This course opened a new world to me. It was very appropriate discussing nodes as I was at the time making a website. Many parts of the internet and how sites operated with the use of links I had given little or no thought to. I have become aware of their uses and the flexibility they give a website, whether it is a business site or a personal blog. I became aware that the creator of a web page or website could influence the viewer in regard to associated information on the topic, or even better direct people to any site or page. I realised a node is like a temptation, to distract you away off on another journey. The influence or perhaps even power of temptation to control where on the website or even web you are able to lead a viewer was interesting. Now that I am more aware of nodes I intend to work on adding new and interesting information, through nodes to my site.

In contrast when reading Victory Garden I found the nodes extremely unsettling. I did not enjoy the choice on a page of text. When reading a narrative I expect to read it in an order and in that same order every time. To me reading Victory Garden was like having the pages of a book ripped out, mixed up and handed back with the page numbers removed. The issue of the fast moving and unpredictable nature of not only a digital narrative like Victory Garden but the whole internet has lead me to reflect on the connection between the pace of life in the twenty-first century and the youth growing up in this society and their expectations. I do question if children today get the same excitement taking the ball to the park to play in real time, not as part of a game as The Sims, as children did 20 years ago or has the whole digital era raised the entertainment value of children’s expectations so high that a ball in the park holds little appeal.