About the Audiotexts

Book Nine (Version 0.9.1)

last updated November 22, 2006

Development: The Book Nine prototype is a Flash application developed by professor John Rumrich, graduate student Olin Bjork, and undergraduate student Shea Suski with the help of others at the University of Texas at Austin. It was funded by a 2005-2006 grant from UT-Austin's Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS). The interface design is informed by Bjork and Rumrich's experiences teaching poetry as well as cognitive research demonstrating that comprehension increases when students read and hear a text sequentially or simultaneously. The audio recordings provide dramatic rather than strictly metrical renditions of Milton's verse.

Textual Note: We are using the 1674 second edition as our copy-text. The pagination, however, corresponds to the 1688 fourth edition at a ratio of 1:2 (17 lines per page to 34 lines per page). We have modernized spelling and punctuation. Elision has been retained when necessary for the meter.

Configurability: For the projector versions, which can be obtained from the download page, users can edit the annotations.

Book One (Version 0.9.2.2)

last updated October 10, 2009

Development: The Book One audiotext was funded by a 2006-2007 grant from LAITS.

Textual Note: We are using the 1674 second edition as our copy-text. The pagination corresponds to the 1674 second edition at a ratio of 1:2 (17 lines per page to 34 lines per page). We have modernized spelling and punctuation. Elision has been retained when necessary for the meter. The frontispiece and title page images are from John Geraghty's facsimile project.

Configurability: For the projector versions, which can be obtained from the download page, users can edit the text, the annotations, and the commentary on the illustrations.

Book Two (Version 0.9.3.1)

last updated October 12, 2008

Development: The Book Two audiotext was funded by a 2006-2007 grant from LAITS.

Configurability: For the projector versions, which can be obtained from the download page, users can edit the text and annotations. They can also substitute their own mp3 audio and XML timings.

Modes

The audiotexts offer 4-5 modes, each of which offers a distinct interaction or visual engagement with the poem.

Text-only Mode: Displays our modernized reading text on both sides. The Book One and Book Two audiotexts load this text from an external file (pl#.txt) that can be edited with any text editor. This file, however, must remain in the same folder as the Flash movie or projector file (pl#.swf, pl#.app, or pl#.exe) and cannot be renamed.

Annotation Mode: Displays our (somewhat minimalist) notes in parallel with the reading text. The audiotexts load the annotations from an external file (pl#_annos.txt) that can be edited with any text editor. This file, however, must remain in the same folder as the Flash movie or projector file (pl#.swf, pl#.app, or pl#.exe) and cannot be renamed.

Comparison Mode: Displays a transcript of the 1674 second edition text in parallel with the reading text. To give the feel of a facsimile, we have used a character set that includes a long s and ligatures. This replica of a 17th century font is Jeff Lee's JSL Ancient.

Electronic Text (etext) Mode: Displays the content of pl#.txt in a scrollable text box to allow users to copy lines and passages. At present, only the Book One audiotext offers this mode.

Your Notes Mode: Displays an input text box in parallel with the reading text. The audiotexts create a shared local object file ( pl#_notes.sol), also known as a "Flash cookie," on the user's computer. When the user saves notes, they are stored in this file, from which they are then imported for each new session. By default, the Flash player sets the maximum size of .sol files to 100kb, so we have limited user notes to 2000 characters (roughly 300 words) per page. This system has several other limitations:

If you access an audiotext from multiple computers, you will create multiple .sol files.
Online audiotexts create .sol files in a different location than offline audiotexts. Notes saved from an online audiotext, therefore, will not be imported into an offline audiotext, and vice versa.
Lab computers may be configured to clear user information (including .sol files) when the user logs out.
A user may inadvertently delete .sol files.

These limitations can be combated by finding out where the Flash player has created the .sol file, copying it, and storing the copy elsewhere as a backup and/or for use on other computers. The following guide will help you locate the .sol file based on your operating system:

Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Macromedia(or Adobe)\Flash Player
Macintosh OSX: /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Macromedia(or Adobe)/Flash Player
GNU-Linux: ~/.macromedia(or Adobe)

Here are three other things to keep in mind:

Computers can be configured to prevent Web sites from creating .sol files.
The Flash Player Settings Manager can increase or decrease the maximum size of .sol files.
Multiple versions of an audiotext stored under the same username will import notes from the same .sol file.

Version Change Log:

Added etext mode
Fixed keyword shortcut for Illustrations button on Contents page
Enabled hand cursor for Home button
Fixed bug in bookmark highlights control
Revised text on Guide page, Error pages

Installed pre-loader
Added illustration section. The illustration commentary loads from an external file (pl1_illos.txt) at run-time
Fixed bug in playback after a pause
Updated character encoding of .txt files to UTF-8

Fixed bug in playback after a pause
Users can now highlight keywords in the Argument
Fixed bug in viewing modes menu on contents page

The timing markers for the audio load from an external file (pl2.mp3_markers.xml) at run-time
In the projector files, the audio loads from an external file (pl2.mp3) at run-time
Revised text on Guide page

Added Reset button to audio controls
Integrated Pause button with Play button
The modernized text loads from an external file (pl1.txt) at run-time
Highlight keywords option activates html codes in text in order to italicize or otherwise emphasize keywords
Revised text on guide page

Bookmark retracts following line and page search
Revised bookmark error message
Revised text on guide page