Dell Ad

6 Pages 1572 Words

Abstract

A potentially profitable use of hypertext is hidden in plain sight. But the hard fact remainsŠhypertext, or to be more specific, hyperfiction, is still not considered "mainstream." The fact that Babylon 5, ostensibly, turned a profit on what was virtually a hypertext work, begs the questionŠwhy hasn't the hypertext world turn a profit yet? This proposal hopes to answer the question by suggesting a new use for hyperfiction. This is an obvious attempt at getting the HT community to re-orient their focus to a business and profit-oriented perspective.

A SWOT analysis on the current state of the hypertext art world is started. This is an exercise that considers factors such as authoring, distribution and consumption in order to develop a list of features; Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. After completing the exercise, the light is turned on certain segments of the entertainment industry, whose use of a hyperfiction-like structure in some very successful genres, i.e., sitcom spin-offs and "sequel-prequel-multiple ending movies", has proven there is an appetite for hyperfictional material. An argument is then made for an emphasis in the packaging and marketing of any new product that adheres to an evolutionary model. A use case is then proposed for the purpose of creating a new product, which is essentially a subset of a specific hyperfictional work. Finally, it is demonstrated why certain participants within the entertainment art world are the natural candidates for consumption of this product.

SWOT analysis of hyperfiction The SWOT analysis is a tool used in industry for dissecting a product, concept or strategy. The process reveals the superstructure of the object of the SWOT. Only then is one able to take a current problem facing the object and link qualities of its superstructure to innovative ideas that may produce a solution. The SWOT below examines the current state of hyperfiction from an ou...