English 651: Writing Hypertext

Keller's Journal
September 7, 1998

I talked the first night of class about the distinctions between a system topography and a textual topography. There is also a reader's topography; this may be the map the writer provides the reader, or the map the reader must create for herself as she navigates and renavigates the text.

The search for a reader's topography is partically what I think Michael Joyce is talking about when he refers to "fixing a point."  Or what Janet Murray is describing when she talks about "Harold's moon," the way a character in a book for children finds his way home after drawing a series of imaginative landscapes, all of which contain an image of  the moon.  He gets lost but remembers that if he draws a window around the moon he will be back in his own bedroom.

Keep in mind that depending on what you are reading, the topography(ies) may be apparent or hidden.

* * *

I followed the web link on the START SMART cereal box and found that my hunch about the red "button" on the front of the box being a web button was a correct one.  It is on the site.  The site, however, is not just a hard sell of the cereal, but an attempt by Kelloggs to get your eye-time.  This is a news site on which you register and then visit every morning for your daily news. 

I'm not sure how or why Kelloggs thinks they can compete with the many other sites providing this service, but they certainly got my attention with that box design.