Postman’s Choice
In an earlier post, I expressed a little bit of frustration with an emphasis on the nonlinear aspects of hypertext writing. That’s why ”Postman’s Choice” caught my attention over on Grand Text Auto.
In 1965, French artist Ben Vautier devised the provocative piece of mail art called “Postman’s Choice.” It was a postcard with lines on both sides, made to be addressed to two different destinations and then stamped on both sides. With no return address included, the letter carrier gets to choose who gets the postcard. While the postman may ring twice, he only gets to choose once, in this case. Of course, the postman might be clever enough, or the person sending the card might be such an obvious mail experimenter, that the postal system can take the third option.
What is more important, I think, in a hypertext than a nonlinear quality is an element of choice. I would much rather talk about “choice” in hypertext than employ that tired old buzzword “interactivity”. Besides, choice implies something more significant than the simple robot-reflexes that are enough to call something “interactive” Choice suggests meaning.
The post on GTA suggested something else that is unique about electronic media, something that might be more productive to focus on than interactivity. Networking and interchange are easier to create with electronic media. Nonlinearity is all well and good, but it is only interesting, or worthwhile, if it leaves its reader with some sense of a network among the ideas.
I’m revising my own hypertext lately, and I’m noticing how weak that sense of network is in the text. The reader has a bit too much of a strain, to assemble everything. I keep thinking back to the pennies, which seem to be one of the strongest images in the story. Pennies change hands, often. There also happen to be poker games in the story, a prime chance for money to change hands. Perhaps part of the story can follow some money around…