This course has liberated my mind in terms of the way in which I see computers. As an accounting major I predominantly use the internet for searching through various companies financial reports and similarly dry research. It never even occurred to me that an art form like hyper fiction could have been born as a natural consequence of the development of the web and related technologies.

Perhaps the most significant course related insight I gained by experiencing hyper fiction first hand was the uncertainty introduced by the structure of links. When I read my first hyper fiction novel I always felt uncertain as to where I would end up next. I don’t feel that same apprehension and excitement when reading novels because with the physical progression of pages there is always a sensation of linearity.

In terms of my everyday life and hyper fiction I would observe that my own individual narrative is at odds with the malleability and ever changing nature of computer based narratives. Where as I can never change my body, my time line or transport myself to another world, these are common actions inside a cyber text based environment.

I particularly like the feeling of choice and immediacy provided interactive text based games. For example if I am inside of a typical novel and type “go north” there is some satisfaction to me that I have a result in front of my eyes almost instantaneously. Every day I have to drive to university from Sumner so for me the gap between thought and its physical realization is often painfully slow.

I guess a final thought would be that before beginning this course, as a non arts student I had forgotten to consider my life in terms of being a narrative. Now I do and I also recognize art and life as being closely related.