reading

THE READING

Opinion a priori:

Before starting the reading of my first hypertext, I had the fear of not being able to understand the text. And a lot of questions were in my mind : Would it be too difficult to understand the story? Would it be too hard to follow the text? Would have the author used hidden links? Will there be confusing symbols?
I didn't know how long the text would be or if you could easily get lost in the middle of the process. So I started the reading with a combination of curiosity and suspicion.

Starting:

When you enter the author's website and you click on her work "Afterwards", the first screen that shows up is one with the background in white and a fragment of text in the center with the function of a link that you have to click to access the text. You click and the reading begins.

How this text operates?

The screen you find is split in two:

Right Side: You have the right side where the author has established a path with little squares that have different backgorund colour with fragments of text inside. This squares seem to follow a pattern, a path created by the author to follow the story. The author uses these squares as LINKS.

Left Side: And on the left side you find that the first text that corresponds to the first square has appeared without you clicking anything.
It's a parallel text in the form of two columns, side by side. The author presents you here the first of the three couples: Dorothy and Sid. One column corresponds to Sid's thoughts and the other to Dorothy's thoughts. We can see that the author has used different colours to differentiate each one.

Sid is thinking: Dorothy is thinking:

Everybody is Thank God the guests
gone, and the are gone! Tomorrow
house feels so we leave for the
empty. How mountains.
beautiful the ocean
is with the sun
going down in the
distance.

You read the text and then you go back to the squares placed on the right side and that is when your real work starts, because you have to decide what you want to do next.

You count the squares and you see that there are 18 of them. All of them with the same shape but different colour except one called "Afterwards". So you have three options here: You can click on "Afterwards" and see what the author wants to tell you about the play, you can choose to click on the squares following the path the author has created or you can click on squares at random and see what happens.

What happens when you click?

If you decide to click on the square named "Afterwards", a diffrent screen on the left appears with information about this text. The author gives you information about the play, the characters and very useful details to follow the order of the text.
She informs you that all the squares are divided into three colours, each one representing one of the three couples in the story. She also tells you that all the squares are bordered in blue to let you know that you have not read them yet. And finally, she says that each time that you click on the squares, a text appears in the other side of the screen.

She has used two kind of texts:

1- The first kind is a text in the form of 2 parallel columns where you can see what the characters are thinking. They are texts that show up instantly when you click.

2- And the second kind is a text in the form of appearing fragments of text that simulate a conversation. They appear slowly to give you time to realize who's speaking first.

Depending on which kind of text you read, you're going to find yourself watching virtually a real conversation or reading the characters thoughts.

How can we read the text, is there an order?

Once you've read the information about the play, you go back to the squares and decide what you want to do. There are three ways of following the story.

1- You can follow the order of the squares in the way the author has placed them. This way you're going to read the three couples stories alternating one with the others.

2- You can follow the story of just one couple from the beginning to the end by clicking on one colour of squares.

3- You can click on the squares at random and see what happens. But the problem you can find here is getting lost in the storyline of the play.

So I decided to read it in the first way. Following the path of squares. Mainly beacuse I thought that it could be possible to find references to the other couples in one couple's story and that way it would be easier to understand the play.

Reading:

So, the next step is clicking on the following square, one with a different colour than the first one. You click and see that the screen on the left side changes its background color and fragments of text start appearing slowly to simulate a real conversation. One side each time. Once the whole text has appeared, you can read the conversation about a new couple, the formed by Jerry and Tina.

Then you go back to the squares and click on the third square by order. It also has a different colour, telling us that it's about a different couple, the third one. You click and a new screen appears with a new background colour and the names of Gwen and Gunter on it.

Now that the three couples have been introduced to you, you have the opportunity again to choose what order you want to follow. Clicking on one of the couples story or follow the squares.

- If your final decision is to follow the squares in order, you keep on clicking on them and new texts appear each time on the other side of the screen, alternating the three stories until you reach the final square. The last one is about Dorothy and Sid. We realise that the hypertext has started telling us their story and has ended with them. We have a finite text that offers closure.
If you read the hypertext this way, you read the stories in this order:

Dorothy and Sid = A

Jerry and Tina = B

Gwen and Gunter = C

A - B - C - C - A - B - A - B - C - B - C - A - A - B - C - B - C - A

- But if you decide to follow one couple's story by clicking just on their colour squares, you can read the six texts straight on. We have three different colors:

Dorothy and Sid = Yellow

Jerry and Tina = White

Gwen and Gunter = Dark Blue

Reading the texts this way you can notice things like the structure the author has used for each couple:

Dorothy and Sid = Thoghts - Conversation - Conversation - Thoughts - Conversation - Conversation

Jerry and Tina = Conversation - Thoughts - Conversation - Talking - Talking - Conversation

Gwen and Gunter = Conversation - Thoughts - Conversation - Conversation - Conversation - Conversation.

Note: The thing is that no matter what option you choose, you read the texts in the same chronological order, You can read them separated or together but you read the events in the right order, so we see that the third option of reading the text by clicking on the squares at random in not possible. Because you might read one sequence before another that would go first in the story.

Opinion a posteriori:

After having read this hypertext several times, I can say without a doubt that I am grateful of having choose this text as my first hypertext. It's been easy to read and easy to understand. And the author helps you to solve the little problems you can find such as the order to follow (helping you with the link "afterwards" ) or the order to read the appearing conversations (the fragments of text appear slowly to give you time to read it and to see what is the order to follow) and also she helps you bordering the squares in blue to know which ones you have read and which ones not.
All this little help as well as the story, that is easy and interesting to read, make this text a fantastic way to initiate yourself into the world of hypertexts.

© Malloy, Judy. "Afterwards".The Well. 2008. 6 Dec 2008

<http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/dorothyandsid/ds.html>