The Company Therapist (dot.com)

Some of us have long argued that culture isn't being destroyed in cyberspace, but is actually being reborn here. Many journalists, politicians and educators still haven't grasped this, perhaps because they rarely visit or report on sites like The Company Therapist. The public still often thinks of the Net in terms of thievery, retailing, pornography, and hacking and cracking, but the arts are rapidly moving online, sometimes in quite revolutionary ways. This hi-tech story-telling experiment, which turns storytelling upside down and uses hypertext to create a collaborative narrative, is a terrific case in point.

When the employees of a fictional San Francisco tech company need psychiatric help -- a not-unheard-of phenomenon out there -- they turn to their fictional Company Therapist, Dr. Charles Balis. I've used the word "fictional" twice because after a few visits to the site, readers quickly forget that this isn't a real shrink working with the stressed-out employees of a real company.

Balis, who completed his psychiatric residency at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City, headed west to set up his own practice, we learn. A shrewd and conservative businessmen, he contracted with CalaCare, Inc., an HMO, and agreed to spend more than half his time providing mental health counseling for Silicon Impressions, Inc., a huge hardware and software firm.

On the site, the stories of Dr. Balis' work unfold through his files, written collaboratively by "patients" who visit the site and create identities. We see transcripts of therapy sessions, phone conversations, personnel records -- even doodles. Over time, the continuing stories of Dr. Balis' patients, their psychological problems and dramas, allow the kind of character development normally associated with well-crafted novels, but not with websites.

The stories are almost shockingly realistic and compelling. We get drawn into them, often forgetting that they aren't quite real. Or are they? Some of the created characters -- patients Helen Gregory, Decker Jenkins -- are so contemporary and recognizable that they surely must reflect, at least in part, the lives of their creators.

The site sees itself not only as entertainment but as an educational vehicle to help writers polish their work -- an idea with broad applicability for other professions, from medicine to the law to other arts.

According to Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science and Technology, a book edited by Stephen Wilson where I first learned of the site, a company called Pipsqueak Productions devised this hyperfictional environment as the perfect vehicle for collaborative fictional storytelling in cyberspace. Very original move. A therapist's office is a font of narrative, a great device for collecting different stories, honing different voices, full of interesting characters with evolving problems and case histories, able to draw on telephone calls and office transcripts, a place to discuss theories of treatment. Balis's world -- the pressured, constantly changing world of hi-tech - emerges vividly. Updated daily, The Company Therapist provides nearly two years of well-organized, easily accessible stories, doctor's notes and other materials. Since it's written by its collective audience rather than a single author or the site's creators, the range of tales and voices is fascinating.

Every contributor retains a recognizable style, yet is still able to move the collective narrative forward. In fact, many stories are moving forward at once, relating both to "work" and the personal lives of the patients, each told in an idiosyncratic voice and representing the challenges of a different life, yet collectively, painting a vivid portrait of a culture. This site is unique on the Web, both for its originality and quality of design, strong testimony to the notion online, technology and art are fusing to create things that are as new as they are exciting.

Comments

SNL

[KingKire64]

Its like a Studdering Sean Conery "Ill take The The Rapist.com for 300. Damn you trebeck you with your greasy hair and dego mustache."

Thank you

[sulli]

If I see "dot.com" one more time I swear I am going to commit acts of severe violence. GODDAMMIT at least READ WHAT YOU ARE TYPING people!!

Thank you.

Re:Fist Sport

[Anonymous Coward]

i know it's a troll, but i'm gonna bite anyway :)

subcription based descrimination, while not-nice, is nothing like racism.

People are born with their race, and, unless they're michael jackson, they can't change it. The nazis kept jews in the gheto, and the jews had no choice in the matter. They we're oppressed by an army with GUNS and shit. Th jews didn't have much choice in the matter.

Slashdot readers have choices. They can choose to subscribe, or not to, they can choose what threshold to read at, or they can choose to read different websites instead of slashdot. Or, to get really crazy, they could even choose to get their ass off the computer alltogether and go do something productive. (!!!/I)

So comparing subscriptions to WWII doesn't cut it.

But I'm sure you already knew that, and just wanted a response like this one. And I don't want to bring shame to my (somewhat)good username by being the sucker that took the bate, which is why this post is AC. :)

Everytime I see the word "Therapist"

[ch-chuck]

I see "The Rapist"