Description of task[edit]

In November 2018, I experimented with a timed writing task using Etherpad, a collaborative realtime browser-based text editor. Etherpad automatically assigns authorship colours to users, and I wanted to explore how a text that I was writing, reading and editing over a specific time period could be visualised.

Method[edit]

The method was to write for one hour. I begin by writing a text about what I was doing (writing, reading and editing). For time constraints, I established writing periods of 3 minutes, and a rest period of 2 minutes. After 6 iterations, this shifted to 5 minutes for both respectively. I kept writing and opening up new private tabs in my browser to give each iteration new authorship colours. These are lost when exported, so I recreated the text and authorship colours to make visualisations.

The entire text, recreated with authorship colours

Isolated iterations[edit]

Each iteration is isolated in the following visualisations:

  • 21:10-21:15

  • 21:15-21:20

  • 21:20-21:25

  • 21:25-21:30

  • 21:30-21:35

  • 21:35-21:40

  • 21:40-21:50

  • 21:50-22:00

  • 22:00-22:10

The authorship colours with text removed:

Authorship colours with text removed

The experiment showed me that editing is a way of writing, kind of like making growing a tree while making furniture from it. Whatever is written is there to be pruned and shaped into pieces that are joined together to form a supportive text structure. Etherpad makes this visible with its authorship colours, all the more so when it is used as it has been designed; collaboratively.