’s choice), the text and
the links at the end of the page.
8.47am
It’s Gabrielle
on the phone. I’m surprised. I haven’t heard from her for months. And that time
we didn’t exactly part on speaking terms.
—Tom. I’m positive.
You’d better get a test.
I don’t know
what she means. Positive about what?
—HIV, you
fucking idiot. I had it while we were still screwing. Go to the Infirmary. You
can get a test there.
And she slams the
phone down, doesn’t settle it back into its cradle or just press the button to
cut me off. She crashes the receiver down like she’s trying to break the phone
in half
This is the way the story begins: an
unexpected phone call which leads Tom into a very different day. The role of
Gavin Inglis, as author of the hypertext, is to give the reader some different
options of what to do, and to convey what a person may feel while waiting for a
HIV test in so many different situations. Then, the reader’s function is to
decide the way the main character has to face such a complex day while waiting
for the test result; so we can say that it is a story of choices which show up
our way of behaving in front of a particular situation.
I would like to highlight the results
page: http://www.bareword.com/cgi-bin/sdt?res+16+24+15.
Comparing it with all the other
pages, we can see a change in style: it has been formatted to resemble a
printout from a doctor.
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| EDINBURGH INFIRMARY NHS TRUST: MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY SERVICE |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL
MICROBIOLOGY |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Patient: 3764T9 [M] | |
| Number: 1706723764T9 DOB: 17/6/1972 |
Date taken: 07/04/98 |
|------------------------------------------------| Received:
07/04/98 |
| Report to: DR M WRIGHTSON | Reported:
07/04/98 |
| Address: Genito-Urinary Medicine | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|
|
| LOTHIAN HEPATITIS AND HIV
REFERENCE LABORATORY |
|
============================================== |
|
|
| Clotted Blood ( No. 334F2/98 ) |
|
FINAL REPORT |
|
Enzymeimmunoassay screen for antibody to HIV: POSITIVE |
|
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| |
|
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| Specimen(s): CB DR P FARRINGTON |
| Taken on: 07/04/98 Hepatitis/HIV Reference
Laboratory |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Sometimes, images are better than words but, as said
before, Gavin Inglis’ intention is not to be innovative but to tell a story.
Therefore, images are not an important thing in this hypertext because of their
simplicity; even so, we must mention the author: Paul Shade.
-
The image of the syringe at the
beginning of the hypertext is the only one which is clickable within the entire
hypertext.
-
Although an image appears on each
different page, they have not any particular function related to the hypertext
because they are not clickable: an image appears at the top and it is related
to a given moment of the day or to a given situation depending on the reader’s
choice. For example, a telephone appears
when Tom receives or makes a phone call, a monkey wrench when Tom is working, a
pizza when he is having lunch, a syringe when the situation is related to the
hospital, a bird when he is in the gardens, a beer when he is in a pub…
-
There are also pages which haven’t
got any image, perhaps because it is difficult to find a suitable image for a
vague topic or situation. Normally, those pages do not offer the reader new or
relevant information.
-
Although it is not an image, the
clock that appears in every page is an important aspect to focus on.
It behaves in
such a realistic way that it is more important than images: although the same
content of the page appears twice or three times during the whole hypertext,
the clock that shows us the hour is not the same in any of the cases because
the time goes by according to the decision of the reader; that is, it is
coherent with the action the character has to do. Gavin Inglis said:
“Because
time is so important in the hypertext, I wanted to have a clock on each page. I
also wanted it to behave in a realistic way; if Tom crosses the city, the clock
moves forward a long way, whereas if he simple walks across the street, it only
moves forward a little”.
The storyline is maintained because every page seems
to have a chronological value that adds a certain amount of time to the clock according
to where the reader wants Tom to go.
Focusing on the links, we can say
that their function is to guide the reader throughout different possibilities.
The reader usually has to choose between two links which describe the passing
of time, a limited space of time where the patient has to face the possibility
of being positive in HIV virus, and how they are spending their life while
waiting for the results:
-
There is a way in which Tom rejects
knowing the results.
-
Another path which encourages Tom to
act as if it were another normal day.
-
Whereas, the last seems to be a way
of avoiding the daily routine.
This hypertext is not about
mortality, but about how people react and spend his time facing the possibility
of being death.
The basic function of a link is to
give a feeling of freedom to the reader by choosing whatever he/she wants: “go”
or “don’t go” to the clinic, “go” or “don’t go” to work, “lunch with workmates”
or “lunch alone”…and so on. However, we can also say that links illustrate how
a person might feel before HIV and, then, being conscious of the risks: the
optional links show this kind of duality and they are constantly visible
throughout the story.
Although being a hypertext, we can
say that the story of Same Day Test is a bit linear. The hypertext consists on
different story lines that are interconnected in different points: “work”,
“museum”, “pub” and “outside” are those stories which are blended and related
to each other (museum links to work when Tom decides to avoid the routine; pub
links to museum and outside in several places…so that, all possible paths match
up).
The result of the text is not shown
until the end, there should be those reader who assume a negative result (which
is good, because Tom is not going to die), and pessimistic readers who expect a
positive result (Tom is infected) since they begin reading. Three types of
ending can be differentiated within the hypertext but there is only one which
shows the test result; depending on the choices, the reader will reach a
particular kind of ending:
-
If the reader decides Tom neither
phone the infirmary nor go to the meeting, it it’s the shortest reading. The
reader would never know what happens with Tom, unless he/she decides to start
again and follow another path.
-
If the reader wants Tom to have a
normal day, despite of the infection risks, he/she can find two different
endings: if Tom is punctual to his meeting he will know the result; on the
other hand, he will have to wait until the next day and the reader will not be
able to know anything else about the story.
It is supposed that Gavin Inglis had
already thought that people wants to know more about Tom, therefore it is
extremely difficult to have the reader satisfied with only 3 or 4 different pages.
However, this possibility may exist. The reader is not allowed to know the
reaction of Tom when he gets the result, perhaps the reaction is not of our
interest because it does not change anything and it is simply an anecdote.
The hypertext is written in present tense and uses the
first person singular, which shows an objective storytelling from a subjective
point of view.
The language used is plain and
sometimes colloquial, most of the times I found it difficult to understand
because all the colloquialisms and vulgarisms used. Considering that Tom is a
young man aged 25 who works repairing computers, Inglis has been faithful to
the vocabulary used by these normal, hard-working people. However, I might say that he does not
represent a special kind of society because the story plot turns around Tom’s
character and what is important here is that people feel so identified up to a
point that the reader cares about what happens to him.
The language is used in a realistic way throughout the
hypertext. For example, when following the “pub” option, each beer Tom consumes
appears as an empty glass (up to seven) and we can see how Tom’s narrative is
affected because the dialogue becomes nonsense till you can get lost in it.
Check it out, fuck in a cake, big pool
Sidney Poitier
BUT you must see that NEVER during that occasion were
hang on on
I know I’m not making what’s the time? She said four thirty or five
actually I can’t remember
day of the triffids there was a thing about a power place I’m having
trouble holding on to my ben
no BEn
stay there
Sydney
strange
f
house
_______________________________________________________________________
Another thing to be remarked is that
the author allows the reader to know what Tom feels and thinks every moment,
that is, the reader is able to follow his interior monologue which is so
personal: fears, feelings, thoughts about God… and the only way the reader can
get to know the character and his past is by advancing within the hypertext
and, therefore, within time.