In his essay on hypertext, Landow references Thais Morgan, claiming that "intertextuality replaces the evolutionary model of literary history with a structural or synchronic model of literature as a sign system. The most salient effect of this strategic change is to free the literary text from psychological sociological, and historical determinisms, opening it up to an apparently infinite play of relationships" (35).
This whole concept of linking materials together in what Derrida calls an "assemblage" or web reminds me of the popular Pandora internet radio. Similar to Daniel's hypertext essay, "Public Secrets," which is based on an algorithm, Pandora generates an ever evolving playlist that accommodates your musical tastes. The "like" or "dislike" feature of Pandora lets you control what style of music you want to listen to, but functions on attributes such as genre, artist, and other musical qualities to "suggest" music for your radio station.
Now whether you use Pandora for study music, or to seek out new artists, the great thing about this program is that it is designed to make connections between artists that may never actually meet or even know of each other. Landow talks about the interaction of consciousness and escaping the boundary of the book page. Hypertext serves as that gateway which can weave ideas together that one might not cognitively piece together on his own.
Talking about "Decentering," Landow says, "hypertext transforms any document that has more than one link into a transient center, a directory document that one can employ to orient oneself and to decide where to go next" (37). Pandora is such a great example of this web of information because it provides a new center of investigation with each tweak or adjustment you make to your music profile. In very basic music terms, say you're listening to a folk station, which also offers you acoustic music, which you "like" by pressing the thumbs up button. Now you've added acoustic music to your profile, which is an umbrella for countless other genres. So as you can see, the web grows quite quickly. Although the entire advantages and disadvantages of hypertext theory are still to be seen, the "freeing" of information from it's physical bonds is monumental in the learning process.
Gabe,
ReplyDeleteI really like this connection you made between Pandora and Daniel’s “Public Secrets,” as they are both websites that are continually changing and allow the user the potential to have a completely different experience each time he or she uses it. After watching “Good Copy, Bad Copy,” I think it would be interesting to see how those musicians view Pandora and the many possible ways it can be used. As Jim Corder notes, "We are all authors. Adding here, deleting there, we people the world with our needs: with friends, lovers, cipers, enemies, villains, --and heroes" (Corder 16). Based on this statement, it seems possible that musicians who have made it their business to re-interpret and create new music out of pre-existing material could use Pandora to their benefit, as the program generates similar types of songs and plays them randomly. In his essay on “Hypertext, Landow notes that, “All hypertext systems permit the individual reader to choose his or her own center of investigation and experience” (Landow 38). In terms of Pandora, this is most definitely the case and all users become an “author” in a sense.