As the start of my graduate program grows nearer. I feel like I need to talk and think about what I want to do with journalism more concretely. Last night in conversation, I mentioned that I was interested in exploring how the web and other new media could tell stories outside of the linear narrative structure of a news article or a video documentary. How does the producer’s or audience’s bias get subverted when the audience can pick multiple paths through the narrative? , Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of any examples of this, but Josh referenced Hyperfiction as a way that this is done with creative writing and how it creates a different, intensly immersive experience for the reader.
Working on a mix tape lately, and getting my record player working again, I’ve been thinking about the linear path through which albums or mixes are constructed. Sometimes this can be narrative like a concept album, for example Prince Paul’s Prince of Thieves, or it could be more subtle in a record like Springstein’s Nebraska. While you could certainly play songs on an LP or CD in a different order, digital audio files make this even easier. Unfortunately, it seems like much of the focus on the benefits of digital audio has been with regards to distribution instead of the possibilities for constructing sets of connected songs with multiple paths through them. I often read something years later that makes me re-think a Defiance, Ohio song or the songs in relation to each other. Also, the Allied Media Conference’s recent call for track proposals has made me think about grouping and connecting information. I also think of the recommended EQ diagram in the In Utero liner notes. I think it would be pretty cool to release an “album” of songs digitally, with separate recommended orders of the songs and liner notes that describe the different paths through the songs.
Photo by Great Beyond via Flickr.