Traditionally hypertext has been done
inside special applications
created for this purpose -- e.g. "hypertext systems". This project aims
to create a framework for authoring interactive word objects "native"
inside a generic object desktop. I am pretty far along, with a
functioning authoring environment, several completed works, and a few
pieces of prose describing it. The object environment used is Squeak. An essay giving a poetics
rationale for this work is Questions about the
Second Move. A more technical paper describing the software and
spatial hypertext issues involved is Hypertext in
the Open Air: A Systemless Approach to Spatial Hypertext. A
technical paper describing issues related to writing in this
environment is Reflections on Spatial Writing in
Place. A more general discussion of my diagram notation, including
bringing hypertext into the structure of thought itself, is The Interactive Diagram Sentence: Hypertext as a
Medium of Thought.
The works completed so far under this system are poems in a
series called Diagrams Series 6.
While it is technically possible to "play" Squeak files in a web
browser, the plug-in is quite large and it would make more sense to
simply download complete squeak images. Those are available at the link
above.