DHTML

White-Faced Bromeliads on 20 Hectares is a digital poem, which includes a mixture of primarily the English language with some instances of Spanish. In this work Glazier explores alternatives to our customary experiences, through the use of a generator which changes the text of the poems every 10 seconds, turning it from it’s traditional static state to one with movement and change. Furthermore, the evocation of traveling through the images and anecdotes, provides an exploration of a multilingual and multicultural experience. Additionally, the presences of the HTML code leads to a work with multiple possibilities, primarily on how the reader perceives and experiences the work due to the possible technical reading of the code and the multiple possible poetic readings.

Author description: White-Faced Bromeliads on 20 Hectares is a JavaScript investigation of literary variants with a new text generated every ten seconds. Its goals are as follows. (1) To present a poetic evocation of the images, vocabulary, and sights of Costa Rica's language and natural ecosystems though poetic text and visuals. (2) To investigate the potential of literary variants. Thinking of poems where authors have vacillated between variant lines, Bromeliads offers two alternatives for each line of text thus, for an 8 line poem, offering 512 possible variants, exploring the multi-textual possibilities of literary variants. (3) It explores the richness of multiple languages. (4) It mines the possibilities of translation, code, and shifting digital textuality. Having variants regenerate every ten seconds provides poems that are not static, but dynamic; indeed one never finishes reading the same poem one began reading. This re-defines the concept of the literary object and offers a more challenging reading, both for the reader and for the writer in performance, than a static poem. The idea is to be able to read as if surfing across multiple textual possibilities. Such regeneration allows traces of different languages to overwrite each other, providing a linguistic and cultural richness.

Blending Spanish and English and offering a sort of postcard prelude to each of its constantly changing stanzas, White-Faced Bromeliads on 20 Hectares is a poem that explores alternatives and crossings. From line to line the reader can enjoy the turns of phrase but then must figure out how to deal with their constantly turning nature. Options include waiting for the line that was being read to re-appear, re-starting from the beginning of the line that just appeared, or continuing from the middle of the word or phrase.

Published in 2001 by Bluescreen, the pseudonym of the program’s creator, ExtraPhysicalWorld is a program found on the CD alire12, the twelfth installation of a review inspired by a cooperative of authors, including Phillipe Bootz. This collective that inspired Bluescreen was called L.A.I.R.E. (Lecture Art Innovation Recherche Écriture) and was created in October 1988. However, Bluescreen was part of another collective called Transitoire Observable, created in 2003. It is by means of the folders of the CD-ROM that the « site » ExtraPhysicalWorld is accessed. Normally, the sight could be opened via the internet. Yet as of September 2014, the site of ExtraPhysicalWorld no longer works. Thus, the program had to be accessed through the files of alire12. In any case, the program is characterized by several menus that provide information and various animations. The entry Écrits.txt in the menu includes an article written by Bluescreen in 2001 over the conceptualization of the extra-physical world. Écrits.txt also includes a glossary with numerous definitions such as those for the words univers, blobs and algorithme. It is in the menu Univers.exe where the « worlds » of the program are found. For example, in « Univers 01 : Blob unique au monde » the first « universe » can be seen inhabited by a blob that is in the form of a red cube. In this world, according to Bluescreen, the blobs are living beings and inhabitants. This blob appears to enlarge or approach the screen until it appears to fill it entirely. In « Univers 02 : Couple de Blobs (sic) Rouge » two blobs that behave similarly to the blob of univers 01 can be found, except they do not fill out the screen. With « Univers 03 : Couple partagé », three of these blobs enlarge or approach the screen, just as the blobs of univers 02, but one of the three blobs is larger than the other two. « Univers 04 : 5 Blobs Rouges » shows five blobs that are similar to the blobs in other universes. It is in « ETUDE 1 : Reproduction de Blob Rouge(1) » et « ETUDE 2 : Reproduction du Blob Rouge(2) » that one finds the first two universes but with changes to the behavior of the blobs. These blobs also appear and disappear, stretch and shrink. In truth, the reader does not know if these universes represent the text, or the literary side of the site, or if the paratext, i.e. the articles and the glossary in the menu under Écrits.txt, figures as the true text of the site. Moreover, one can suppose that Bluescreen was inspired by the notions of artificial life when he created his programs, and it is probable that this inspiration gave him the idea of representing this aspect of computing in a literary as well as numeric and electronic fashion. According to Bluescreem, the extra-physical world is “its own spatio-temporal dimension” that exists outside of the physical universe. Yet, the fact that the “universes” of the program are driven by a code that Bluescreen created himself complicates its comprehension since, if this code comes from the physical world, the artificial world is therefore rooted in the physical one.

This visually and rhythmically enthralling piece uses a minimalist interface to create a work that resonates in its repetitions. Organized to look both as a visual piece and a code poem, it uses a simple interface to organize the language and produce multiple readings of each part. I recommend reading this poem out loud to feel the rhythm established by all the repetitions of falling in each line, starting with the page as it loads before clicking on any links. Clicking on the words in the first column trigger the display of new parts of the poem on the right hand column, parts that seem to tell stories of relationships, states of being, moods, war, and other human concerns. You may choose to read the whole thing linearly and intuit a narrative from the sequence, or you may read it texturally, occasionally including a “falling” from the central column for the sake of increasing the echoing quality of the piece and adding a layer of wordplay.

(Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

This is a generative poem you can visit for years and continue to find things to surprise and delight. It is structured around a text— aptly named as “a strand” (as in a fiber or rope made of letters or characters)— which is shaped by “aspects,” which are programmed structures that shape and transform the strands through color, animation, scheduling, formatting, and other transformations possible in DHTML. Considering there are 10 “strands” (plus a “user-fed strand”) each of which can be shaped by 36 different “aspects,” each of which can have multiple controls and toggles, you don’t have to do the math to realize that this is a work of staggering generative possibilities. Combined with a few randomization and combinatorial touches, this is a work that will always welcome you with fresh moments, inviting you to play with its structures. (Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

This hypertext work of poetry, theory, and narrative is exquisitely programmed in HTML 3.2 using JavaScript from 12 years ago, which means that it is currently best read in Internet Explorer, which retains its responsive elements. This DHTML piece uses JavaScript to modify the Document Object Model (DOM), which means that the document is the same, but once you activate certain parts of it, its rendering becomes modified with the addition of static or kinetic elements.

Memmott uses it in this poem to create layers of visual and textual information that is revealed as the reader interacts with different prompts. For example, the section titled “Sorts” allows for the reader to reveal texts by clicking on different parts of the image, seen below.

(Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

Combining words and images in a narrative of love and new beginnings,  A Party at Silver Beach situates the reader at a party where visual images of the guests lead to their words. By clicking on graphic images of guests,  objects, or views from the windows, you move through the story like a guest at a party -- speaking to some guests, overhearing the conversations of others. As if at a real party,  you are invited to either stay for only a short time or to spend a longer time.  As at any party, where many of the guests are strangers, you are likely to discover only a few of the mysteries of their lives. Lovers come and go, missing each other, finding each other. And sporadic dark conversations punctuate the generally joyous experience of the celebration.