Diagrams Series 6
Diagrams Series 6 is the
latest in a life-long series of Diagram Poems, the earliest
experimentations for which began in 1968. Although I have been making
interactive works since 1988, Diagrams
Series 6 is actually my first work written in a fully
interactive way: from beginning to end in one interactive environment
where the word object is playable at every stage of its development,
from temporary unassembled scrap all the way to its final location in a
finished piece. This environment is part of an ongoing project which I
call Hypertext in the Open Air, and is implemented in a programming
system called Squeak. It allows the works to be played on all popular
computing platforms, including Macintosh, BSD, Linux, and Windows.
Diagrams Series 6 strives
to return to the intense diagrammicity of some of my earlier
non-interactive works, Diagrams Series 4 and Diagrams
Series 3. The diagram notation acts as a kind of external
syntax, allowing word objects to carry interactivity deep inside the
sentence. Interactivity, in turn, allows for juxtapositions to be
opened so that the layers in cluster can occupy the same space and yet
be legible. A problem we all have: a multiplicity, we must all occupy
the same world space, do no harm, and yet be free. Carrying
multiplicity inside the thought, inside the sentence: the thought as
world. At a time when our world is in deep painful need of more
multiplicity of thought.
This work is presented as a "fat download".
Diagrams Series 5
This work is presented here in its entirety. Diagrams Series 5 is
a work in progress. As more diagrams are completed they will be added
to the work. This work represents a return to the intense
"diagramicity"
of my earlier paper-based Diagram Poems (e.g. Diagrams
Series 4.)
To view this work you will need a Java-enabled browser. 32M of
memory
should be sufficient on Windows, but may not be enough on Macintosh; if
you are using iCab on the Macintosh
32M
is enough, but for Netscape or IE you may need 48M.
These works were originally implented in HyperCard, ported to
Windows
using Oracle Media Objects, and converted (by hand, alas) to the web
using
a software environment called Jamba,
by Interleaf.
The
Barrier Frames: Finality Crystal Shunt Curl Chant Quickening Giveaway
Stare
(sample)
This work comprises 9 very densely layered "nested simlutaneities".
It is an almost pure spatial hypertext. The only structuring is
clusters
inside clusters nested several layers deep. This work does not use the
diagram syntax as do so many of my other electronic works.
The sample here is section 4, which is one of 9. (It it one of
the smaller
ones.) To view it you will need a Java-enabled browser. Please be
patient
during pre-load. There is an initial pre-load in which the page will be
blank; then you will see a message that it is loading graphics, with a
progress indication. When the word cluster appears, it is ready. It
works
best if you start with the cursor at the bottom right. Move the cursor slowly
in the direction of a cluster. When you get near the cluster, a stack
of
rectangles appears. (The one which is on top first is chosen by the
computer
at random.) To view the other members of the cluster, move the mouse
slowly
to one of the other rectangles. There may be clusters inside the
rectangles,
too.
This Java sample was implemented using a software environment
called Jamba,
by Interleaf.
Intergrams
(sample)
Intergramsis a set of interactive poems published by Eastgate
Systems. Alas, it is not possible to achieve the effect of Intergramsin
HTML. (A Jamba version, as for The Barrier Framesabove, will
be available here shortly.) Intergramsuses "simultaneities" --
clusters of phrases on top of one another activated by "no-click"
hot-spots.
Following the link above will take you to some screen shots connected
by
conventional link buttons. This "isn't" Integrams, but will
give
you an idea of what some of the screens look like. Click on the "blank
links" underneath the graphic to change among screens; this somewhat
simulates
what happens in the real work when the mouse is moved without clicking.
For a review of Intergrams see "Colloquy
and Intergrams" by Richard Gess, published in PERFORATIONS 3.
(Lynx users please note the Intergrams link is highly
graphics
intensive.)