4 ms·

OK. I thought it was someone's idea to demonstrate how hypertext can obliterate the experience of reading a good story because you are constantly distracted by

OK. I thought it was someone's idea to demonstrate how hypertext can obliterate the experience of reading a good story because you are constantly distracted by the thought that you are not clicking the links. I'm not being sarcastic. I really thought it was a very clever demonstration.

useflyer 13y ago
I enjoyed the experience of being able to have context and additional information as I read the piece. People read in different ways (I stop and marinate on each paragraph), and being able to explore a bit made the story all the better.
- keane 13y ago
  Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the format! I think I'm like you, stopping on numerous paragraphs to allow those sentences to unlock something or bring something to mind. And ultimately, I wish that more articles included definitions and links to resources the author used or was aware of. I hate when the New York Times doesn't link to the very website they are discussing! Thanks again!
golergka 13y ago
Never open TVTropes.
keane 13y ago
That was partially my intent, so thank you! The whole thing was done in a few hours--almost exclusively research--so not saying this is a great project or anything but here are some ideas to skim. The inspiration? A recent article questioned the accuracy of some the story (certainly parts are exaggerated). The article's author, a fan of HST, believed that many placenames had likely been changed. And from that, 'who knows what else'. When I found the address for the hotel mentioned, the story seemed more plausible (rightly or wrongly) and more tangible to the Derby of today. I felt these details were important context and that their inclusion could be, as you suggest, a significantly different experience. But, and I do hope this is the case, perhaps their presence could result in the reader/user being more likely to believe the author. I decided sidebars, inline/side footnotes, endnotes (even in printed products) and tooltips are too distracting. The least distracting seemed to be hyperlinks in a somewhat subdued but still accessible style. (Having them hidden until interaction--like in the focus modes of some text-editors--was tempting but I wanted to avoid hover states.) Ideas from anyone on less intrusive ways of including asides are appreciated! So I wanted to give context but, as TVTropes and Wikipedia demonstrate, links can lead a reader away from the primary text. Knowing this, I decided to go ahead and create a flawed experience and intentional demonstration... This was the first article to be called 'Gonzo'. The word was coined after its publication and so it represents the beginning of a style, widely imitated, that HST would stick with for much of his career. If this is a foundational text for the genre, what characteristics make it 'gonzo'? I guess one of the main characteristics is that rather than give a detailed play-by-play of the horserace, HST instead gives details about the spectators and his own misadventures (resulting in a frank admission of unprofessionalism). These details are specific: rather than say he had a beer, its a Colt45 malt beer, just as a suspect might overcompensate with details in an interrogation with police. And he goes on to namecheck company after company (after Ian Fleming but before Tao Lin). I wondered: what would it look like if HST were drunk at the Kentucky Derby today? His namecheckings and frustrations might be expressed as at-replies on Twitter. This Gonzo post might be lost in the millions of blogs. This struck me as funny (tragic?). To allude to the odditiy of seeing a written work designed for another era and its mediums be tied and fragmented in hypertext, I linked 'Hertz' to @hertz (kinda absurd, but a fairly common practice) as well as a few others like that. It does seem harder to take the words seriously as a whole when there are basic (maybe ironic?) links. So I had hoped to provide context and I still think much of it is useful, but based on design limitations surrendered to the idea that this was desecrating an experience many are used to. I ultimately found it incredibly amusing to picture HST crafting hyperlinks in some bloated Soviet CMS to link to a YouTube video of teenagers signing as perhaps the HST of today is currently doing.
- spc476 13y ago
  I talked about that in a webpage I made years ago (http://www.conman.org/people/spc/writings/hypertext/fragment/ http://www.conman.org/people/spc/writings/hypertext/fragment...) but unfortunately today, it also shows just how fragile links are on the web.
- subway 13y ago
  As a Louisvillian who has read this a number of times, I really appreciated the embedded links. In particular learning that HST stayed at the Brown Suburban, where a colleague currently owns a condo.
e40 13y ago
If you were reading it in 1970, you wouldn't need the links, but in 2014... well, they help give a lot of context. I agree, it interrupts the flow, but how can there be flow to something with so many gaps?

useflyer 13y ago

I enjoyed the experience of being able to have context and additional information as I read the piece. People read in different ways (I stop and marinate on each paragraph), and being able to explore a bit made the story all the better.

keane 13y ago
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the format! I think I'm like you, stopping on numerous paragraphs to allow those sentences to unlock something or bring something to mind. And ultimately, I wish that more articles included definitions and links to resources the author used or was aware of. I hate when the New York Times doesn't link to the very website they are discussing! Thanks again!

golergka 13y ago

Never open TVTropes.

keane 13y ago

That was partially my intent, so thank you! The whole thing was done in a few hours--almost exclusively research--so not saying this is a great project or anything but here are some ideas to skim. The inspiration? A recent article questioned the accuracy of some the story (certainly parts are exaggerated). The article's author, a fan of HST, believed that many placenames had likely been changed. And from that, 'who knows what else'. When I found the address for the hotel mentioned, the story seemed more plausible (rightly or wrongly) and more tangible to the Derby of today. I felt these details were important context and that their inclusion could be, as you suggest, a significantly different experience. But, and I do hope this is the case, perhaps their presence could result in the reader/user being more likely to believe the author. I decided sidebars, inline/side footnotes, endnotes (even in printed products) and tooltips are too distracting. The least distracting seemed to be hyperlinks in a somewhat subdued but still accessible style. (Having them hidden until interaction--like in the focus modes of some text-editors--was tempting but I wanted to avoid hover states.) Ideas from anyone on less intrusive ways of including asides are appreciated! So I wanted to give context but, as TVTropes and Wikipedia demonstrate, links can lead a reader away from the primary text. Knowing this, I decided to go ahead and create a flawed experience and intentional demonstration... This was the first article to be called 'Gonzo'. The word was coined after its publication and so it represents the beginning of a style, widely imitated, that HST would stick with for much of his career. If this is a foundational text for the genre, what characteristics make it 'gonzo'? I guess one of the main characteristics is that rather than give a detailed play-by-play of the horserace, HST instead gives details about the spectators and his own misadventures (resulting in a frank admission of unprofessionalism). These details are specific: rather than say he had a beer, its a Colt45 malt beer, just as a suspect might overcompensate with details in an interrogation with police. And he goes on to namecheck company after company (after Ian Fleming but before Tao Lin). I wondered: what would it look like if HST were drunk at the Kentucky Derby today? His namecheckings and frustrations might be expressed as at-replies on Twitter. This Gonzo post might be lost in the millions of blogs. This struck me as funny (tragic?). To allude to the odditiy of seeing a written work designed for another era and its mediums be tied and fragmented in hypertext, I linked 'Hertz' to @hertz (kinda absurd, but a fairly common practice) as well as a few others like that. It does seem harder to take the words seriously as a whole when there are basic (maybe ironic?) links. So I had hoped to provide context and I still think much of it is useful, but based on design limitations surrendered to the idea that this was desecrating an experience many are used to. I ultimately found it incredibly amusing to picture HST crafting hyperlinks in some bloated Soviet CMS to link to a YouTube video of teenagers signing as perhaps the HST of today is currently doing.

spc476 13y ago
I talked about that in a webpage I made years ago (http://www.conman.org/people/spc/writings/hypertext/fragment/ http://www.conman.org/people/spc/writings/hypertext/fragment...) but unfortunately today, it also shows just how fragile links are on the web.
subway 13y ago
As a Louisvillian who has read this a number of times, I really appreciated the embedded links. In particular learning that HST stayed at the Brown Suburban, where a colleague currently owns a condo.

e40 13y ago

If you were reading it in 1970, you wouldn't need the links, but in 2014... well, they help give a lot of context. I agree, it interrupts the flow, but how can there be flow to something with so many gaps?