VIEW AND SUBMIT
in flash
in html
the story map
WHAT
The online Exquisite Corpse is a study of the growth of a story, of
how stories are built collectively from individual episodes. As the story
grows, and episodes and stories begin to affect each other, we see how stories
translate in the telling, and how an episode can mean different things to different people. The Exquisite Corpse is a database of possible stories, a map of tellings and retellings, a network of routes from one beginning to many possible endings.
Like the original Exquisite Corpse, the digital version is made up of story sections that grow from previous contributions. It differs in that it collects and presents not just a linear continuation, but multiple variations as well. Each chapter can branch into a infinite number of stories. It is up to the user to continue a story or to send it in a different direction. Users can ask friends to continue their story and the Exquisite Corpse can notify them when their story is continued. Their friends ask other friends, mimicking the way jokes and stories are forwarded around the net -- a viral
marketing program for the Exquisite Corpse.
Contributions can be made through a Flash interface or HTML forms on the Web, or via email. This allows as many people as possible to contribute to the
story and allows it to spread through several communications channels. The story, visible through several interfaces, demonstrates the relationship between data and interface. Users can not only choose their stories, but choose how they view and contribute as well. The interface maps the relationships between each contribution and allows the user to navigate between them, mapping the birth and growth of a story.
The Exquisite Corpse has two views -- a map view that looks at the whole story,
and a chapter view that lets you read the story one section at a time. The map
traces the growth of the story as a whole and is updated as chapters are added. Clicking on a chapter in the map lets you read that chapter, and follow links to its continuations. In manual mode, you choose which branch to read. In auto mode the Exquisite Corpse chooses randomly from the branches and "tells" you a story.
HOW
Under the hood, the Exquisite Corpse is a classical example of a tree structure that computer science students learn in their first courses on data structures. It is analagous to a family tree: A new chapter added to the story becomes a new "child" of the "parent" chapter that was continued. Others who add onto that same chapter create "siblings" to the "child." If the continuation is
itself continued, "grandchildren" of the original will be created.
Email submissions to the Exquisite Corpse are processed by an automated email processing tool called Procmail. Web submissions are processed by a CGI script written in Perl. Both use the same object interface to add "children" to the tree. That interface defines a "node" in the tree. Nodes have methods allowing new "children" to be created and allowing navigation of the tree by the user interface.
The web interface is written in flash. It can both open each node's file to "read in" the text, and send information to create a new node. It calls the same CGIs as the web form.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Do I have to sign my contribution?
No, unsigned contributions are accepted. However if you ask someone else to contribute you may want to sign with something, like your first name, that will help other people to identify you. In this case they will see a message that "your signature" has asked them to contribute to the exquisite corpse. If you do not sign your contribution the message will read "a user who did not sign their name".
What if I don't want to give you my email address?
The email address is only neccessary if you want to be notified when your story grows. You will only be notified when your specific contributions are added to.
Do I have to give you my friends' email addresses?
No, but an invitation to participate will be sent to each address. Inviting other people will help your story grow.
What if i want to stop playing?
Just don't answer the round you've been invited to play.
PRIVACY POLICY
Contributors email addresses are used only for the internal workings of the exquisite corpse - only if contributors ask that they be notified when a story has grown, or if they ask that a friend be asked to continue a story. No collection is made of these addresses and they will not be sold or made public in any way. Neither will they be used for RepoHistory.
If you would like to be notified of upcoming events please join the RepoHistory mailing list.
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