afford the potential for readers to modify some texts, and in the case of reading a CD-
ROM or web based text the reader is a producer of the text through their interaction
with it - the route they produce the text through. Computer applications offer
different degrees of interactivity: from page turning, to feedback to learner, the
freedom to browse and surf, simulations (responds to users actions), and virtual
worlds (learner experience of an environment) (Clarke, 1997). The potential for
interactivity is admittedly one that is not always used effectively. Computers also
have the facility to reduce the interactivity of the user, for example, to determine the
time a screen is displayed for and to ‘move’ the reader on to the next screen.
Structure and Hyperlinks
In this thesis I analyse the structure of the computer applications as a semiotic
resource, in particular the way in which the transformation of a text from one medium
to another is transformed through the use of structure. For instance, the narrative
structure of the novel Ofmice and men (Steinbeck, 1937) discussed in Chapter Four,
is significantly changed in the move from the medium of the book to the medium of
the CD-ROM. This includes a shift from paragraphs and pages to blocks of text and
screens, the introduction of video clips and a character guide, hyperlinks to factual
definitions of slang words in the text, and hyperlinks to a map and historical
information on the location of the novel. I also explore the design of hyper links and
routes to create relations and continuity or discontinuity between elements (Lemke,
2002). The ways in which screens of information can be linked (their
‘hypermodality’) in the medium of the computer contributes to the meaning potential
of computer applications.
It is not simply that we juxtapose image, text, and sound; we design
multiple interconnections among them, both potential and explicit.
(Lemke, 2002: 300)
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