What a way to tell a story...

There is a really cool website called the Electronic Literature Collection which contains several websites that pioneers in creating hypertexts online. As part of my English 344, Digital Writing class, we were asked to critique one of these pages.

I chose one called Solilouy in which writer Kenneth Goldsmith records every word that he says within a week. When I first read the description, I thought "wow, it's like an instant nonfiction story." I couldn't imagine a better way to inspire further writings then to record your own words.

Goldsmith used a voice-activated recorder to be sure every utterance was captured. I must say, he got every word, but nonetheless, I was a bit let down.

Though the concept is wonderful, I am not sure that it was as useful in a hypertext as it could've been. Upon visiting the website, you'll notice that the words that appear are only his own--that is, you don't hear the other end of the conversation and therefore there is no context for a week worth of words. Also, the words appear only as the reader mouses over them, then they disappear. Again, we aren't even allowed the context of what was previously said.

The concept is great, but I believe this project could've been better realized.

Check it out guys, let me know if you agree!