For instance, the partial text: "always ask why” appeared in Walczak’s vrml in one of our later performances. Sometimes it
appeared at the same time that my text “The day began with a question mark" appeared. At other times with another text
such as “excuse me, excuse me” or “pictures enter my mind..." establishing each time a new relationship between texts
and between our otherwise disparate contributions.

At the same time Gilbert revised his contribution, moving away from the partially scored instrumental work with which he
began, toward an increasingly environmental and immersive work, one that would surround and help bind all of our work
together. To this he added a scanner and the partial stories it tells in sound ... thus permeating a fictional account of a har-
bor and city with fragments of actual stories in progress.

The idea of story grew.

The programmers made it possible for me to talk into the sound. Wherever | was, | could tell stories or partial stories as
well as write texts. They also made it possible for the audience to participate by writing their own texts, which were sent
to me for colour coding, and placement before inclusion.

Later we took yet another step in the direction of interpenetration. We tested and began to stream video into the vrmi
‘space, thus introducing scenes from actual life into the fictional spaces created by the vrml.

Sadly, due to the considerable commitment of time and the absence of financial support for the project, Adrift was put on
hold in April 1998.

Still it has something to say about the use of streaming text in an artistic context today.

While my conclusions may differ from those of others viewing the Adrift works, they are enclosed for your consideration:

FIRST:

It's as if the speed of the new medium requires a different talent from the writer working in an artistic and multi-media con-
text like Adrift, namely that he/she be able to compress into a few words what a novelist would take pages to develop.
Shorter sentences, shorter paragraphs work better.

| suspect that this is the exact opposite of what will happen as more and more people worldwide make use of streaming
text. But it is what | learned to do. And it is what | think will make for the most successful use of text in the new narrative
space. We compress our gifs so that they can appear quickly on the browser page; we compress shockwave files and
sound files for faster delivery. Compression technologies are an understood must for successful participation in the medi-
um. For the writer, they are techniques to be developed.

In the same context, texts become more interesting when they function as components of the visual environment and as
well as carriers of messages. Colour, size, placement, movement enhance the expressiveness of text and make it more in-
teresting to viewers. (Check the words we use to describe users. "Viewer", “audience”, “user” are preferred. | seldom if
ever see “reader”.)

THIRD:

Process and speed seem to require some form of linear development for text to be “intelligible” to viewers. My experiment
in the delivery of bits of many stories was modified over time by an increasingly felt need to provide some modest form of
linear development for the benefit of Adrift audiences.

| admit to a feeling that had we been able to continue, streaming text would have played a diminishing role in what | have
called the exploration and development of a new narrative space. That it would soon have been replaced by the more im-
mediate, more expressive and more easily apprehended use of speech and other forms of vocal utterance. And not just my
‘own voice or vocal sound but that of multiple participants.