My project proposal is to play with the idea of a new media kind of thing that's heavily image based and nonlinear. Basically I want to try making a hyperfilm. The idea of translating film into the new media world is a really interesting one to me and I've been kind of thinking about how one might go about doing this for a little while now. While I'm not entirely confident as to the best way to make a truly "hyper" image medium, I'm willing to take a little preliminary stab at it.

In our reading, I've seen film described in one place as the last surviving form of linear narrative, and I think this is fair. Film is steeped in past storytelling methods and, just like regular print, it is highly linear. The viewer's experience is heavily dependent on the organization of the material, and the principles of linear organization apply here in a very real way. The sequence of the elements of the story play a key role in determining their meaning and filmmakers, whether on a conscious level or not, and the structure of the piece emerges as the linear sequencing of the encounter between the viewer and the elements of the film.

So, since the beginning of my Creative Writing class this semester (Poetry) my professor has insisted, repeated over and over how we don't read enough poets, and how we need to read more poets. He is quite right, and I haven't followed up on this; I don't like reading poetry, honestly, I can write it, and even when I write it, I don't feel it is TRUE poetry. So, as my proposal, I want to do some sort of hypertext tree of poetry. It'll consist of pieces of different poets that don't speak the same language --translations provided-- are from the same country, or lived during the same time frame.

I intend to focus my critical project on the technology of “Google Earth.” For those who are unfamiliar with this, Google Earth is one of the more recently developed aspects of Google, where a search engine of maps, satellite imagery, and three-dimensional buildings and geographic locations can be present. As the site’s homepage acknowledges, you can: “Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press search, and you’ll zoom right in. Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions, tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.”

I propose to research and provide a detailed analysis of the functions that Google Earth offers, in addition to the companies and people in particular that benefit from the site. I hope to discover the positive and negative elements to this form of technology, as well as the people and places most likely affected. Above all, I will question the existence of Google Earth – how our society as a whole may or may not benefit from this form of technology, and whether the program is an invasion of privacy for many individuals.