readers and reading

• the role of the hypertext reader definitely differs from the role of the traditional book reader. Babich
• With hypertext, is a close reading possible? Perhaps what we have known as close readings will become a new kind of re-reading, always in flux and rarely the same. Coulter
• The hypertext reader does not just read in this world, but also makes decisions, becomes engaged in motor activity, pushes a mouse or some other pointer, clicks and linkjumps from one lexia to another. Brouwer
• The "technology" (Landow p. 35) of the book will not disappear unless a new form actually gives us the same things (physical presence, comfort, mobility). Nunn
• If, in a hypertext, all of the intertexts are made explicit to the reader, either a dominant meaning is bluntly outlined or a plurality of meanings is exposed. Either way, this takes away from the reader's reading experience. Baker
• I believe the inclusion of pictures violates the reader’s right to conceive his own version of the written words. The indolence inherent in viewing removes the reader’s incentive to mentally create his/her own ideas. Douglas
• while hypertext technology offers at our disposal an awesome collaboration of speed and choice in accessing information, it is my opinion that this tool is far less useful in its application as a way to meaningfully experience literature. Maclean
• I think I would prefer to read a novel while nestled into a reclining chair. Brouwer

the mind

• hypertext systems do resemble the chaotic, rapid, and endless motions of the human mind. Babich
• Part of the dynamics of reading is that each reader brings something different (different forms or areas of knowledge) to a text. . . . This, consequently, makes it impossible for an Author of a hypertext to state all of the intertextualities. Baker
• do we want to extend the evolutionarily determined methodology of the human mind to our external communication systems? Conroy

textual innovations

• Hypertext ... allows a reader, who might not normally 'get' an intertextual reference, to access information on that reference. Baker
• Does seemingly random kinetic activity always lead to a new textuality? Brouwer
• Text is seen as a primitive form compared to electronic expression and will gradually die out. MacGregor
• When I jump out of the story [e.g., Tristam Shandy] into a critical theory link, then a dictionary, and back to the text and then into a discussion group and then maybe into an annotated bibliography, I am creating a whole new text. Brouwer

identity and alienation

• what sort of understanding of identity does hypertext as a specific technology actually promote? What sort of cognitive development does hypertext as a medium encourage? Conroy
• Text represents us and changes us. What happens when the medium of text changes? Will our thoughts, desires, and understandings of ourselves change? Nunn
• What is the web doing to reading? How is it affecting our concepts of community? Other modes of communication? Individual people's love lives? We need to become conscious of the side effects. Descheneau
• The freedom that Hypertext is supposed to allow only serves to bog down the author/reader with infinite digressions. As well, the idea that the reader has any active participation in the text because s/he can choose to follow one link or another is tenuous at best. Davis
• Hypertext is a medium (media?) that panders nicely to the short attention spans of modern Western culture. The action of clicking from one lexia to the next seems analogous to the constant channel changing involved with watching television. Foster
• There is no soul, no memory, no aesthetic attachment to this compilation of circuits shrouded in plastic skin. Its sits and blinks and spits back images that it is cued to. It has no life of its own and its products are no more intimate. Holczer
• time evaporates when I work in this dimension. Coulter

theorizing

• Both Derrida and Barthes have given us theories that upset tradition hierarchies and notions of a centre -- hypertext provides a dimension where it is possible to see their (once revolutionary, in its literal sense) ideas. Foster
• I . . . wonder what qualities hypertext possesses that it seems able to manifest post-structuralist assumptions about textuality so clearly. Dach
• Does hypertext as a literary theory pertain to all forms of hypertext? Am I creating a personal story when I go to the homeshopping website and cruise the aisles there? Is ecommerce a hypertext narrative? Brouwer
• Hypertext, then, supersedes notions of authenticity, forcing its readers to accept what is given as reality, a sort of hyper-reality, which can be accessed and assessed at face-value only, and whose meaning may change or be re-created at will. Koenig

control

• Even though hypertext allows for a more interactive reading environment through conventions like linking and the cursor, the reader ultimately relies on the inclusion or exclusion of these links by the author. The reader’s autonomy is at the discretion of the author. Douglas
• Once the reader takes a link to an external text, the writer has lost control completely. Is this a desirable feature? Descheneau
• As the use of hypertext continues, the predicted notions of collective ownership/authorship will demand more detailed and complex governing strategies. Babich
• [The Internet] will single-handedly wipe out the entire industry of stockbrokers. Woodley