Hypertext and non-linearity

In "Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art", Landow and Delany suggest that “hypertext can be expected to have important institutional as well as intellectual effects, for it is at the same time a form of electronic text, a radically new information technology, a mode of publication, and a resource for collaborative work… Hypertext historicizes many of our most commonplace assumptions, forcing them to descend from the ethereality of abstraction and appear as corollary to a particular technology and historical era. We can be sure that a new era of computerized textuality has begun; but what it will be like we are just beginning to imagine."This passage was written in 1991, at a time when hypertext systems were available in somewhat limited forms such as Hypercard and Intermedia, use of the Internet was largely confined to academic institutions, and the term “World Wide Web” had only just been coined. Now, 15 years later, comment and reflect upon the impact hypertext has had on the world.

Hmm, hypertext has played a significant role in shaping the way we access and source information via the world wide web.The good thing is that we get a huge variety of information ready at the click of a ‘search’ button. (… the ‘search’ button itself is a form of hypertext right? =P) We are free to link and trace different bits of information which are sorta related. For instance, Wikipedia provides users with links to relevant articles- I see this as a form of er, ‘encouraging’ greater knowledge inquiry. Thus students like us (or I mean myself, rather, haha!) would rather hit the ‘search’ button rather than the library for extra information.

(Instead of just pulling the Dictionary from the shelf, I just go to http://dictionary.reference.com) :D

I guess I can also say that hypertext had enabled the linkage or grouping of somewhat-related online texts together, creating some form of order in this pool of textual diarrhea on the Internet!

The not-so-good thing is that we seem to be overwhelmed by the hyper hypertexting involved in the internet. As what my classmate had mentioned, the commercial world has weaved a lotta product ads into the hypertexts at seemingly non-related web pages. Even my email messages are sometimes linked to commercial pages! Oh well. Maybe cos of sponsorship...

Mm, I think hypertext in general has generated some order in the knowledge-flooded Internet via the linkage of related texts, but has also made information sourcing at times a “needle-in-a-haystack” hunt. (Especially when precise and vetted information is needed.)

Good nite (click =P).