I was interested in the Janangelo’s article this week precisely because I wasn’t entirely sure what constituted a hypertext. Thus, Mead’s idea of prefigurative culture, “one in which adults must learn from children as they teach them because the knowledge the adults grew up with is not longer fully useful” (272) seems especially useful and appropriate to me. I’m interested in the synthesis of technology and poetry, something I (obviously) know very little about. A hypertext assignment similar to the one described in “Joseph Cornell and Hypertexts” might be an excellent way for students to recognize and engage with a poem’s construction and development. An assignment that requires students to map out links between words would highlight the important associative qualities of diction within any given poem.
I’m not convinced, however, that a hypertext assignment would work well in the English 1000 classroom. I’m not sure how to emphasize the dangers of “casual accumulation and juxtaposition of readymade materials” (288) to students. I’m a bit wary of an assignment that could offer too many choices, thus overwhelming the reader (which seems uncannily like the hypertext version of Choose Your Own Adventure books). While I would like to implement such an assignment, I’m uncertain how to design and outline an effective project. Does anyone else have any brilliant ideas?
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3 comments:
Attn: Liz & Joe,
Re: Choose Your Own Adventure Hypertext
Did either of you happen to see Dr. Foley's Works in Progress presentation? It was basically a hypertext edition of works in the oral tradition... he called it something like our newest form of communication meshing with our oldest. It included aural and visual components to allow users to navigate the poem in its original language (a Slavonic language), in a contemporary translation, and in sound clips.
The way he described the navigation process sort of reminded me of CYOA books: you can skip around in the work based on what you want to hear next. I'm not sure if this has any bearing on what Janangelo has written (I haven't read that yet), but it seems like an interesting technique to discuss paper organization. Even if the things don't seem organized (hypertext: it's just out there!), there are definitely headings and subcategories.
I think boxes can be useful, but need to be carefully integrated, and used in such a way that the students don't just look at the opportunity to do them as taking the easy way out of doing "actual" writing. Even in classes where I didn't suggest using more creative methods of argumentation, I had students turning in papers where they had replaced sections of text with pictures they'd found about the topic. Assigning boxes as a formal assignment will be ripe for abuse by the students, especially if strict criteria is not made on what the assignments will be graded on. I worry they will get lazy and see this more "creative" form of argument to be easier than it actually is, and not put the actual work into the assignment.
I like how you connected Mead's idea of prefigurative culture to poetry. Didn't Gerard Manley Hopkins present a similar sentiment in verse, noting that "The child is father to the man"?
As far as your question about a persuasive hypertext assignment is concerned, I haven't the computer skills necessary to help you. However, I thought that students might make a layered collage that presents an argument. The viewer could be guided by the order that the pieces are stacked.
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