It can be argued that one of the things that define humans as sentient is the ability to tell and create stories. We have done it since before recorded history to relate history, tell moral truths, create and sustain religious beliefs and to entertain. In a very real sense stories are what defines us as human. As technology has increased the types of stories and the way they are told have changed. Their complexity has increased and in many ways so has their worth.  

         With the coming of the Internet and computers, stories are once again on the brink of a major change. Specifically they will incorporate the power and versatility that the computer has granted to construct interactive stories that will allow the viewer to become a participant. Everyone will become an actor or a character or a narrator. The first several generations of these stories are likely to be clumsy and derivative of previous artforms, especially television, film and computer games. Every new artform has gone through this phase of incubation and Cyberspace narrative in all of its forms is likely to as well. What will emerge will be the most powerful and most dominant form of expression, entertainment and communication yet devised by humanity. 
 

        The Internet and the WWW have only recently emerged from their cocoon of infancy. They are far from the perfection that they someday promise. They are in the thralls of adolescence, seeking to grow and mature. Therefore the forms which currently exist may seem infantile and unimportant. This is far from the truth. With the coming of sound to movies, artistic visual direction was paralyzed. Set back nearly thirty years to the earliest days of film, but this was overcome and films are far superior today, because of the addition of sound, than they were before the coming of sound. 

Basic Online Fiction 
        There is very little difference between the earliest forms of online fiction and regular fiction. Currently the majority of fiction that is available online is simply that, fiction which has been placed online. Often this is done so writers who may have difficulty getting published can show off their work. This can mean that much of this fiction is poorly written, or sometimes even abominably. However there are several companies, such as Eastgate Systems, and zines that do attempt to publish legitimate serious fiction online. Although some of the fiction put online is fairly worthless and the presentation is often derivative of published fiction, there is likely to be an evolution of the form as time and experience aid the creators of such stories. 

Multi-Author Narratives 
        Another form of online narrative that has been experimented with is stories written by more than one author. One of the most famous of these is The Greatest Tale Ever Told written by novelist John Updike and 44 others. It was a contest organized by Amazon.com which awarded one collaborator $100,000. This shows the possibility of a new type of narrative based less on the concept of an organized story structure and more on a sense of a community of writers collaborating. This form will likely need much practice and development before it becomes valid, but it is useful as a tool for understanding the possibilities that exist for online fiction and Cyberspace narrative 
 

         Someone once said that every ten years humanity acquires scientific knowledge equivalent to all of the knowledge gained in human history till that point. From a technophile’s point of view that is good news. The continued evolution of humankind towards technological, and it is assumed spiritual, perfection. Of course there is no guarantee that technological advancements will be a positive boost to human status. Even great science philosophers like Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury, who can hardly be classified as neo-luddite technophobes, have cast warnings on the mindless acquisition of new technology. Specifically the technologies of storytelling. As Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." Or perhaps beware of the unknown darkness, none knows what lies therein. 
        Bradbury and Huxley were warning against the power of these new emerging technologies and their potential for distancing and detaching humanity from reality. Essentially their warnings were to protect us and protect our stories from potentially damaging breaks from reality. 
        Stories have changed dramatically in the past century, especially the way in which they are presented. The advent of film and television, and recently the Internet, has added incredible visuals and sound to what were previously much more static methods of telling stories. There is a story about audience’s reactions to the Lumiere brothers’ Arrival of a Train at the Station, which had audiences gasping in fear that the train was going to hit them. This has since been discounted as exaggeration or mere fancy, but it expresses the fear of the new that is part of being human. Film has advanced its techniques to an amazing extent since then. As technology continues to advance there are several forms that storytelling is likely to go through, and as it does the ways stories are told and understood will change as well. 

The Multiform Story 

        The advent of the Internet will soon bring a new form of storytelling along with it. The multiform story is essentially a story with many possible avenues and endings. It is essentially a technological and often visual version of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books popular with teenagers in the 1980’s. They are interactive stories where the reader makes a choice. ‘Do you wish to open the door? If yes go to page 124. If no go to page 34.’ These types of tales were often badly written fantasy adventures, but their appeal was enormous. The reader got to choose what to do. The strength that the Internet and new computer technology can bring to this medium is greater visualization, more complexity and a built-in safeguard against cheating, or going back if a choice leads to an unwanted result.  
       Here storytelling duties are still primarily the duty of the author. The results of every possible choice must be considered and written, but the reader/viewer is responsible for the direction and pace of the story. 

The Hyperserial 
        The hyperserial is the soap opera of the Internet. Some examples already exist. Showtime’s weekly online animated show Whirligirl and the Hollywood murder mystery Paul Is Dead are typical examples. These are essentially short interactive stories built upon every week. They use many dramatic tools such as photos, recorded phone messages, diary entries and others to help push along the plot. Usually they end with a plot twist that has a ‘tune in next week’ feel to it. Although currently rather boring and derivative of the worst in dramatic storytelling, this form is likely to grow in the future in both complexity and importance. 

Movies by Choice 
        The potential power of the convergence of traditional motion pictures and the technology of the Internet and computers is staggering. One potential is what some have called movies by choice. This form will allow the viewer to choose how to see the story that is being told. Multiple camera angles are only the beginning. As the technology and understanding of the form increases a viewer will even be capable of ‘following’ an actor off the screen. As a dramatic device, say in a mystery, it can be used to grant different information to different viewers depending upon the choices they have made. Different soundtracks can also we given to viewers, giving some access to the thoughts of a character. It is this type of storytelling that is likely to replace the television shows and motion pictures of today. 

Virtual Places and Neighborhoods 
        MUD’s (Multi User Dungeons) have existed for years online. They are text only worlds where people play characters and interact. Usually they are fantasy realms in the vision of the Dungeons & Dragons game. As technology increases these worlds will incorporate visuals as well, granting the user a sense of space and presence. One such place exists currently. Active Worlds is a graphical MUD where one is granted citizenship and a plot of land on which to construct a home. These homes can be anything from an adobe hut to a medieval castle. It is hardly a static universe, things are constantly being built, and rebuilt and new worlds are constantly added. It is an online virtual community. A neighbor could be in Australia, but be more of a friend than one’s real life neighbors. These are the chatrooms of the future. People will meet here socially, scholastically and professionally.  

Holodeck 
         The ultimate dream, or ultimate nightmare, of all those who are interested in the realm of Cyberspace. First discussed on the show Star Trek: The Next Generation, the holodeck is a seemingly magical room that can summon up solid and interactive holograms of anything the user can imagine. Although the science is nearly impossible to imagine and may never be realized, the uses, and misuses, are not. This the ultimate progression of Huxley’s ‘feelie chair’ and Bradbury’s ‘holowalls.’ It is not simply the ultimate TV it is the ultimate tool for many professions. It could be the ultimate tool to aid, doctors, psychologists, athletes, government official and anyone who is in need of simulations or long distance meetings. 
 

        Humans are by nature a stubborn and irrational species that is not always welcome of changes. The love for the book is a prime example. It has been an incredibly important invention for the development. Time magazine even named Guttenberg, inventor of the printing press, as the most important individual of the last millennium. Not only is it efficient it has become much beloved. The computer revolution has made available technology that could surpass the book, but do not nail the coffin shut yet. Until technology can create something with the function and romance of the standard book people will not willingly give them up, at least not for several generations.  

        To that end scientists are developing technology which is likely to make the transition easier. Examples include ultralight and ultrahigh resolution screens and digital paper that can be erased and printed on by simply changing the papers programming. An unintended side effect of this slow transition away from books may be a longer gestation period for the various new media forms which are merging as a result of new technology. Until a popular medium is created which can utilize the power of the computer in a portable and appealing form the art is likely to remain constrained by the limitations of the book. 

        Likewise television and movies will remain but their forms will likely be altered and merged with the emerging forms and technology. The most complete convergence is likely to be attained by TV and the Web. In many ways it is already happening. WEBTV and the recent emergence of cable modems prove this, as well as the presence of channels on the newest generation of web browsers. The terminology and technology are merging, it only a matter of time before the medium does as well. 

       The film world will see much greater use of computers in the future, but the Cineplex will likely remain. Humans are social creatures and one of the most popular modern pastimes is ‘going to the movies.’ It will remain so in the next century. The concept of movies by choice will certainty impact the way films are written and made. 
 

        Where Homer is generally considered the beginning of Western storytelling, William Gibson’s concept of Cyberspace is the starting point of this newest manner of storytelling. The emergence of the Internet and the WWW is not simply a revolution of technology, but one of social impact as well. It has made the world seem smaller as people from around the globe meet, exchange ideas and even fall in love online. It will change the way stories are told and understood. Some may be frightened by some of the new forms such as the multiform story because it seems to take the power of storytelling away from the author by giving it to the audience. In the short term this may prove true, but like the infancy period of film and television, the early artistic forms of Cyberspace will likely be derivative of the forms which came before, and will soon come into their own. The future of storytelling may well become more like the past. Oral epics such as the Iliad and the various epics of the Vikings were not written by one author. They were passed down over hundreds of years changing slightly with every retelling until someone decided to write them down. 

        The author will remain. There will never be a time when machines take over the role of storytelling. As Janet H Murray says, "A story is an act of interpretation of the world, rooted in the particular perceptions and feelings of the writer. There is no mechanical way to substitute for this and no reason to want to do so." It is precisely because the world is ‘getting smaller’ through Cyberspace that stories will evolve. Writers and artists from the United States and other countries are having unparalleled levels of contact with their fellows throughout the world. Who can say what kinds of stories these merging of cultures and individuals will have? 
 

Moulthrop, Stuart. Pushing Back: Living and Writing in Broken Space. 
           http://raven.ubalt.edu/staff/moulthrop/essays/ 03/24/99, 12:50PM. 

Authors Unknown. Paul Is Dead. http://paulisdead.com 03/24/99, 2:05PM. 

Authors Unknown. Whirligirl. http://www.showtimeonline.com/whirlgirl/ad.tin 
           03/25/99, 12:15 PM. 

Eastgate Systems. http://www.eastgate.com/ 03/25/99, 2:58 PM. 

Updike, John & Others. The Greatest Story Ever Told. 
           http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/features/g/greatest-tale/greatest-tale-home.html/002-8283853-3464257  
            03/25/3:5 PM. 

Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck. Cambridge, MA :MIT Press, 1997. 

Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 
 1996. 

Wieners, Brad & Pescovitz, David. "The Book Goes Digital." Reality Check. Pgs 84-85 
 San Francisco: Hotwired, 1996