Roderick Coover’s 2003 Cultures in Webs: Working in Hypermedia with the Documentary attempts to integrate new media practices with documentary, non-fiction storytelling. I’ve not seen this work yet first-hand, but it sounds like an intriguing concept. However, I curious as to why Coover chose to release it as a CD-ROM rather than a Web-based work. Considering the nature of the work, I feel that it’s very relevant to my own research. Yet, why am I hesistant to spend $35 to purchase this CD-ROM when I feel no such hesitation to purchasing a similarly themed book? Maybe it’s just my own proclivity towards open access of digital scholarship.

A review of the CD-ROM is in The Journal of New Media & Culture. The review points out a few technical flaws with the way that the material is presented, indicating that Coover doesn’t take advantage of “current hypermedia software to build a truly engaging, reader-interactive experience.” Of course, it’s easy to be a critic but much more difficult to be the creator so I’m definitely don’t want to fault a CD that I’ve not yet seen. But, again, it makes me wonder: why not just put this work on the Web, which offers not only a rich hypermedia environment but a broader audience for one’s efforts. Jennifer Ley, the author of this review, concludes that “With the abundance of free material available on the web, if we’re to build a paying audience for hypermedia, I think we have to give people a bit more for their $35.” That’s certainly true, but I question why we’re trying to build a paying audience for hypermedia

From examining Rhizome Digest

In a comment at Grand Text Auto, Noah Wardrip-Fruin writes that he is quite impressed by Cultures in Webs: “It strikes me as one of the few truly ambitious, successful essayistic new media projects I’ve seen. ”

3/4/05 update: my copy of Cultures in Webs arrived today. A future post will have my review of it.