kurt

1D (first in a series)

Does linear imply chronological?
Does chronological imply linear?

"Linear" as a word/concept has been heavily abused. Especially when in its negated form as "non-linear."

Linear means (it's tricky to ever claim "x means y" but I'll leave that problem to Saul Kripke...) having a line-like quality.

This requires a perspective. So linearity is a "visually" observable characteristic.

The word linear does not contain a description of the progression of narrative time. The word linear does not contain a description of the order of the construction of the parts. It merely says that from a certain perspective the subject appears one-dimensional.

Use of the word "linear" should be restricted to referencing specific points of view and specific aspects of the subject. A "linear narrative" may have been written out of order but it retains its linearity from the perspective of the reader. A book that tells the events of the story out of chronological order is still read from "beginning" to "end" (or "front" to "back" or "cover to cover") so it is still in every sense quite linear. One should not say "non-linear" when one means "non-chronological."

Although the reader is free to navigate the text out of the word order, the conventions of language are powerful restrictions that most people will not attempt to resist or subvert. [there is a habit, one I share w/ many others, of reading the last page/chapter of a book before I "get there".] Films viewed in a theater do not this navigability, due to the shared experience of the audience, but video and DVD versions do.

As to whether chronological necessarily implies linear I would like to object but I have not come up with a good counter example yet.

This is a deep subject with serious consequences in our understanding of interactive media.