A TASTE OF THE ELECTRONIC LIBRARY
"ELECTRONIC BOOKS - MULTIMEDIA REFERENCE
WORKS" CONFERENCE IN BERGEN 21-23 NOV. 1990
Espen Aarseth
One is easily impressed by conferences arranged by the
Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humanities. We were
impressed by its national conference Computers in the
Humanities in 1988, where an efficient crew kept three or four
parallel sessions going for an audience of 140. At this
conference, with an audience of 175, in which the Norwegian
Publishers' Association and the Norwegian Institute for the
Graphic industries, Oslo, were co-arrangers, things went mostly
without a hitch - and anybody who has arranged a conference
and relied on heavy technical equipment (including prototypes)
knows that it is impossible to get everything to function on time.
It was therefore somewhat comforting to the rest of us to see that
there were some small glitches, not many, but enough of them
to make those responsible appear human, after all.
This time the program was far more linear than at the 1988
conference, since there was only one main program line, which
made rather a contrast to the topic - or at least to one of the
topics: non-linear books and their consequences for authors,
publishers and readers - in short: for the information society.
A NONLINEAR BOOK - WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?
It is a text in which the data (sentences, encyclopaedia entries,
pictures etc) are not organized neatly in rows, one page
following another, but are organized with the aid of pointers and
links, to put it simply. It may be in the shape of a hierarchy (tree
structure), or in the shape of more or less well organized
networks of the spaghetti type. Normally (but not necessarily)
one reads such texts - usually termed hypertexts - by using a
computer. When sound, pictures and film sequences are added,
it is called hypermedia or interactive multimedia.
If we compare the reading of a conventional book to a train ride,
where the route is established and the view exactly the same
from one ride to the next, a non-linear book may be compared
to a journey into unknown land, where the readers choose their
own paths and explore the landscape. In addition to the demands
which this naturally makes on the readers, who have to seek
information actively in order to get any, authors also meet new
challenges.
When an author organizes a quantity of material into a
conventional, linear book, it is done through phrasing (use of
words), exclusion (determining what should not be included) and
disposition (plot, narrative structure, the order of the elements).
These elements make up what may be called a rhetoric, in one
sense of the word.
A non-linear book permits a different type of rhetoric. Exclusion
becomes less important, since the author may include pointers to
material which would be left out of a linear version, but which
here can invite the reader to take small excursions, without being
in the way, so to speak.
The phrasing will also be affected: Since a word or a phrase in
an ordinary sentence may be a pointer to a different part of the
text, these words will gain in importance and attract attention -
they may even become more important than the sentence in
which they are placed. Awareness of this fact will change both
the author's way of writing, and the reader's way of reading.
In a non-linear text (or hypertext), textual elements are not
placed in any specific order, but are organised in a network, in
which many different orders are possible. Thereby the old rules
of disposition are waived. Aristotle's thesis about a beginning,
a middle and an end does not apply to non-linear stories. In its
place we need rules and conventions for how to organise a
non-linear text - and for how the reader should navigate it.
These questions were the focus of the conference, and they are
a source of much criticism of hypertext. In a fragmented network
of pointers and textual bits, it is easy to get "lost in hyperspace",
as the saying goes.
The constructors of hypertext face a dual challenge: they must
develop ways of organising (partitioning) the material and find
pedagogically adept conventions for pointing, which can form a
standard for hypertext as a form of communication. They also
need to create navigational systems which give the readers full
overview and good means of "transportation". In this process,
well-founded criticism is indispensible, while banal and negative
criticism based on fear of the unknown, will derail and damage
the process.
It takes a long time for a new medium to find its form, cf. the
evolution of "film language", and it is therefore important to look
beyond the limitations which will become visible in the first weak
attempts. "Literature is debugged" says Ted Nelson, the
hyperguru of hypertext, meaning that the system consisting of
authors, publishers, typographers, books, distribution and readers
is honed to a fine point over the centuries, and therefore funtions
as well as it does. At the same time he sees hypertext and
electronic publishing as a natural extension of this system - and
the substantial interest in the conference as well as the
composition of the participants indicate that his view is shared
by many.
THE MEDIUM WAS THE MESSAGE - BUT MORE THAN
DISC JOCKEY PALAVER
Let us return to the conference. A varied selection of Norwegian
and foreign representatives for the various interest groups -
publishers, media specialists and product developers - were
invited to present papers, and in general the quality of the
speakers was very good and the variation useful and mutually
inspiring.
When media technology is up for discussion, there is always the
danger of what I term disc jockey palaver - focussing on
technical standards and acronyms (CD-ROM, CDTV, CDI, DVI,
CDV, CVD, etc), mixed with babble of a brilliant future and
with what comes close to echoing proud mothers cooing over
each other's offspring, "Oooh, how small it has become!"
Standards and novelties are important, but not for themselves.
Fortunately, there was not very much of that at this conference,
but there was, on the other hand, a lot of show - and at times it
was quite impressive. First showman to the rostrum was Graham
Brown-Martin, who participated in BBC's project Domesday. He
gave an entertaining and informative introduction to the
development of multimedia over the past ten years, from what he
called "interrupted video" to applications which have become
more fully integrated and "content rich". He also showed some
examples of three-dimensional animations with music, made by
children of varying ages. They were a kind of rock videos, funny
and surprisingly well made and experimental. His final rather
optimistic message was that we as Europeans, with our long
tradition of art and culture, might play an important role as
designers in relation to technological giants like the USA and
Japan: "Europe could lead!"
Knut Brustad, representing the Norwegian company of SYNTEC,
made a rather sombre and earthbound contrast to Brown-Martin.
Brustad has been the editor of LaserAtlas of M|re og Romsdal
County, a multimedial presentation of the county aimed at the
tourist industry. His experience from this work was the topic of
his presentation, and his story was both useful and depressing.
Obviously, multimedia production in Norway is not the place to
go looking for easy money and a comfortable job. There were
many problems, ranging from marketing to text processing.
(According to Brustad, text was in fact the worst kind of data to
handle!) Among his advice to future record producers, I took
particular note of the following: "Learn, and learn quickly", and
"Information is more expensive than technology". His conclusion
was that the Norwegian market is not yet ready for such
productions, and he advised would-be producers of multimedia
records to wait - "in an intelligent manner".
A different approach to the record market was presented by
Tomas Bj”ersdorff, marketing manager of Esselte Special
Publishers, Stockholm, who talked about the development and
marketing of CD-ROM. He pointed out the curious fact that this
"distribution medium" as he called it, was developed without
anybody defining a target group. If one had tried to do so, the
CD-ROM might never have gotten off the drawing board. There
simply was no market! Bj”ersdorff also presented interesting
figures for the distribution of CD-players in Norway compared
to Sweden: In Norway the total number of players is 4-500,
while the Swedish government has purchased 2,000 players for
the libraries alone.
CRITICISM AND REFLECTION - FROM DIFFERENT
ANGLES
Those of us who desired more theoretical and principled
considerations on hypermedia and non-linearity, were not
disappointed either. \yvin Rannem, The Norwegian Institute for
the Graphic Industries, started that discussion in a presentation
that covered a lot of ground and provided a critical perspective
on hypertext and multimedia, in a humorous and pointed form.
He speculated on what the "interactive" element in these media
really consisted of, and emphasised three key terms: spontaneity,
control and focus on the user. Texts are and have always been
sequential, he said, and described hypertext as a kind of
interface. One may accept or reject his rather negative view of
hypertext as "antistructured information", but he made some very
apt observations, and his clearly formulated critical remarks
would have been a fruitful starting point for a further discussion.
George Landow, Brown University, taking his starting point in a
demonstration of the Intermedia system, discussed hypertext as
an educational medium. He predicted enormous possibilities for
the medium - in the long run, making reference to the Gutenberg
"revolution" which took about 350 years.
Landow warned against placing too much emphasis on
non-textual education. Text is more flexible than other forms of
information, and hypertext is text. He also touched the problems
of publishing, distribution and copyright, and foresaw that in the
future today's hypertext would look quaint.
Author Tor Edvin Dahl pointed out that interactivity in art is no
novelty, and illuminated the problem with a number of examples
of interactive fiction. He saw severe limitations in today's
"adventure games", a genre with which he was thoroughly
familiar, and felt there was a need for more structure and
dramaturgy in order to make it exiting and rewarding. This
writer, however, does not see a need for more dramaturgy.
However, not even after Dahl's presentation was there time for
general discussion, so that polemic will have to rest.
Gunnar Liest|l, Department of Media and Communication,
University of Oslo, regarded the computer in the context of
media history, and showed how the computer has annected other
media (mail, TV, text, pictures, etc) to become a multimedium.
His humorous and pointed observation in that connection was
that the computer became a medium when digital pornography
made headlines.
He also touched the problem of linearity, and felt that it was
necessary to distinguish between time and space: temporal
non-linearity is "impossible", while spatial non-linearity actually
should be termed "multisequentiality" - a term also used by
Landow. Without going too far into these chronotopical
problems, I will still permit myself to point out a small disparity
in the terminology: Ted Nelson uses the term "non-sequential",
where others say "multi-sequential". Something might probably
be gained by a degree of standardisation, though I would not say
that Landow and Liest|l should be the ones to change their
terminology.
The wittiest analogy of the conference was made by Erling
Maartmann-Moe from the Norwegian Computing Centre, Oslo.
He compared the free jumping possibilities of today's hypertext
to the infamous "go to"-paradigm in earlier programming. Today,
too, we are completely free to create chaos, he said, and called
for hypermedia's parallel to object-oriented programming.
PERSEUS - A GEM!
The most precious item in the conference (as well as the best
argument I have seen for the use of multimedia in the
humanities) was Elli Mylonas's presentation of the Perseus
project, developed at Harvard University. The Perseus project
combines classical and antique Greek literature, art, history and
archeological material in a hypercard-based multimedia
installation, available on diskette, compact disc and video disc.
Perseus offers approximately 40 - later a total of 60 - classical
texts by authors like Pindar, Aeschylus and Sophocles in the
original and in English, interactive maps of archeological sites,
stills, video sequences and dictionaries. The user may make his
own paths through the material, so the system is relatively open.
The width of the material, and the elegance of the user interface,
together with the fact that Perseus may be used for both
education and research, makes this a completely unique academic
product, which I presume to foresee will become a model for
future humanist multimedia productions.
Once again we see that the classical scholars are the first to
make use of new computer technology in the humanities. But
Perseus is definitely a product which can and must be made
available to other humanist milieus - such as archeology, history,
art history and comparative literature.
A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE - BUT WHERE WERE THE
HUMANISTS??
There were many other things also taking place at the
conference: stands exhibiting diverse CD-ROM and video disc
productions, and, naturally, a number of presentations which I
have not touched on here. Personally, I missed the opportunity
for discussion after each presentation, but the tight program did
not allow for that.
Those responsible for program and organisation deserve
unreserved praise for a varied and well composed conference -
an exciting encounter between industry and academic research.
The progress of the agenda might be read as a good
old-fashioned, linear narrative; a rosy and optimistic start
(Brown-Martin), problems and objections underway (Brustad and
Rannem), and, not least, a happy ending (Mylonas/the Perseus
project).
My biggest objection to the conference is concerned neither with
the program nor with my personal enrichment, but with the
conference fee: NOK 2,000 (in addition to expensive lunches and
dinners) for a 2-3-day conference is prohibitively expensive for
a student - poor or not. Perhaps for this reason almost nobody
from the local humanities milieus participated. Considering the
fact that the topic of the conference was very relevant for
research as well as teaching in the humanities, this is deplorable,
whether the cause is a lack of interest among the humanists, too
little marketing or too high a fee. Here we have to look sharp -
as was pointed out in the discussion - multimedia is a humanist
concern.
