Src-txt
Graeme Mounsey
Src-txt is a new way of reading and writing that embraces the multimedia nature of information on the Internet. It is a tool that allows writers to gather resources of any media type, link these references to their writing, and dynamically generate an interactive web article, known as a src-txt. In a src-txt, externally cited work exists within the article itself, allowing you to seamlessly explore referenced content while reading through the main body of text.
The tool has three modes: Gather, Draft and Present. In Gather, resources of all kinds can be aggregated and annotated in a bulletin board-like environment. In Draft, a composition can be written and edited, and resources from the Gather environment can be dynamically linked to pieces of text. Finally, in Present, an interactive article is dynamically generated, which can then be published and read online.
Src-txt is designed to evolve the act of reading in response to the current media landscape of the Internet, where information is increasingly exchanged through mediums like TikToks, Tweets and Instagram Stories. Their prominence indicates that images and videos, which are by nature more engaging, have overtaken static text as our preferred mode of communication, and that the future of "content" will be bound by our weakening attention spans.
Instead of reducing external references to static words, or distorting the text with numerous outward-bound hyperlinks, src-txt uses them to enrich the main body of writing, producing in turn a new kind of reading experience that is exploratory and multimedia by nature.