Hypertext: reading & writing
Discussion Board issues

1. 'writer-reader' debate (Lauren Baker)

We begin with resistance to seeing something fundamentally new in the advent of hypertext. Its very concreteness seems opposed to the deconstructive insistence of postmodernist theory. Pre-hypertext texts show various features of hypertext; and reading print text is not necessarily linear. While hypertext still privileges authors over readers, perhaps that is usually what we want as readers. Hypertext might change the way we write, although learning the new medium may be a distraction. If hypertext is the future, computing will need to extend to the rest of the world that currently lacks access. Much internet linking is commercial, distracting, a misleading use of the medium.

Is a new term needed for the author/reader of hypertext? But someone still has to write the hypertext; the reader follows predetermined pathways. "The reader's text becomes but one of many possible--consequently less important, etc.--in the greater author's hypertext."[1]

this reader's resistance to taking on the author role while reading (Shelley Babich, September 20)

examples of pre-hypertext forms: the conventional anthology that 'levels' texts; intertextuality and referencing in texts; choose your own adventure books.

hypertext authoring: "the disruptiveness of having to learn the medium developers' language before I can communicate in the medium" (Robert Lemke, September 20).[2]

hypertext could be promoted for speed of access: links offer us "instant" information [3]

a printed text is said to compel linear reading (Snyder); but such reading is also constructive

most of the world's population lacks internet access, so hypertext is hardly the way of the future (Diane Brouwer, September 20); "70% of the people on this planet have never even used a telephone" (Sage Davis, October 04)

the concreteness of hypertext seems opposed to the postmodernist insistence on "deconstructing and picking everything apart"

in hypertext do we see the disappearance of the author? -- since "what is said is much more important than who said it" [4]

but hypertext is still authored: "the act of putting text together in a certain way, whether it be in a linear construction or in a web-like construction with choices, is an act of power." (Lauren Baker, September 22)

hypertext as "open" text: "can hypertext change the way authors write in view of a new, more conscious kind of reader?"

appropriation of hypertext: "A whole lot of the wonderful links set before me are either money making schemes or big business." (Natasha Nunn, September 21)

[1] The exploratory vs. constructive hypertext distinction seems relevant here. See Terms.

[2] cf. Moulthrop's hypotext (design and machinery); link structure has priority over content ("You Say You Want a Revolution?" 86-7; see Miall, para 32.)

[3] but information isn't knowledge (see this commentary on Moulthrop)

[4] but don't we need to know the source of what is said in order to evaluate it?