Open your eyes: {re} flections on {re}-purposing
text
Devon Fitzgerald
Taking poetry from a chapbook submitted for a scholarship and creating web
content proved to be both challenging and rewarding. It took some time, however,
to settle on poetry as the text I would repurpose. I had intended to create
a website of fiction I wrote that centered on me or identified me in some
way. I couldn’t cut enough from the various essays and stories to work
fluidly or with the design I’d created. Poetry seemed the next logical
kind of text to use, less text with which to work around and more possibilities
for the viewer to connect to the content because there would be more of it.
(Here, I discuss what my project is, what was challenging about it and why
I changed from one text to another).
I established the design and layout of the site early in the process. I chose the background of a closed eye from a photograph a friend of mine had taken. It seemed appropriate to build the theme “in a blink” around this image because website viewers do not usually take a long time to peruse or engage in websites unless they catch their attention. So the time in which someone might look at the site is “in a blink;” it also relates to the eye itself. I saw this theme as a title, the way I would the title of a chapbook or collection of poems. I didn’t particularly like the title of the chapbook I’d submitted so I revised the title to work more fluidly with these particular poems. Obviously I could not use all the poems from the chapbook so narrowing those which related to the title was my first attempt at limiting the amount of poems. Like chapbooks or poetry collections, I used chapter divisions. Once I chose names for these divisions I was able to add other poems that fit within the concept of the chapters and remove the poems that didn’t seem to fit. Each “chapter” correlates with two poems particularly chosen to represent or fit within the idea of the titled chapters. I wanted the chapters and subsequent poems to reflect different parts of my life: shadows, boulevard summer, re-vision, realizations, distraction and there was a moment stand as mirrors to the poems which express various facets of my life and relationships. (Now I am going into detail about my process. I explain how the format of the website took shape, where my ideas came from and how and what I revised as I transformed the original book into a hypertext.)
In revising my site, I added what I consider an “alternative site.” It’s like getting two websites in one. I did this based on Dr. Kalmbach’s suggestion that since I offered two links on the splash page, that each link should take the viewer somewhere different. I took the suggestion further in creating content where images and quotes provide a larger context for the poems. I was also able to include some of the poems I’d discarded earlier because they didn’t seem to fit in with the chapter titles. The alternate site was fun to create because I was able to use many of my friends’ photographs as well as create some of my own images through Photoshop. I think including this alternate site provides viewers two lenses through which to see the poems, the website and therefore have a more complete experience “in a blink.” (I mention specific revision suggestions and explain how the revision affected the project overall.)
My biggest challenge was navigation. I know that many website developers probably list navigation as their main struggle as well. For me, the difficulty was in balancing content and creativity. I wanted the viewers to find their way to the poems easily but I didn’t want to use previous next buttons because I felt they intruded on the fluidity and creativity of the site. Though I tried making them fit into the theme, I never really liked the previous next buttons. So instead I linked words from each poem to words in other poems. This deconstructed my previous idea to have two poems fit into the chapter titles but I realized that the poems I chose flowed together without the chapter titles. The linked words throughout the poems actually stand in for the previous next buttons. One word in the poem is the previous button and one is the next button. This was a creative way to solve the issue of navigation without sacrificing the flow of the site. (I discuss my greatest challenge and how I revised in several ways before choosing to use embedded links to meet the challenge).
Of course, viewers can always bail and hit the home button lightly visible on the bottom of the page. I do not think this is intrusive as a button and it allows viewers to choose how they navigate the site. Yet it fits into the site in an interesting and different way than typical home buttons. (This is further explanation about navigation issues and how I attempted to meet my audience's needs without sacrificing creativity of the site).
The hypertext version of my poems offers more of an experience than reading the chapbook would. Although I include pictures and quotes, the chapbook is linear unless the viewer reads the poems out of order. Hypertext allows the reader more choices and more of an aesthetic experience. I like the website version much better than the paper form of the chapbook. Through hypertext there are so many more ways to create an overall viewing experience which engages a reader. What I liked most was the chance to deconstruct the linear structure of order and poetry. I realized that though I tried to impose structure initially, that the poems, the assignment and my creative bent resisted that structure throughout the completion of the assignment. I am excited to learn more about ways to deconstruct the idea of structure, of text, of reading and of design as I learn more about Dreamweaver. Specifically, I’d like to learn how to use the timetable function and animate text so it could scroll across the screen. If I had more knowledge in Dreamweaver, some of the issues might have been so awkward. If I had more time, I would have changed the chapter titles so they would be more descriptive for the reader instead of what I think now sounds like cliches. Perhaps that is a task for the portfolio or even later revision. This project gave me the push I needed to revise the website I use in teaching composition. Though I’m still working on it, the site is already more visually interesting and stronger than its initial versions, in my opinion. (Here, I give my overall thoughts on the site and why I think it works while mentioning some things I had to further revise. I aso mention what I would like to learn and revise in the future.)
This is an example of a reflective/analytical essay I wrote for a Hypertext class. I am analyzing the process of building or creating a website. Though the media are different, I think you can get a good idea of the kind of language you should use as well as the tone, criteria and overall purpose of the essay.