In assigning Patchwork Girl, I wanted to prepare the students
for the unfamiliar without eliminating all chance of surprise and
discovery. Throughout the semester I had assigned study questions
for each reading, but as each student would be reading a unique version
of Patchwork Girl created by her/his choice of links, that
tactic had no future. Yet I knew from my own initiation into closed
creative hypertexts that the combination of complicated navigation
systems, fragmented text and the barriers to 'rewinding' the text
to refer to an earlier point had created a very steep learning curve.
In the end, I settled for a brief introduction to
hypertext, and a set of anchors around which students could begin
to build their own readings of the text. I also assigned two pre-readings,
and included on the same web page additional articles and interviews
that clarified the text and its construction. Finally, I allocated
class time in the last three weeks to in-class reading of the text.
I had hoped this would minimize confusion by providing on-the-spot
triage. What I saw as an advantage, however, readers interpreted as
patrolling surveillance to make sure they persisted with the text.
However, from that imposed persistence the students
developed their own rhythm of response. By the second week of reading,
three coping strategies had evolved.