Evolutionary Literature is based on the concept of adaptation. That is, once something
has been written, it is read by someone who provides some sort of input whereby the
work can then be rewritten to be more easily understood, phrased better, made more
interesting, less easily understood, etc. The main basis of most of this essay centers
around how exactly this is done. What types of input from who causes what changes in
the original writing, as well as who makes these changes. An
Adaptation in this case
is any change made to the original piece of writing.
There are two main phases that occur during any adaptation, although these phases
are so intimately tied they can often be seen as one. The
Initiation Phase determines
the event or events which causes the adaptation to occur. The process by which this
occurs can be reader initiated or
author initiated. It can also be multi-tiered in
which the reader chooses an action which initiates the author to initiate an adaptation
(i.e., a reader informs the author that he has misspelled words in his work who then
runs a spell checker on the work which corrects the misspellings).
Once an event has occurred to initiate an adaptation, some action must be taken in
response. This second phase is the Execution Phase.
Like the Initiation Phase, this
phase can be executed by either the reader or the author. Additionally, this phase
can be executed through some form of rule-based system (as in the example of a spell
checker). This is the phase in which actual change to the work is done and is the phase
that not only makes the adaptation adaptive, but also is what causes the work to be
interactive.
There are two main forms of adaptation:
Structural Adaptation, dealing with the
processes involved in changing the order and overall structure of a work, and
Content Adaptation, dealing with the
processes involved in changing the actual content of
various Sections of a work. Each of these will be
explored in more detail in the sections following.
Structural Adaptation
Structural Adaptation revolves around changing the overall structure of the work. It
is meant to include additions, modifications and deletions of relations between
sections of a work (in a wider perspective it can also entail the addition or
deletion of various sections, though these activities are more properly classified
in Content Adapatation). In a linear model, this implies simply changing the order
of the sections. In non-linear models, the structure of the work is changed as
relations between sections appear, strengthen, weaken and disappear.
Initiation Phase
Reader Initiation
Reader Initiation methods of a Structural Adaptation include those based upon
direct manipulation, indirect manipulation and group manipulation. Of the three,
group manipulation methods have the greatest potential and are considered in greater
depth than the others.
Direct manipulation allows the reader to directly modify the relations between
sections. One way to accomplish this is by allowing the reader to physically
create a relation between two sections (by allowing them to edit links on web pages)
or to choose between a selection of sections with which to create a relation to.
Direct manipulation methods put each individual reader in control of relations
between sections. There is no inherent method for compromise between varying opinions
as to how sections should be related to one another. Direct manipulation methods
by their very nature must always have the same person who initiates the adaptation
execute it.
Indirect manipulation is a much more flexible method for Structural Adaptation. By
it's very nature it requires a minimum of two people to complete an adaptation, one
person to initiate it and another person (or rule-based system) to execute it. The
reader in this case simply expresses a desire for the structure of the work to change.
It is then up to the Execution Phase to determine how the structure will change.
Because the Execution Phase is not executed by the reader, the effect on the structure
of the work does not always have to be what the reader intended.
Both the direct and indirect manipulation methods rely on one reader causing the
initiation of an adaptation. These methods, although usuable, limit the structural
change to being the cause of one person, one will. Group manipulation methods allow
for many readers to contribute together to affect a change. This allows for a more
democratic adaptation, one which is inherently based on compromise. No one reader
affects a change on their own. It is the group as a whole which affects the change.
Perhaps the most common group manipulation methods are based on some type of
Confidence Rating. Confidence Ratings are
a way of gathering the popularity of certain relations
so that an initiation can occur. Confidence Ratings can also determine how an
Execution Phase will react. There are many different ways to derive a Confidence
Rating and many ways in which Confidence Ratings can be applied to an Execution Phase.
Confidence Ratings will be discussed more when we come to the Execution Phase and also
after that.
Author Initation
Author Initiated methods of a Structural Adaptation can be divided into the same
groups as Reader Initiated methods. However, where Reader Initiated methods tend
to improve the interactivity of a work, Author Initiated methods tend to be less
interative and are more characteristic of the traditional approaches to literature.
Direct manipulation methods are simply those of revision that most authors naturally
go through. Being a direct manipulation the author becomes both the initiator and
the executor. They decide to make a change and make it. A paragraph is moved from
the middle of a report to the beginning. Chapters are reordered better to reflect
a more structured book.
Although not as traditional, indirect author initiated manipulation methods still
fall short of full interactivity, although they create the potential for interesting
new and unexpected juxtapositions for the author (this is especially true in the
case of a semi-random rule-based Execution Phase). The author initiates a desire
for change and then allows the Execution Phase to enact that change. If the Execution
Phase involves a reader, then this becomes similar to giving a paper to a friend for
proofreading and allowing them to rearrange parts.
Finally, group manipulations are almost non-existent when dealing with Author Initiated
methods. Only possible when a group of authors are writing a work, these methods
involve making a strong distinction between the authors and the readers. This is
particuliarly difficult when dealing with literature that strives to be interactive
(implying that both the reader and the author play an active role in developing the
work). A good example of a group manipulation are jointly-written novels which are
written by two or more people, and likewise, modified by only those involved in the
writing of the novel. Readers generally have no say as to how the structure should be
layed out (often because by the time readers get a chance to read it, things have been
fixed in ink).
Execution Phase
The Execution Phase involves methods that are not so easily fixed into a framework.
Generally any method that manipulates the structure of the work can be called an
execution method. Execution methods can use internal logic to determine exactly who
will execute the mechanics of the Execution Phase, or they can rely on the Initiation
Phase to specify this.
Reader Execution
Reader Execution methods are tied closely to the initiation method used to initiate
the adaptation. For this reason, a direct manipulation reader initiation will
require the reader to likewise change the structure of the work. In this case,
the methods are limited to the mechanics of how to change the structure of the work.
If a different person is to execute the adaptation than the person who initiated it,
different methods can be employed to decide who exactly that person will be. Execution
can be assigned on a first come, first served basis (where the first new relation
between sections that some reader suggests is adopted), on a random or semi-random
basis (where a random reader's suggestion is chosen to be incorporated) or on any
other basis (a particular reader is chosen to make the changes). Execution can be
multi-tiered (for instance, a series of different readers all make suggestions for
the change to be made and then the group of changes are voted on to determine which
structural change is the most appropriate).
Group methods are possible in the Execution Phase, but their implementation is a
little more difficult and less thought out. Many group executed methods are actually
executed through a rule-based system that relies on a Confidence Rating to determine
how to change the structure. These methods will be discussed in a moment.
Author Execution
By their nature, any methods which are executed by the author, are in some way a
form of revision (though this becomes less so if multiple authors are involved).
If the Initiation Phase was author initiated, then this is the author revising a
work in progress. If it was initiated by someone other than the author, then this
is the process of getting opinions and comments and revising based on other's
suggestions. In any case, this is not really a new idea (or even a relatively
young idea), so I see no reason to discuss it. It might be possible to create
author executed methods which change the structure of the work, but which cannot
be seen in the light of revisions, but damned if I know what they might be.
Rule-Based Execution
Certainly some of the most intriguing possibilities come from structural adaptations
that are caused by some form of rule-based system, particuliarly when combined
with Reader Initiated group manipulations. Random and semi-random adaptations
introduce serendipity and surreality to the structure of a work, sometimes drawing
new conotations and meanings out of the restructuring. Reader initiated group
manipulations are most efficiently executed via some form of rule-based system.
The number of times a link is followed or having readers rate their opinions of
relations between sections of the work on a measurable scale are just two
ways a rule-based system can be used to modify the relations between sections. For
a more detailed example, see Example III - As
Yet Unstructured Non-Linear Novel under Examples.
Using a rule-based Execution Phase enables authors of even fairly mainstream types
of literature to see their work in a new light. Similar to turning a painting upside
down to better see the relations between the light and dark areas, turning the
structure of a work inside out using a rule-based system can be both a learning and
enlightening experience. Just one possible application is the poet who does not
know which order to put the poems in their chapbook. A simple rule-based system could
do the work for them (in fact, the sorting of a dictionary alphabetically is a sort of
rule-based structural reorganisation of various otherwise unorganised definitions).
Content Adaptation
Content Adaptation deals with the changing the wording or phrasing of any one section
of a work. It is also meant to include full additions or deletions of sections since
this can be seen as an extreme case of adapting the content of a section.
Initiation Phase
Reader Initiation
Similar to Reader Initiated methods for Structural Adaptation, Reader Initiated
methods for Content Adaptation can be classified into three general categories:
Direct manipulation, indirect manipulation and group manipulation. Once again,
group manipulation shows the greatest potential and is explored in greater depth
than the others.
Reader Initiated methods that involve direct manipulation can only really take one
tack. The reader wants something changed and the reader changes that something.
Exactly what the reader is allowed to modify can vary depending upon how the Execution
Phase is implemented, but there is not really much to say about direct manipulation
methods here.
Indirect manipulation methods are more flexible for the same reasons they are more
flexible during Reader Initiated Structural Adaptations. By requiring two different
people, more of a compromise is possible on the structure of the work. However, the
Execution Phase has the greater pull here because it is this phase which gets to
perform the actual modification of the content of the section. Though Reader
Initiated indirect manipulation methods can be similar to a reader simply proofreading
and expressing a desire for what they see needs to be changed, they do not have to be.
In fact, by having another reader, rather than the author, make the changes in the
content of the section, change is being affected through the audience rather than the
author. The author in this case then becomes a reader of his own work as it is changed
by others.
Group manipulation Reader Initiated methods allow for more stable systems
to be developed. By allowing a group of readers to initiate an adaptation, rather
than a single reader, the changes that occur become more representative of the
desires of the audience as a whole, rather than of random individuals here and there.
Although only initiating the adaptation, group manipulation methods can be used as the
final initator in a series of adaptations (see Example
II - Multi-Authored Continuing Story).
Once again, group manipulations Reader Initiation methods can be used to judge the
popularity of various sections of the work in relation to each other. This information
can then be used in the Execution Phase to adapt better to the audience. Of course,
coupled with a rule-based Execution Phase, group manipulations initiations allow the
work to become an automated self-changing organism that changes itself depending upon
information gathered about its audience.
Author Initiation
Author Initation for a Content Adapation is, likewise, very similar to an Author Initiation
for a Structural Adaptation. The Initation can be either a direct manipulation, an
indirect manipulation or a group manipulation. Direct manipulation involves the author
desiring a change in the work and then making that change. Indirect manipulation is
interesting in that the author expresses a desire for change in the work, then gives it
to another person to change it. This can be as simple as a journalist giving an article
to an editor, or a more complex interaction. The more the other person rewrites the work,
however, the more they also become an author of it. Here is where group manipulation,
with a strong sense of who is author and who is reader comes into play. The authors
each expressing a desire for change and having each other rewrite the work, back and
forth.
Execution Phase
Like Structural Adaptations, Content Adaptations can be either Reader or Author
executed (or executed by a rule-based system). However, since they are dealing
explicitly with what each section actually says rather than with how these sections
are ordered, Content Adaptation blurs the distinction between Reader and Author even
more so.
Reader Execution
Content Adaptation Reader Execution methods are tied closely to the initiation method
used to initiation the adaptation. Like those for Structural Adaptation, a Reader
Initiated direct manipulation will require reader execution and a Reader Initiated
indirect manipulation will require someone else besides the initiator to execute
the Execution Phase.
Direct manipulation initiation methods require that the reader also execute the
adaptation. This limits much of what can be done during the Execution Phase. Some
mechanism must exist for the reader to modify the content. How this mechanism is
implemented however, can be changed. A reader can be given the choice to only
correct the spelling of sections of a work. Or they can be given the power to
completely rewrite the entire section. Within this spectrum lies few practical
options. A visually interesting experiment would be to allow the reader to change
the font sizes and types of the words in the document, but not to change the actual
document itself.
Author Execution
Content Adaptation Author Execution methods are basically those used in the traditional
media. In author initiated adaptations, this is simply the process of rewriting.
With a reader initiated adaptation, this becomes the process of getting opinions and
changing the work based on other people's opinions. This execution method should be
familiar to msot everyone, so I won't go into detail about it. (Though, make no mistake,
it is perhaps one of the most used, and best methods to develop ones writing and writing
style).
Rule-Based Execution
Rule-based Execution methods range from the mundane to the ridiculous. A simple
spellchecker, or alphabetizing program can be considered a Rule-based Execution method.
But then, so can a program that translates every fourth word into Spanish. Some of the
more intriguing possibilities here are changes in a single word (changes of whole sentences
at a time being much more difficult and more prone to nonsense). Taking a word in a work
and replacing it with synonyms, homonyms, or purposeful missppellings can create
interesting new meanings of the work without necessarily reducing the work to a jumble of
random words.
Though this is most effective in short works (like poetry), it's application becomes
particuliarly interesting in larger works that are meant to get an idea across to the
reader. By changing key words in a work to ones a reader may better be able to
understand, their understanding of the work as a whole may be greatly improved. This
is the basis of another essay I'll be doing called (currently) Adaptive Literature. Plans
are already underway for this essay to be modified to accomodate this. For the mathematical
minded people, I could change every instance of the word Section to Node, Method to
Procedure, Structure of the Work to Topological Map. Likewise, if the reader expressed
a better understanding of musical metaphors, the word Section might be changed to Lyrical
Phrase. Or the changes could be more random.
In any case, Rule-based Execution methods provide for an enormous variety for changing the
work based on some initiation. I surely haven't thought of even one percent of all the
different ways you could use this (mainly because I'm tired of writing by this point, and
this is long and repetitive anyway), but this is one series of methods that really should
be explored to their fullest potential.