It's the Jetsons!

 

 

 

introduction

anchors

readings


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.