This is the third annual Hypertext Writers' Workshop at the Hypertext '99 Conference (http://www.kom.e-technik.tu-darmstadt.de/~ht99/ ) in Darmstadt Germany. The workshop will be held Feb 21, and the conference will be Feb 21-25. Please check out other workshops at http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~demeyer/HT99/.
If you would like to participate in this workshop, please submit a short issue paper to Deena Larsen (textra@chisp.net) by January 10, 1999. This short (1-2 page) paper should describe your interests in hypertext issues (e.g. time, structure, closure).
Details:
Hypertexts comprise a range of media, techniques, programs, and systems. Authors have developed strategies to use these systems to explore, challenge, and play with reader expectations.
This workshop will provide a much-needed physical setting for writers, readers, and system developers to share works in progress and discuss techniques and strategies to improve hyperliteracy.
The specific objectives of this workshop are to:
1. Promote and improve hyperliteracy and quality hypertext writing (both fiction and nonfiction)
2. Be informed about new projects and techniques
3. Examine hypertext writing, ask questions of the authors, and discuss important "invisible" aspects such as structure, decision-making, and technical details
The first workshop, Media Morphs the Message, was held in conjunction with HT97 in Southampton, UK. Participants shared their work and created the Online Hypertext Writers' Workshop to continue exchange ideas and critique works. (See next section, Related Activities)
The second workshop, Media Morphs the Messenger, at HT99 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, USA, had eleven attendees (including five newcomers to the conference). Members of this workshop will join the Online Hypertext Writers' Workshop, bringing a wealth of new insights and ideas. Members gathered informally on Sunday to produce an article about reader, author, and user expectations (forthcoming in the SIGWEB newsletter). We are planning a joint four day workshop with systems developers and writers in Denver Colorado, USA in May 99.
This workshop will help bring writers from the French, German, Italian, and other communities together to provide a diverse range. Content developers, usability testers, readers, systems developers, and other members of the hyperliteracy community will participate. This broad range wll help us examine common issues and illuminate our implicit assumptions.
Before and after papers from all three workshops will be available on the web, further sparking discussions (both in and out of acadamia) on the issues inherent in providing hypertext content.
Along with sharing and commenting on works in progress, members of the Online Hypertext Writers' Workshop are developing a resource center for hyperliteracy at Word Circuits (http://www.wordcircuits.com). This web site provides a studio for tips on programming and using hypertextual authoring systems, descriptions of hypertexts, and other information useful for hypertext readers and writers. Information gained in both previous workshops will be posted to further promote hyperliteracy.
The intended audience/participants are hypertext readers and authors who are currently developing hypertext content (including multimedia, news sites, nonfiction, fiction, poetry, short stories and other crossover genres). This workshop will be open to anyone who wants to write, is writing, or has written a hypertext. We will also include readers of hypertext literature for a wider range of perspectives on useability issues. We welcome systems developers and researchers to help discuss the available software and particular needs for hypertext literature.
The maximum number of participants will be 20. Participants will be chosen to ensure as broad a range of expertise, perspectives, styles, structures, and strategies as possible.
To participate, please:
1) Write a short paper about the issues they would like to explore in the workshop.
2) Provide an excerpt from a work in progress for the other workshop participants to read before the workshop. (This should be a short excerpt (10-30 nodes) and provide a flavor for the work). If the participant is not working on a piece, he or she would provide a brief description of reading strategies.
Send these to Deena Larsen (textra@chisp.net)
3) Read excerpts from demos and position papers before the workshop. These will be made available on the Word Circuits site and sent to each participant.
Participants in the one day workshop will demonstrate works in progress and discuss issues.
MORNING: Demonstrate individual works:
Five demos will be chosen. Authors will discuss specific issues (e.g., closure, usability, readability, navigation techniques) and how they addressed these issues.
AFTERNOON: Discussion sessions:
1. Expectations for hypermedia developing software (both from a writer's and reader's perspective). Readers and writers expectations often differ--writers may expect readers to be very engaged with the work and forgiving of the software quirks, while readers may expect more immediate payoffs without being required to invest time learning the software and puzzling out the navigation. How can we work with these differing expectations to create usable, enjoyable hypertexts?
2. Writing techniques. Hypertext writing probvides a multidimensional space. How do we use navigation, structure, linking to show meaning? What strategies can we employ to create effective works (e.g., collaboration, usability testing, storyboarding)?
3. Media. Hypertexts take on meaning and structure from the programs they are created in. How can we translate a hypertext from one program to another? How can we effectively use existing hypertext software? What tools do we still need for effective reading and writing environments?
HT99 will provide a forum for "diverse ideas, rich concepts, and novel applications of hypermedia." This forum will allow writers, system developers, researchers, etc. to exchange and discussoriginal ideas, exciting experiences, and uses of hypermedia concepts and technologies. To promote an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach, The Messenger Morphs the Media: Third Hypertext Writers' Workshop will work with participants in other workshops to answer:
Together, we can work to build user-centered, effective hypermedia systems and content.
This workshop will provide a "common meeting ground" for people from different camps (in John Leggett's words) to design systems. This workshop will help generate user requirements, discuss the existing functionality of hypertext systems and how to polish this for improved usability.
Further, the hypertext writers' workshop would meet with other workshops informally after day 1 to share results and discuss ways to promote hyperliteracy.
Participants will be expected to update their descriptive paper with ideas gained at the workshop and write a brief reaction to the workshop, including ideas to try in their works. Original and updated papers will be available on the Word Circuits page. (http://www.wordcircuits.com).
We will collate the series of guidelines developed in the afternoon of the workshop and post these on the Word Circuits page. Participants can continue to update these guidelines, provide tips for programming and using hypertextual authoring systems, and post descriptions of hypertexts on the Word Circuits site.
The workshop is proposed and sponsored by the Online Hypertext Writers' Workshop, which was formed at the first hypertext writers' workshop, as noted above.
Deena Larsen is the organizer and contact. She has written an MA thesis on hypertext, articles on hypertext and several hypertext fictions. She works as a facilitator and writer at the Bureau of Reclamation.