After a multi-sensory introduction that displays a myriad of images and sounds (mostly concerning apples) gathered from art, advertisement, science texts, and pop-culture, I was confronted with the image of a dissected apple. It also marks the location of a button. At the bottom corner of the page is a stamp that resembles a label in an encyclopedia and it, too, marks a button. If one chooses to hit the dissected apple, an audible analysis of "the Apple" is recited, accompanied by a display of movement and other sound. This deconstruction is grounded in many disciplines and might be understood as an example of what Dene Grigar refers to as Trandisciplinary or that which looks "between the disciplines, across the different disciplines, and beyond all disciplines". During this analysis, other buttons become available on the page and they each mark a possible movement on the page. For a better example, just see the site because as we might understand from Grigar, my rhetoric is not sufficient to explain the digital.
If you choose to click the button on the bottom corner, I spiraling list (and more buttons) appears, each one relating, in some way, to the Apple. From here, the choices move in many directions. You might choose, for example, Snow White, or Apple Records, or Apple Computers, or The Big Apple. It seems to follow no apparent trend, however, with 2 or 3 hours of experimentation, you can see the the websites themes include Language and Linguistics, Art, The Beatles, John Lennon, Technology, Myth, Culture, Religion and Christianity, and of course, The Almighty Apple.
In a sense the apple serves as a jump-off into all other information on the website. However, if we consider the sites domain name (A is for Apple) we appear to begin at a much more basic point: The letter A.
We might interpret this website as, not only a fantastic example of the possibilities of web design and digital writing, but also an example of what the internet is and what it provides. This website reiterates the media mantra that "the medium is the message". In other words, the content reflects the structures of the medium. This website (which does offer a map, in case you get lost) embodies, in a small way, the interconnections and intertextual qualities that characterize much the world wide web. It challenges the ways that we use it and understand the possibilities of the internet.
Explore this site! Explore this medium!
2 comments:
The site seemed very interesting when you presented it in class. I think you could be a really good sales person because you really sold the site. I was more fascinated by it in class. When I looked at the site on my own I found the graphics overwhelming and went on too long without anything happening. Had I discovered this on my own, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it.
But my real point is, I think you did a tremendous job introducing the site and explaining how unique it was. You really "got" it, and were able to help the rest of us get it too.
Your blog looks good and reads well -- as Krista says, you do a great job championing a unique and provocative site. Interessting photos, too (though your readers would probably like to see more in the way of text!)
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