Of day of night (hypertext fiction)

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Of day of night
AuthorMegan Heyward
Language English
Genre electronic literature
Publisher Eastgate Systems , Australian Film Commission
Publication date
2002, 2000
Publication place Australia

Of day, of night is an interactive digital story by Megan Heyward which uses hypertext and other digital elements to tell a meaningful narrative. [1] It was first published in 2000 by the Australian Film Commission, [2] and then published on CD-ROM by Eastgate Systems in 2002.

Contents

Heyward has been writing digital stories since 1997 with her first work I am a Singer. This story is one of six of Heyward's work and would help pave the way for future digital storytelling authors by incorporating innovative elements in a unique way. [3]

Origins and influences

In a video which was recorded in 2019 at Washington State University Vancouver, Heyward presented her story to an audience while giving commentary on her work. In her commentary, she compares her first work I am a Singer to of day, of night explaining their similarities and differences in being both hypertextual interactive narratives; [4] I am a Singer and many other earlier works at the time mainly focused on hypertext as the digital focus of these narratives but of day, of night stands out with its use of sound, video, and images; the piece being made in 2001, published in 2002 means this is one of the first pieces of digital media that would incorporate elements of visuals from both video and images with sound and hypertext all put together to make a cohesive and interactive story, making Heyward a pioneer in the field of digital storytelling.

Publication history

This piece of work was created with Macromedia Director (now known as Adobe Director) and was published in 2002 by Eastgate Systems, Inc.

Plot

Unlike Heyward's other works, this narrative explores the relationship between memory, dreams, and objects. [5] The reader follows a woman who has lost her ability to dream and plans on using objects found in random locations to help get her dreams back. Each location the woman explores is filled with multiple objects that the reader can click on and interact with which will prompt a video of the woman messing around with the object and investigating it.

The woman eventually comes across a small booklet filled with sketches and drawings of a plethora of different things ranging from notes, maps, drawings and magazine clippings. Once this area has been reached, the reader is then able to enter the second phase of the story: the night. This is done by accessing the ‘arrange’ section where the reader is prompted with a cabinet to sort and organize objects that have been previously interacted with. This section adds a great layer of interactivity for the reader as they sit and ponder which objects to use and where to place them. After the objects have been sorted the reader is then prompted with a video with dream-like qualities, transitioning the reader to the night section.

The night section as Heyward describes it threads together the objects and stories to create new meanings. [4] In this section, the reader is prompted with numerous numbers which they can hover over and click on to reveal a video which plays a dream. This section really brings the whole piece together as the reader starts to see all the objects they interacted with and the imagined histories from the woman flow together.

Story structure and navigation

The reader is presented with a map towards the beginning of the story and it is the choice of the reader to choose where to go. The story is broken up into sections where the next section is unlocked by visiting certain areas on the map and interacting with all the objects in said areas. The objects in each section are sometimes clickable which allows the reader to interact with them through visual and auditory elements. The areas available to the reader are few to begin with but grow as the reader progresses through the story.

In an interview at Washington State University Vancouver, Heyward discussed the techniques used for navigating through the story's sections. She talked about the feedback given in the form of visual and sound cues when the reader hovers their cursor over an object or a piece of hypertext. Heyward explained that this adds immersion to the piece, making the reader feel more involved or a part of the story. Heyward talked about how the sound provides flow to the work, adding to that immersion for the reader. [4]

Genre

This is known as hypertext fiction which is an art form praised for being highly innovative due to its structure and the delivery platform that it embraces. [1]

Preservation and archiving

of day of night in its current state is difficult to access, as it requires older hardware and technology, which is not readily available. The Archiving Australian Media Arts Project is addressing the challenges of preserving digital media on obsolete platforms, such as Macromedia Director. The project aims to outline the benefits of making these materials available to partners and researchers of artworks. Access to these digital materials should improve in the future with digital emulation infrastructure set to be built. [6]

A new-funded project, the Australian Emulation Network, aims to conserve born-digital artifacts, including of day of night. The first process that the project aims to use to solve this problem is to create disk images. The project also proposes to use emulation as a groundwork for recreating and experiencing of day of night. [7]

Awards.

This work received high commendations from Australian digital media awards, including:

See the original Eastgate catalog here.

Related Research Articles

Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction.

Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature where digital capabilities such as interactivity, multimodality or algorithmic text generation are used aesthetically. Works of electronic literature are usually intended to be read on digital devices, such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. They cannot be easily printed, or cannot be printed at all, because elements crucial to the work cannot be carried over onto a printed version.

<i>afternoon, a story</i> Hypertext fiction by Michael Joyce

afternoon, a story, spelled with a lowercase 'a', is a work of electronic literature written in 1987 by American author Michael Joyce. It was published by Eastgate Systems in 1990 and is known as one of the first works of hypertext fiction.

<i>Patchwork Girl</i> (hypertext) Work of electronic literature by Shelley Jackson

Patchwork Girl or a Modern Monster by Mary/Shelly and Herself is a work of electronic literature by American author Shelley Jackson. It was written in Storyspace and published by Eastgate Systems in 1995. It is often discussed along with Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story as an important work of hypertext fiction.

<i>Victory Garden</i> (novel) Novel by Stuart Moulthrop

Victory Garden is a work of electronic literature by American author Stuart Moulthrop. It was written in Storyspace and first published by Eastgate Systems in 1991. Victory Garden is one of the earliest examples of hypertext novels, and is notable for being very inventive and influential in its genre. It is often discussed along with Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story as an important work of hypertext fiction.

Stuart Moulthrop is an innovator of electronic literature and hypertext fiction, both as a theoretician and as a writer. He is author of the hypertext fiction works Victory Garden (1992), which was on the front-page of the New York Times Book Review in 1993, Reagan Library (1999), and Hegirascope (1995), amongst many others. Moulthrop is currently a Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of English, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also became a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization in 1999.

Eastgate Systems is a publisher and software company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, which publishes hypertext.

Judy Malloy is an American poet whose works embrace the intersection of hypernarrative, magic realism, and information art. Beginning with Uncle Roger in 1986, Malloy has composed works in both new media literature and hypertext fiction. She was an early creator of online interactive and collaborative fiction on The WELL and the website ArtsWire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deena Larsen</span> American writer of electronic literature (born 1964)

Deena Larsen is an American new media and hypertext fiction author involved in the creative electronic writing community since the 1980s. Her work has been published in online journals such as the Iowa Review Web, Cauldron and Net, frAme, inFLECT, and Blue Moon Review. Since May 2007, the Deena Larsen Collection of early electronic literature has been housed at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities.

Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink was an American writer, scholar, and teacher. Writing hypermedia fiction under the pen name M.D. Coverley, she is best known for her epic hypertext novels Califia (2000) and Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day (2006). A pioneer born-digital writer, she is part of the first generation of electronic literature authors that arose in the 1987–1997 period. She was a founding board member and past president of the Electronic Literature Organization and the first winner of the Electronic Literature Organization Career Achievement Award, which was named in her honor. Lusebrink was professor emeritus, School of Humanities and Languages at Irvine Valley College (IVC).

<i>Figurski at Findhorn on Acid</i>

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<i>Six Sex Scenes</i> 1996 hypertext novella by Adrienne Eisen

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Online Caroline was a web soap opera in 24 episodes written and published online by Tim Wright, Rob Bevan and Tom Harvey at the production company XPT in 2000. It was "an instant hit" and won that year's British Academy of Film and Television Arts award in the interactive category.

King of Space is a work of electronic literature by author Sarah Smith. This interactive narrative is set in a collapsing solar system aboard an abandoned starship, where an escaped terrorist encounters the last star-captain and his ship's Priestess. The story weaves elements of gaming into a dark science-fictional ritual of fertility and regeneration.

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<i>Uncle Buddys Phantom Funhouse</i>

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Twelve Blue is a work of electronic literature by American author Michael Joyce. He is widely known as one of the first writers of hypertext fiction. His first piece afternoon, a story was written in 1987. Joyce created Twelve Blue in 1996 using Storyspace software. This is his first piece of hypertext fiction specifically to be played on the web and published by Eastgate Systems. In 2006, Twelve Blue was selected for inclusion in the first volume of the Electronic Literature Collection, a publication of the Electronic Literature Organization.

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References

  1. 1 2 Pope, James (2009). "The significance of navigation and interactivity design for readers' responses to interactive narrative: Some conclusions from an empirical study of readers' responses". Dichtung Digital. Journal für Kunst und Kultur digitaler Medien. 11.
  2. ↑ "NFSA - Search the Collection". www.collection.nfsa.gov.au. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. ↑ "Megan Heyward | ELMCIP". elmcip.net. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rebooting Electronic Literature Volume 3: Megan Heyward's "of day, of night"". Rebooting Electronic Literature Volume 3: Documenting Pre-Web Born Digital Media. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  5. ↑ Idowu-faith, B. O. (2012). Hyperfictional Language in Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a Story and Megan Heyward's of Day, of Night (PDF) (PhD thesis).
  6. ↑ Swalwell, Melanie; Stuckey, Helen; Vries, Denise de; Moya, Cynde; Cranmer, Candice; Frost, Sharon; Goddard, Angela; Miller, Steven; Murphy, Carolyn; Richardson, Nick (1 December 2022). "Archiving Australian Media Arts: A Project Overview". Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture. 51 (4): 155–166. doi: 10.1515/pdtc-2022-0026 . ISSN   2195-2965.
  7. ↑ Swalwell, Melanie. "The Australian Emulation Network: Accessing born-digital cultural collections" (PDF).
  8. 1 2 Heyward, M. E. (January 2005). "of day, of night".
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