Versions of Interactivity: Meta-interpretive Response in Hypertext Fiction

Introduction

Traditional discourses upon literature have been predicated upon the ability to refer to a text that others may consult (Landow, 1994: 33). Texts that involve elements of feedback and non-trivial decision-making on the part of the reader (Aarseth, 1997: 1) therefore present a challenge to readers and critics. The purpose of this research has been to identify and interpret the ways that these elements influence or determine reader's choices. Since a persuasive case has been made against a critical method that sets out to 'identify the task of interpretation as a task of territorial exploration and territorial mastery' (Aarseth: 87), this paper explores how the recording and analysis of interactions can be used to show how a text is being interpreted by a reader. In this paper I will show how the experience of readers can be directed towards an empirically based theoretical approach to hypertext fiction, in a method that addresses Aarseth's concerns and illuminates interesting features of interactional processes in fictional environments.

Methodology

The boundaries and limits of interpretation are explored using the concept of 'meta-interpretation': a critical approach that emphasises the way that a reader's negotiation of a text can be used to say something about a) the signifying structures within the text b) how the reader has interacted with those signifying structures and c) whether that interaction can be treated as an index to interpretation. Since the aim is to test choice as a function of that index, the methodology treats data generated by the readings as a primary source of information and does not rely on interventions during the reading process. Readers are not asked to justify their decisions in the course of the reading (although subsequent debriefings are recorded and used in the final analysis). Screen recording software was used to map a targeted group of volunteer readers as they progressed through Michael Joyce's Afternoon: A Story. The readings were recorded and subsequently analysed (for a preliminary account see http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/allcach2k/Programme/session9 .html#943). By identifying and categorising textual spaces, target words and reader's choices using pragmatic, stylistic and grammatical analysis, I am able to suggest a number of well-defined strategies that readers have pursued in the course of reading. These strategies are explored in relation to immediate and narrative context. The immediate context refers to the content of the screen at any single point in time, which includes the choices open to the reader. The narrative context pays attention to the development of various pathways and considers how these lexia contribute to, and modify, the reader's experience of the text. Meta-interpretation thus relies on a definition of lexia as both a reader-oriented and a critical unit extending beyond the boundaries of any one screen; its use as an analytical, rather than structural, unit is preserved but at the same time related more closely to the activity of the reader.

Discussion

Meta-interpretation may be argued against on the grounds that, since the relationship between the two ends of the link in fictional works may be an arbitrary one, the reader's interaction with the text is fundamentally incidental. In this account, there would be no reason to suppose that a click on 'I', for example, would reveal any intention on the part of the reader to discover the identity of a narrator. Furthermore, it could be contested that even if the link resulted in a description of the narrator, in the absence of a universally defined system of relationships or link rhetoric, it would be based on an assumption. Consequently, the link between the action and interpretation would always be an incidental one. This research contends, however, that close analysis of reader interactions can provide data that point indirectly to assumptions, and which thus provide some insight into interpretive strategies. Analysis begins with a consideration of reading speed to see what it might tell us about a reader's negotiation strategies. When I studied time spent in each space, I found significant variations across spaces to be significant, variations that suggested patterns of behaviour that could be linked to interpretation. The use of the mouse pointer also revealed interesting ways that readers were engaging in the process of decision-making.

Some of the ways that hypertext fiction can mediate its readings through the patterning of its elements have been suggested (Bernstein, 1998). One of the most interesting problems this research has encountered is whether particular links, or link arrangements, designate preferred pathways--paths that readers would be more likely to follow. Why an author would want to generate 'preferred' readings is thus an obvious question to ask. It is, however, beyond the scope of the present study, which seeks primarily to address how far data generated from readings can be used to analyse the hyperfictional text. In comparing this research to similar studies that engage with the reader at an empirical level, we could begin by looking at a study by Joyce himself. In 'What the Fish Lady Saw' (Joyce, 1995) similar analytical procedures are used but they centre specifically upon the application of software to the exploration of learning processes-another closely related but distinct and well-defined area of research which will not be covered here. The issues raised by the formal and procedural features of hypertext fiction lead naturally, I would argue, to a consideration of the role that hypothesis-driven approaches, exploratory studies and quantitative/qualitative analysis might play in its study.

Conclusion

This paper outlines the possibility of a critique that is able to preserve some of the useful critical methods common to traditional text-based criticism while, at the same time, paying attention to some of the distinctive aspects of hypertext fiction. It also demonstrates the way that electronic texts within the computer environment have made it possible to combine empirical research with theoretical perspectives to explore some of the problems of criticism in interactive environments; meta-interpretation would contribute to an understanding of the part readers might play in the future development of criticism in this area.

Bibliography

Aarseth, Espen J., Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)

Barthes, Roland, S/Z, tr. by Richard Miller (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990)

Bernstein, Mark, 'Patterns of Hypertext', Proceedings of Hypertext '98 (New York: ACM, 1998). Available http://www.eastgate.com/patterns

Culler, Jonathan, Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature (London: Routledge, 1975)

Eco, Umberto, Interpretation and Overinterpretation, ed. by Stefan Collini (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)

Greenbaum, Sidney and Randolph Quirk, A Student's Grammar of the English Language (Harlow: Longman, 1990)

Joyce, Michael, Afternoon: A Story (Cambridge; Mass: Eastgate Systems, 1990)

Joyce, Michael, Of Two Minds: Hypertext, Pedagogy and Poetics (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995)

Landow, George P., Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology, 2nd edn (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)

Robson, Colin, Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-researchers (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993)