Now, with Virtual Reality we feel a bit of semantic confusion, perhaps we're
just dizzy from spinning in circles.
What can we expect from a technology that asserts to mimic real environments?
Actively exploring 360 degree panoramic spaces by dragging a cursor to the edge
of a screen window to span left or right (and a few degrees up or down) seemingly
aspires to do nothing more than live up to the hype of electronic simulation. "INtheTEXT" is
an environment that you, the user, can navigate through with a mouse and keyboard--
look up, down, turn around, or zoom in to see details or zoom out for a broader
perspective. The environment is created by seaming together a panarama of digital
pictures taken of an alphabetical space. "IN the TEXT" is a virtual
alphabetical space. But unlike an "experience" with a linear format,
subjective meaning can be constructed depending on the order in which stills
or paths are selected. It is more then a screenshot of the "Gutenberg Galaxy".
m.h, 1997