length of poem on the screen (?)

[WIREMAN]

I notice that on the screen I am drawn more to the poetry that is 20 lines or even less, in book form it's different 4 me, i love an epic journey, yet here in cyber space if i have to click thru a poem, at times i don't, maybe i'm just lazy....i dunno......i do like the short and sweet ones best though!

[stilltrucking]

I don’t feel so lonely now. Cause I have often felt the same way. A great poem and I am scrolling scrolling scrolling and my eyes are getting bleary and then I look over at the scroll bar and it has moved about a quarter inch. I like this woman’s ideas a lot, she has a good eye for the web. She talks about screen shots.


So while some people may argue that an article, an essay, or a chapter from a book is the basic unit of a printed work, the characteristics of hypertext urge acceptance of a smaller increment, possibly the paragraph.
From here:

Hypertext Breakdown

What constitutes a basic unit of cybermedia will be an important consideration for those who design its interface. A "basic unit" is the smallest fragment within a medium that can be taken out or isolated and still be enjoyed or understood as a complete work; that is, a fragment possessing closure.
The difference between a scene in a film and a single shot illustrates the difficulty of defining a basic unit in any medium: if the film is considered as drama, then anything less than a complete scene is insufficient to convey the essence of the form. But if film is visual art and the emphasis falls on the technology of cameras, film stock, and editing devices, then the single shot is the basic unit, and shots are the essential pieces from which the complete film is built.

http://mindymcadams.com/cybermedia/basi ... .main.html

[WIREMAN]

thanx fo this reply ST...i knew there was a reason.......we can all learn from this i feel....strongly!