Systemic
Storytelling
Art is the expression of a culture’s worldview,
which is the paradigm that underlies ideology, behavior, and perceptions of
nature. Images, sounds, and words
are created as a self-reflexive extension of this paradigm, and as this belief
system changes these forms of expression change as well, maintaining an
ever-contemporary mirror of ourselves. Today,
as our culture stalls on its own technological progression, a new worldview is
rising that is holistic in its perspective, supplanting the old reductionistic
view upon which Western civilization was built.
Most commonly articulated by scientists in the form of dynamical
systems theory, this new paradigm is guiding not only the fluctuation of
our belief systems and behavior, but is also yielding new forms of personal
and collective expression. One of
the strongest, most promising artistic extensions of this new worldview is the
development of hypertext fiction.
Systems Theory: Patterns within Patterns
Systems thinking developed in the sciences over the
course of the twentieth century, beginning with theories in physics and
recently finding application in the study of patterns in social behavior.
Ultimately, this new approach to scientific understanding arose in
response to problems that previous approaches could not answer.
The old paradigm—the collection of concepts, values, and techniques
shared in the scientific community—sought to reduce a living or nonliving
thing to its smallest components, believing that in the part lies the essence
of the whole. After discovering that there really were no independent
elements in quantum physics and ecology, for instance, scientists began
reversing this tendency. Instead
of viewing the universe, the environment, or even the human body as a machine
operating according to the cause-effect behavior of its constituents, the new
perspective encouraged a more holistic view of the “world as an integrated
whole rather than the dissociated collection of parts” (Capra 6). In other words, systems theory is a contextual
approach to a problem, in which “the parts can be understood only from the
organization of the whole” (ib. 29-30).
While the thrust of most systemic thinking has been
applied to the codependence of biological or physical elements, human behavior
has recently come under the umbrella of systems theory in the study of
erodynamics. Coined by Ralph
Abraham, a leader in the field of chaos theory, erodynamics is the
study of social systems as patterns of predictable variability, in which the
results are displayed through “dynamical models, computer simulation, and
the methods of chaos theory” (Abraham 236).
These simulations produce patterns called fractals, the visual
representation of nonlinear equations. Through
this lens of chaos theory, human interaction (as well as any other natural
system) is seen as “oscillations that almost repeat themselves, but not
quite, seemingly random yet forming a complex, highly organized pattern”
(Capra 17). Instead of being
viewed as random activity—often triggered by unrelated motives and without
inferring future consequences—human behavior takes on the dimensions of the
essential systemic phenomenon, in which a networked, nonlinear, and
self-organizing structure allows for the fluctuation of constant change
without losing the integrity of the system itself.
Truly random behavior cannot exist; it is simply an element of
flexibility in the pattern of social interaction.
Hypertext Fiction: Patterns Expressed
Insight into the systemic quality of human behavior
can be taken a step further by acknowledging changes in how that behavior is
expressed through culture. Just
as the ideals of Greek philosophy were exemplified in marble statues and the
Renaissance revived color and nature in their paintings, so too the
development of nonlinear literature is emerging as an artistic example of how
our worldview is changing. Specifically,
electronic hypertext fiction is one growing format of this kind of systemic
storytelling.
Hypertext, as a medium and product of electronic
communication, is diverse. It is
the format used by all successful websites, relaying technical and creative
information to anyone with the technology to access it.
But its inherent structure diverges from the traditional forms of
literature. George Landow, a
critical theorist of hypertext, defines the hypertext structure as:
text
composed of blocks of words (or images) linked electronically by multiple
paths, chains, or trails in an open-ended, perpetually unfinished textuality
described by the terms link, node, network, web, and path. (3)
The terms that Landow uses are all systemic
properties, creating a narrative that allows the flux of the same predictable
variability of erodynamics. While
action is inhibited by certain restrictions, it is how the given choices are
used that incite seemingly random activity to change the experience of the
story—which is itself the encompassing, durable pattern of the activity.
Network: Systemic Structure
“The pattern of life, we might say, is a network
pattern capable of self-organization” (Capra 83).
A network, consisting of multiple components that continually
interconnect and branch out to one another, is a basic structure in
nature—and in human thinking. For
example, an ecosystem is the most accessible model of a network in which the
elements of climate, topography, and species populations all act as
codependent nodes of influence in the environment.
We can then extend this model to the idea of a
hypertext narrative being a digital ecosystem in which the segments of
text compose the framework of a larger story.
Each narrative knot in the net is usually a completed scene in and of
itself, but it provides multiple path options to follow.
This opens the narrative up into a web of scenes that function the same
way, each providing a new view of the story, contributing additional
information, and moving the story forward in some way.
But the progression to the story’s end is not direct or
predetermined, because each choice a user makes at a node in the network
creates a new path through the narrative.
Nonlinearity: Relationships Within the Network
Nonlinearity is the inherent dynamic of network
relationships. Aside from the
complex abstraction of mathematics, the concept of a nonlinear relationship is
often seen simply as a cycle, or feedback loop.
As one element influences another, a reciprocal—yet not necessarily
equal—exchange develops. For
instance, in the model of the ecosystem,
relationships
among the members of an ecological community are nonlinear, involving
multiple feedback loops . . .[in which] a disturbance will not be limited to
a single effect but is likely to spread out in ever-widening patterns.”
(Capra 299)
This association may amplify certain aspects of the
network, or reduce them depending on the imbalance of the relationship.
In applying this rather broad term to hypertext, one
must look at how the various blocks of text impact one another and eventually
build the narrative. Hypertext
fiction is not followed from beginning to end in a traditional, temporal
sequence. Instead, the narrative
allows for tangential leaps—that are often “horizontal” in the
narrative, adding information without necessarily driving the story forward in
time. It is through these leaps
that associations are made between the various scenes.
Experiencing these seemingly random, yet interconnected blocks of text,
leads to the discovery of the story itself. For example, Walter Sorrell’s
online hypertext novel, The Heist, offers links to pieces of the
narrative that simply provide background information or someone else’s
perspective on the same event. The
plot doesn’t move forward; it is fleshed out with material that adds to the
feel and understanding of the narrative instead.
Autopoiesis: Organization
of the Network
In his book, The Web of Life, Fritjof Capra
provides an educated layman’s introduction to systems theory and how it was
discovered in various areas of science—namely biology, neurology, and
mathematics. In this book, he
defines autopoiesis as “ a network of production processes, in which
the function of each component is to participate in the production of
transformation of other components in the network” (98).
Literally, the word means “self-making” in Greek,
and is a concept of inherent, internal self-organization. Ultimately it is the associative process that maintains the
integrity of the system (be it a body or an environmental habitat) while still
allowing for the chaotic fluctuations of the system as it is changed by
external stimuli. In many cases,
it links the nonlinear quality with the network, performing as both process
and structure.
In hypertext fiction, autopoiesis is implemented in
two ways. One is by the
individual author in the way they map out the narrative to allow for various
options but also tying each thread back into the story through loops in the
reader’s path. Yet, this
concept lends itself more to the multi-author hypertext, where there is a
partnership of reader and writer in which an evolving, but consistent
organization of the text hold additions to the story together.
A good example of this is Gav and Peloso’s Interactive Story in
which the reader comes to the end of a given path and must contribute the next
scene to move the story forward. However,
there are only two links to spin-off of, which limits the new scene somewhat
while still giving the new writer freedom to turn the plot in a new direction.
Each new contribution to the story changes the rest of the narrative
experientially for the reader, but the pattern of the story itself is still
intact.
Conclusion
As linear, historical, and mechanical thinking are
dissolving in the midst of a change in our culture’s belief system, systemic
storytelling emerges as the expression of this new holistic, nonlinear
paradigm. The limits of the
author-controlled work of fiction are being eliminated and the reader begins
to interact with and change the story. Therefore,
the reader becomes yet another node of the network, testing its pattern like
the chaotic variables in a fractal.
Works Cited
Abraham, Ralph. Chaos, Gaia,
Eros. San Francisco:
Harper, 1994.
Bleuel, Darren and Chris Peloso.
Gav
and Peloso’s Interactive Story.
16 March 2000.
Capra, Fritjof. The
Web of Life. New York: Anchor
Books, 1996.
Landow, George. Hypertext
2.0. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.
Sorrell, Walter.
The Heist.
16 March 2000.