Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
0
Parallax Re-visions
of
F
Cultureand Society
StephenG. Nichols,GeraldPrince,and
WendySteiner,SeriesEditors
O I 9 9 2 , I 9 9 7 ,2 0 0 6T h e J o h n sH o p k i n s U n i v e r s i t yP r e s s
A l l r i g h t sr e s e r v e dP
. u b l i s h e d2 0 0 6
P r i n t e di n t h e U n i t e dS t a t e so f A m e r i c a
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
T h e J o h n sH o p k i n s U n i v e r s i t yP r e s s
2 7 15 N o r t h C h a r l e sS t r e e t
B a l t i m o r e ,M a r y l a n d2 12 18 - 4 3 6 3
www.press.jhu.edu
L i b r a r yo f C o n g r e s sC a t a l o g i n g - i n - P u b l i c a t iD
onata
Landow,Ceorge P.
H y p e r t e x t3 . 0 : c r i t i c a lt h e o r ya n d n e w m e d i a i n a n e r a o f g l o b a l i z a t i o n/ C e o r g eP .
Landow.- [3rd ed.]
p.cm.- (Parallax)
R e v .e d . o f : H y p e r t e x t2 . 0 . 1 9 9 7 .
I n c l u d e sb i b l i o g r a p h i c ar le f e r e n c e a
snd index.
I S B N 0 - 8 0 1 8 - 8 2 5 6 -(7h a r d c o v e r :a l k . p a p e r )- I S B N 0 - 8 0 . 1 8 - 8 2 5 7(-p5b k . : a l k .p a p e r )
l . C r i t i c i s m .2 . L i t e r a t u r ea n d t e c h n o l o g y3. . H y p e r t e x st y s t e m s . l . T i t l e : H y p e r t e x t
t h r e e p o i n t z e r o .l l . L a n d o w G t . 0 l l l . T i t l e .l V . P a r a l l a x( B a l t i m o r e M
, e o r g eP . H y p e r t e x 2 , d.)
P N 8 r . L 2 82 0 0 5
'.95-dc22
80] 2005007788
HypertexLAn Introduction
Hypertextual Derrida, PoststructuralistNelsonl t I The Definition of
Hypertext and Its History as a Concept 2 I Yery AcIwe Readers 6 /
VannevarBush and the Memex 9 / Forms of Linking, Their Uses
and Limitations 13 I Linking in Open Hypermedia Systems:Vannevar
BushWalkstheWeb 22 I Hypertextwithoutlinksl 27 / ThePlace
of Hypertextinthe Historyof InformationTechnoloCy29 | Interactive
or Ergodic) 4t I BaudrlTlard,Binarity, and the Digital 43 / BooksAre
Technology,Too 46 / Analoguesto the Gutenberg Revolution 49
Hypertextand CriticalTheory
Tex|ual Openness 53 / Hypertext and Intertextuality 55 / Hyperte>ct
and Multivocality 56 / Hypertext and Decentering 56 I Hypertext as
Rhizome 58 / The Nonlinear Model of the Network in Current Critical
Theory 62 | Causeor Convergence,Influence or Confluencel 65
Reconfiguring
the Text
From Text to Hlpertext 69 I The In MemoriamWeb 71 / New Forms
of Discursive Prose-Academic Writing and Weblogs 77 I Problems
with Terminology: What Is the Object We Read,and What Is a Text in
Hypertextl 82 / Visual Elements in Print Text 85 / Animated Text 89 /
Stretchtext93 / TheDispersedText 98 / HypertextualTranslationof
vill
4
Reconfiguring
the Author
Erosion of the Self I25 I How the Print Author Differs from the
HypertextAuthor 131 / VirrualPresence135 / CollaborativeWriting,
CollaborativeAuthorship 136 / ExamplesofCollaborationin Hypertext 142
5
Reconfiguring
Writing
The ProblematicConceptof Disorientation t44 / The Conceptof
Disorientationinthe Humanities 146 I The Loveof Possibilities148 /
The Rhetoric and Stylisticsof Writing for E-Space;or, How Should We
Write H)?ertex'tl 151 / Hlpertext as CollageWriting 188 / Is This
HypertertAny Goodl Or, How Do We EvaluateQuality in Hypermedial 198
Reconfi
guring Narrative
Approachesto Hypertext Fiction-Some Opening Remarks 215 /
Hypertext and the Aristotelian Conception of Plot 218 / Quasi-
Hypertextuality in Print Texts 219 / Answering Aristotle: Hlpertext
and the Nonlinear Plot 221 / Print Anticipations of Multilinear
Narrativesin E-Space223 | NananveBeginningsand Endings 226 I
Michael Joyce'safiemoon 229 / Stitching TogetherNarrative, Sexuality,
Self: Shelleyfackson'sPatchworkGirl 234 I Quibbling A Feminist
Rhizome Narrative 242 I Storyworldsand Other Forms of Hypertext
Narratives 245 I Computer Games,Hlpertext, and Narrative 250 /
Digitizing the Movies: Interactiveversus Multiplied Cinema 254 I
Is HypertextFiction Possiblel 264
Reconfiguri ng LiteraryEducation
Threats and Promises 272 | Reconfiguring the Insrructor 275 |
Reconfiguring the Student 278 I Learning the Culture of a
Discipline 280 / Nontraditional Students:Distant Learnersand Readers
outside EducationalInstitutions 28t I The Effectsof Hypermedia in
Teachingand Learning 284 / Reconfiguring Assignments and Methods
ix
Notes 377
Bibliography 399
lndex 425
Preface
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Annenberg/Corporation for Public BroadcastingProject,and I am grateful to
them for their support. A Mellon Foundation grant and one from Dr. Frank
Rothman, the provost of Brown University,enabledme to transfer the Inter-
media materials createdfor English and creativewriting coursesinto Story-
space.The generosityof Daniel Russell,then of Apple Computers, made it
much easierfor me to carry out my researchin the 1990safter the closing
of IRIS, when my university found itself able to offer little assistanceor
encouragement.
Since2000NUS has funded the web serversin New york and Southeasr
Asia on which residethe most recent descendantsof materialsoriginally cre-
atedin Intermedia and storyspace-The victorian, postcolonialLiteratureand.
Culture, and Cyberspace, Hypertext,and Critical Theorysites-and in 2O0L-2
NUS funded postdoctoralfellows and senior researchfellows, who created
materials for the sites, including Philip V. Allingham, Marjorie Bloy,Leong
Yew,TamaraS.Wagner,and Johnvan Whye. I alsohaveto thank the hundreds
of international contributors, particularly Philip v. Allingham, contributing
editor of Ihe Victoian Web,who have shared so many thousands of docu-
ments with readersof thesesites.I would like to thank peyton Skipwith of the
Fine Art Society,London, and PeterNahum for generouslygranting permis-
sion to include the imagesand text from their catalogues,thus permitting me
to createthe victoian web'ssectionson painting and the decorativearts. I am
especiallygrateful to the authors oftwo dozen out-of-print scholarly books
and contributors of many other victorian texts who have generouslyshared
their work with victoian web, thus making possiblethe victoiqn web Books
sectionthat exploreswhat is happening to the forms of humanistic scholar-
ship in a digital age.Thanks, too, to the readersof my websiteswho were re-
sponsiblefor their receiving 17 million hits/page views in March2002 (95%o
of them for the Victorian Web).Noysius Tay Wee Kok, head of information
technology at the University Scholarsprogram, and his crew of technicians
have set up and maintained the serversin both the United Statesand Singa-
pore with the assistanceof fosephAulisi of Macktez.com.
I alsoowe a debt of gratitudeto many colleaguesand studentswho shared
their work with me: Mark Amerika, f . David Bolter, Alberto Cecchi, Robert
Coover,Daniela Danielle, Cicero da Silva,fay Dillemuth, Carolyn Guyer,Ter-
ence Harpold, Paul Kahn, Robert Kendall, David Kolb, Deena Larson, Gary
Marchionini, Stuart Moulthrop, and Marc Nanard kindly provided me with
draft, prepublication, or prereleaseversions of their work; and Cambridge
UniversityPress,Dynamic Diagrams,EastgateSystems,MetaDesignWest,
xvtl
AcKNowLEDcMENTS
PWS Publishing, Oxford University Press,Routledge,and Voyagerhavepro-
vided published versionsof their electronicpublications.
I would alsolike to thank for their advice,assistance,and encouragement
Irina Aristarkhova, David Balcom, Bruno Bassi,Gui Bonsiepe,GeorgeBorn-
stein, Katell Briatte,LeslieCarr, LauraBorrdsCastanyer,Hugh Davis,Marilyn
Deegan,Emanueladel Monaco, facquesDerrida, Umberto Eco,Markku Es-
kelinen, Susan Farrell, Niels Ole Finnemann, Patrizia Ghislandi, Antoni f .
Gomez-Bosquet,Diane Greco, Robert Grudin, Anna Gunder, Wendy Hall,
E. W: B. Hess-Lithich,ElaineYeeLin Ho, RaineKoskimaa,Iean-LouisLebrave,
fos6 Lebrero, Michael Ledgerwood,Gunnar Liestol, Peter Lunenfeld, Cathy
Marshall, Graham McCulloch, Bernard Mcguirk, Tom Meyer,f . Hillis Miller,
Andrew Morrrison, Elli Mylonas, Palrizzia Nerozzi, Geoffrey Nunberg,
Sutayut Osornprasop,Allesandro Pamini, Paolo Petta, Allen Renear,Mas-
simo Riva, Peter Robinson, Lothar Roisteck,Luisella Romeo, fames Rosen-
heim, Daniel Russell,Marco Santoro,Valentina Sestini,Ture Schwebs,Shih
Choon Fong, RosemaryMichelle Simpson, Christine Tamblyn, feffTaylor,
Robert Trappl, Paul Tucker, Frank Turner, Gregory Ulmer, Andy van Dam,
Karin Wenz, Rob Wittig, and the members of CHUG.
Among the many studentsand others who havesharedtheir hypermedia
projects with me since the late 1980sI have to thank Mark Amerika, Diego
Bonilla, Don Bosco, Sarah Eron, Ian Flitman, Nicholas Friesner, Amanda
Ian M. Lyons,Abigail New-
Griscom,leremy Hight, Taro Ikai, ShelleyJackson,
man, Nitin Sawhney,David Balcom,JeffPack,Ian Smith, Owen Strain, Noah
Wardrip-Fruin, DavidYun, and Leni Zumas,
When I presentedthe idea for the first version of this work to the fohns
Hopkins University Press, Eric Halpern, then editor in chie{, was open-
minded enough to haveenthusiasm for a project that editors at o*rer presses
thought too strangeor too unintelligible to consider.I greatly appreciatethe
encouragementI receivedfrom him and the support for the secondversion
by Douglas Armato and Willis Regier,then director of the Press.Michael
Lonegro, my editor for 3.0, has added to my experienceof fohns Hopkins
University Press assistancewith his valuable encouragement and sugges-
tions. Jim fohnston, design and production manager when the first version
was produced,and Glen Burris, the book'sdesigner,deservethanks for tack-
ling something new in a new way.Thanks, too, to Maria denBoer,who copy-
edited this version, for contributing much to whatevergrace,clarity, and ac-
curacythis book may possess.
Finally, I would like to thank my children, Shoshanaand Noah,who have
xvilt
HYPERTEXT
3.0 The many parallelsbetweencomputer hypertext and critical theory have
many points of interest,the most important of which, perhaps,lies in the fact
that critical theory promises to theorize hypertext and hypertext promises to
embody and thereby test aspectsof theory,particular\ those concerning tex-
tuality, narrative, and the roles or functions of reader and writer. Using hy-
pertext, digital textuality, and the Internet, students of critical theory now
havea laboratorywith which to test its ideas.'zMost important, perhaps,an ex-
perienceof readinghypertextor readingwith hypertextgreatlyclarifiesmany
of the most significant ideasof critical theory.As f . David Bolter points out in
the courseof explaining that hypertextualityembodiespoststructuralistcon-
ceptions of the open text, "what is unnatural in print becomesnatural in the
electronic medium and will soon no longer need sayingat all, becauseit can
be shown" (Witing Space,143).
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 and relatively difficult to follow becausein print technology the referenced
(or linked) materials lie spatially distant from the referencesto them. Elec-
tronic hypertext, in contrast,makes individual referenceseasyto follow and
the entire field ofinterconnections obvious and easyto navigate.Changing
the easewith which one can orient oneselfwithin such a contextand pursue
individual referencesradically changesboth the experienceof reading and
ultimately the nature of that which is read. For example,if one possesseda
hypertextsystemin which our putative foycearticlewaslinked to all the other
materials it cited, it would exist as part of a much larger systemin which the
totality might count more than the individual document; the article would
now be woven more tightly into its contextthan would a printed counterpart.
As this scenariosuggests,hypertextblurs the boundariesbetweenreader
and writer and therefore instantiates another quality of Barthes'sideal text.
From the vantage point of the current changesin information technology,
Barthes'sdistinction betweenreaderlyand writerly texts appearsto be essen-
tially a distinction between text basedon print technologyand electronic
hypertext,for hlpertext fulfills
thegoalof literary
work(ofliteratureaswork)[which] isto makethereaderno longer
a consumer, buta producer of thetext.Our literature bythepitiless
is characterized
divorcewhichtheliterary
institution between
maintains of thetextand
theproducer
itsowneranditsconsumer,
its user,between between This
itsauthorandits reader.
plunged
readeris thereby he is,in short,
intoa kindof idleness-heis intransitive;
serious: of functioning
instead himself,
insteadof gaining to themagicof the
access
to thepleasure
signifier, of writing,he is leftwithno morethanthepoorfreedom
ei-
thertoacceptor rejectthetext:
reading is nothingmorethan a referendum.
OPposite
its negative,
thewriterlytext,then,is its countervalue, reactivevalue:whatcanbe
read,butnotwritten:thereaderly. Wecallanyreaderlytext (S/2,4)
a classictext.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 this note could include this sameinformation, or, more likely,takethe form of
the quoted passage,a longer sectionor chapter,or the entire text of Barthes's
work. Furthermore, in the various hypertext versions of this book, that pas-
sagein turn links to other statements by Barthes of similar import, com-
ments by studentsof Barthes,and passagesby Derrida and Foucaultthat also
concern this notion of the networked text. As a reader, you must decide
whether to return to my argument, pursue some of the connectionsI suggest
bylinks, or, using other capacitiesof the system,searchfor connectionsI
have not suggested.Readingon the World Wide Web producesthis kind of
reading experience.The multiplicity of hypertext,which appearsin multiple
links to individual blocks oftext, calls for an activereader.
A full hypertext system,unlike a book and unlike some of the first ap-
proximationsof hypertextavailable-HyperCardt', Guide", and the current
World Wide Web (exceptfor blogs)-offers the reader and writer the same
environment. Therefore,by opening the text-processingprogram, or editor,
as it is known, you can take notes, or you can write against my interpreta-
tions, againstmy text. Although you cannot changemy text, you can write a
responseand then link it to my document. You thus have read the readerly
text in severalways not possiblewith a book you have chosenyour reading
path, and since you, tike all readers,will chooseindividualized paths, the
hypertefi version of this book would probablytake a very different form, per-
haps suggesting the values of alternate routes and probably devoting less
room in the main text to quoted passages.You might havealsohavebegun to
take notes or produce responsesto the text asyou read,some of which might
take the form of texts that either support or contradict interpretations pro-
posedin my texts.
Mostof thewritersandreaders
startedoffin "regular"StarTrekfandom,
andmany
arestillinvolved
in it, evenwhiletheypursue
theirmyriadactivities
in whatis called
"K/S"or "slash"fandom.Theslashbetween K(irk)and5(pock)serves asa codeto
8
HYPERTEXT
3.0 t h o s ep u r c h a s i n
bgym a i la m a t e u r f a n z i n( oers" z i n e s "t )h a t t h es t o r i e sP,o e m sa,n d
artwork published thereconcern a same-sex relationship between thetwomen.Such
a designation standsin contrast to "ST,"forexample, withno slash, whichstands for
actionadventure stories
based or "adultST,"which
universe,
on IheStarTrekfictional
sexualscenes,
refersto storiescontaining onesonly,saybetween
but heterosexual
Captain KirkandLieutenant Uhura,or SpockandNurseChapel.Othermediamale
coupfeshavebeen"slashed" andHutch(S/H). . . or Miami
in thezines,likeStarsky
Vica's andTubbs.(i 37)
Crockett
#"1;""il,:#::"'#t?;-search'hissv'nthes
"1T,"JJ,1",]iililfi
According to Bush,the main problem lies with what he termed "the mat-
l0
3.0
HYPERTEXT ter of selection"-information retrieval-and the primary reasonthat those
who need information cannot find it lies in turn with inadequatemeans of
storing, arranging, and tagging information:
3.0
HYPERTEXT numerous trails" (34),and thereby any block of text, image, or other infor-
mation can participate in numerous books.
Thesenew memex booksthemselves,it becomesclear,are the new book,
or one additional version of the new book, and, like books, these trail setsor
webs can be shared.Bush proposes,again quite accurately,that "wholly new
forms of encyclopediaswill appear,ready-madewith a mesh of associative
trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there
amplified" (35).Equallyimportant, individual reader-writerscan sharedocu-
ment setsand apply them to new problems'
Bush, an engineer interested in technical innovation, provides the ex-
ample of a memex user
AN lNrRoDUcrtoN despitethe fact that he conceivedof the memex before the advent of digital
computing, Bush perceivesthat something like virtual textuality is essential
for the changeshe advocates.Third, his reconfiguration oftext introduces
three entirely new elements-associative indexing (or links), trails of such
links, and setsor webs composedof such trails. Thesenew elementsin turn
produce the conception of a flexible, customizabletext, one that is open-
and perhapsvulnerable-to the demands of eachreader.They also produce
a concept of multiple textuality, since within the memex world texts refers
to individual reading units that constiflite a traditional "work," those entire
works, sets of documents createdby trails, and perhaps those trails them-
selveswithout accompanyingdocuments.
Perhapsmost interesting to one considering the relation of Bush'sideas
to contemporarycritical and cultural theory is that this engineerbeganby re-
jecting some of the fundamental assumptionsof the information technology
that had increasingly dominated-and some would say largely created-
'Western
thought since Gutenberg.Moreover,Bush wished to replacethe es-
sentially linear fixed methods that had produced the triumphs of capitalism
and industrialism with what are essentiallypoeticmachines-machines that
work accordingto analogyand association,machines that captureand create
the anarchic brilliance of human imagination. Bush, we perceive,assumed
that scienceand poetry work in essentiallythe sameway.
simpte,requireslittle ptanning.
Advontage:
Disodvontage:
disorientswhenusedwith long documents,
sincereadersdo not knowwhere[ink leads;bestusedfor
brief [exiasor in systemsthat usecardmetaphor.
Lexiato LexiaBidirectionat
Disodvantage:
disorientswhenusedwith long documents,
sincereadersdo not knowwherelink leads;bestusedfor
brief [exiasor in systems
that usecardmetaphor.
0ne-to-Many
(1) encourages
Advontages: branching and consequent
readerchoice;(2) permitsefficientauthor-generated
overviewanddirectorydocuments; (3) whencombined
with systemsthat providelink menusand other preview
functions,helpsgreatlyin orientingreaders.
vide multiple ways through the same information space.Third, when com-
bined with software,such as Microcosm, Storyspace,or Intermedia, that pro-
vides link menus and other so-calledpreview functions, one-to-manylinking
greatly helps in orienting readers.The major disadvantageof this kind of
link, which plays a major role in most hypertextfiction, lies in its tendencyto
produce a senseof atomized text.
The eighth kind of link-many-to-one linking-proves particularlyhandy
for creating glossaryfunctions or for creatingdocumentsthat make multiple
referencesto a single text, table, image, or other data (Figure 3). DynaText,
Many-to-OneLinking
Disodvantage:
systemsthat createmany-to-onelinking
can producea distractingnumberof
automatica[ty
identicallinks.
Figure3. Many-to-OneLinking
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 the need for a means of easilyturning on and off such link indicators, such
asone can do in EastgateSystem'sStoryspace.The disadvantageswith many-
to-onelinks derive not from this form oflinking itselfbut from other aspects
of individual hypertext environments, and any such disadvantagesbecome
amplified by the inexperienceof readers:in the first yearsof the Web,for ex-
ample, authors and designers generally agreed that users, many of whom
had little experiencewith computing, required colored underlining to find
links; otherwise, it was correctly reasoned,readerswould not know what to
do. In the very earliestdaysof the Web,in fact, one often encounteredlinked
underlined text immediately beneath a linked icon becauseweb designers
knew that many neophyteusers would not realize they could follow links by
clicking on the icon. As peoplebeganto use the Web everyday,however,they
recognizedthat when they moved a cursor acrossthe surface of a web
browser, it changedfrom an arrow to a hand when placed over a link. Expe-
rienced usersthus no longer required the once ubiquitous blue underlining,
and many sites now do not use it.
As we shall observeshortly,some systems,such as Microcosm, include a
particularly interesting and valuable extension of many-to-onelinking that
permits readersto obtain a menu containing two or more glossaryor similar
documents.While creating a hypertextversion of my book on Holman Hunt
and Pre-Raphaelitepainting for the World Wide Web, an environment that
does not permit either link menus or one-to-manylinks, I had to choose
whether to link (connect)muitiple mentions of a particular painting, say,the
arlist's Finding of the Saviourin the Temple,to an introductory discussion of
the picture or to an illustration of it. In contrast,while creating a hlpertext
version of the samebook in Microcosm, I easilyarrangedlinks so that when
readersfollow them from any mention of the painting, they receivea menu
containing titles of the introductory text and two or more illustrations,
thereby providing readerswith convenientaccessto the kind of information
they need when they need it (seeFigure 6).
Typed links, our ninth category take the form of limiting an electronic
link to a specific kind of relationship, such as "exemplifies," "influences,"
"conlrary argttment,""derivesfrom" (or "child of "), and so on (Figure4). Soft-
ware that includes such link categorizationrange from proposed research
systemsthat, in attempting to help organize argument, permit only certain
kinds of connections, to those like Marc and focelyne Nanard's MacWeb,
which allows au*rors to createtheir own categories.In fact, any system,such
as Intermedia, Storyspace,or Microcosm, that permits one to attachlabelsto
individual links allows one to createtyped links, since labelspermit authors
Typedlinks
Advantages:(1) if cteartyLabeted,
actsas a form of link
previewand aidsreadercomfor| (2) can produce
differentkindsof link behavior,
inctudingpop-up
windows.
Figure4.TypedLinks
HYPERTEXT
3.0 exist in systemsthat prescribe the kind of links possible. My initial skepti-
cism about typing links arose in doubts about the effectivenessof creating
rules of thought in advanceand a particular experiencewith Intermedia. The
very first version of Intermedia used by faculty developersand students dif-
ferentiatedbetweenannotationand commentarylinks, but sinceone person's
annotation turned out to be another's commentary no one lobbied for re-
taining this feature,and IRIS omitted it from later versions.
An equally basic form of linking involves the degree to which readers
either activateor even create links. In contemporary hypertext iargon, the
opposition is usually phrased as a question of whether links are author or
wreader determined, or-putting the matter differently-whether they are
hard or soft. Most writing about hypertextfrom Bush and Nelson to the pres-
ent assumesthat someone,author or readerfunctioning asauthor, createsan
electronic link, a so-calledhard link. Recently,workers in the field, particu-
larly the University of Southampton'sMicrocosm developmentgroup, have
posedthe question, "Can one havehypertext 'without links')"-that is, with-
out the by-now traditional assumption that links have to take the form of
always-existingelectronicconnectionsbetweenanchors.This approachtakes
the position that the reader'sactions can createon-demand links. In the late
1980swhen the first conferenceson hlpertext convened,such a conception
of hlpertext might havebeen difficult, if not impossible,to advocate,because
in those days researchersargued that information retrieval did not consti-
tute hypertext, and the two representedvery different, perhapsopposed,ap-
proachesto information. Part of the reason for such views lay in the under-
standableattempts of people working in a new field in computer scienceto
distinguish their work-and thereby justify its very existence-from an
establishedone. Although some authors, such as the philosopher Michael
Heim, perceivedthe obvious connectionbetweenthe activereaderwho uses
searchtools to probe an electronictext and the activereaderofhypertext, the
need of the field to constitute itself as a discretespecialtyprompted many to
juxtaposehypertext and information retrieval in the sharpestterms. When
the late fames H. Coombs createdboth Interlex and full-text retrieval in
Intermedia, many of these oppositions immediately appearedfoolish, since
anyonewho clicked on a word and used Intermedia'selectronicversion of the
Ameican Heitage Dictionary-whether they were aware of it or not-in-
evitably used a secondkind of linking. After all, activating a word and fol-
lowing a simple sequenceof keys or using a menu brought one to another
text (Figure 5). Of course,Web users now havenear-immediateaccessto the
I ntermedia Font R Print ltrlll<+ flttir*r*{'*
flHD:pro*phrse
pro-phase(pro"faz')r, Thefirststagein celldivision
by
Cut mitosis,
duringwhichchromosomes fsrmfromthechromatin
[0pu ofthenucleus,- prorpha"sic{-fa"zik}adTl
{}*sIrt f f H l l :a n " a - p h a s e
ll*ste ll+itfl 6-s-phase (an"e-faz') n, The stageof mitosisin which
{.l+:*r the daughterchromosomesmovetowardthe polesofthe
l)* lt Mitosis Stfloes
l>ri*t I t
Find... Metaphase
f i*rl !{** t
lineupat equator.
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condensation
Chromosomal is maxtmal.
E
elqstaspairs0fchromatids.
Chromosomes
f,heck Spelling E
Eachchromatid whichi$attached
hasa kinetochore
l *s{r}t Ilar{r*'<+ to a poleby kinetochore
microtubules.
I *sel't fl{t r+} E
Araphase
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between
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Telophase
HYPERTEXT
3.0 links. When readers click on hard links, they activatea connection estab-
lished by a hypertextauthor,who, in some systems,could be a previoushy-
pertext reader.When readersactivate"Compute Links," they use what are es-
sentially information-retrieval devicesto createa dynamic relation between
one text and another. In contrast to both these previous approaches,Micro-
cosm'sgeneralizedlink function producesa different form of electroniccon-
nections that we call term sofilinking,linking activatedonly on demand. Es-
sentially,Microcosm'sgeneralizedlinks createa link that only appearswhen
a readerasksfor it (Figure 6). No link marker, no code,indicatesits existence,
and nothing deforms the text in a lexia to announce its presence.In fact, only
a reader'sinterest-a reader'senergy,activeinterest, or aggressiverelation to
the text-brings such a link fully into being. Readerswill recognizethat this
approach,this kind of linking, permits the many-to-more-than-onelinking
that permitted me to havereadersobtain an introductory discussionand two
plates of a painting by a Victorian artist by clicking on the title of one of his
paintings. Microcosm'sgeneralizedlinking facility, in fact, permitted me to
recreatein a matter of hours links that had taken weeksto createmanually in
another system.
The final forms of linking-action links, warm links (or reader-activated
data-exchangelinks), and hot linking (automaticdata-exchangelinks)-rep-
resent, in contrast,kinds that carry the hard, author-createdlink in other
directions. These author-createdlinks do more, in other words, than allow
readersto traverseinformation spaceor bring the document to them. They
either initiate an action or they permit one to do so.
In later chapterswhen we examine examplesof hypermedia containing
animation and video, we shall observeyet other permutations of the link.
Nonetheless,thesepreliminary remarks permit us to graspsome of the com-
plex issuesinvolved with adding the link to writing, with reconfiguring tex-
tuality with an element that simultaneouslyblurs borders,bridges gaps,and
yet draws attention to them.
The old
.{nd g+d 8rli1
Lest one
Figure6. GenericLinkingin Microcosm.This screenshot showsthe resultsoffollowing a genericlink eitherfrom the word oFind-
ing'or from the phrase"The Findingof the Saviourin the Temple"in the Microcosmversionof my book William Holman Hunt
though readersexperiencethe resultsofgenericlinking (herethe menu with threedestinationlexias)just as ifthe author had man-
ually linked each anchorto the discussionand two illustrations,in fact the links only come into existencewhen readerscall for
them. One can thereforeconsiderthis screento exemplif soft many-to-manylinking.Although Microcosmpermitsauthorsto cre-
ate the usual manual form ofone-to-one and one-to-manylinks, the generic link function takes a great deal ofthe work out ofcre.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 ever createda link in HTML that point seemsobvious, and, in fact, placing
links within each lexia has major benefits, including simplicity, easeof
creating them, and permanence-they dont move or get lost. This concep-
tion of the link, however,representsa fundamental deparhrrefrom the kind
of medium proposedby Vannevar Bush. The user of the memex, we recall,
createdtrails of associativelinks on top of alreadyexisting texts, savedthose
trails, and sharedthem with others. Different readerscould createvery differ-
ent collectionsof links for the sametexts. Links, in other words, exist outside
the individual lexia in this kind of hypermedia.
Many hlpertext researchers,inspired by Bush,havedesignedand imple-
mented such open hypermedia systemsand infrastructures, a defining char-
acteristicof which is the link databaseor linkbase (seeRizk and Sutcliffe for
a list of such systems).Intermedia, one such system,drew upon its separation
of links and data to permit users to generatemultiple webs from the same
body oftexts and images;depending on an individual userk accessrights, he
or she could view the webs createdby others. In educationalterms, using a
linkbasehad the effectof permitting studentsto usethe main courseweb plus
links addedby students or to screen out links createdby them. It also per-
mitted instructors, aswe shall seein chapter4, to use links to incorporatema-
terials createdby those in other disciplines within their webs without affect-
ing either the original author's text or web. In practice,readersexperienced
an Intermedia web, such as Context32,much as they do its HTML descen-
dant, TheViaorian Web.Infact, eachhypermediacollectionof documentsex-
isted only as a virfual web calledinto being by the linkbase and linkserver.
The linkbase and its associatedserver,which combine to createlink ser-
vices,lie at the heart of open hypermedia systemslike Hyperbase,Multicard,
Sun's Link Service,Microcosm, and its various later incarnations. David C.
De Roure, Nigel G. Walker, and LeslieA. Carr offer the following definition
of thesekey terms:
At itssimplest,
a hypermedia
linkservertakes
a source
anchorin a multimedia
doc-
umentandreturns
thepossible
destination
anchors,
obtained
byinterrogating
a link
database
(henceforth
a linkbase)
for linkscontaining
thatanchor.
Theanchors
might
identifyspecific or objectsin particular
locations multimedia
documents; alterna-
tivelytheymighthavebroader applicability,
matchingcontentratherthanposition
(so-called
genericlinking).
Thelinkbasequerymightalsoberefined bytheuser's
con-
text,perhaps
basedon theirprofile,
currentrole,taskandlocation.
Linkservices
may
beaccessed
before,
duringor afterdocument
delivery,
andtheymayprovide
an in-
terface
for linkcreation
andmaintenance
aswellasretrieval.
(67)
25
HYPERTEXT
3.0 rent HTML, permits linking to images,in practicethe needto attachcaptions
to them resulted in placing imageswithin text documents.
This wonderfully powerful system,which was convenientfor both author
and reader,permitted linking all kinds of data,but it had one Achilles heel:
the computer files to which the system addedlinks could not be modified in
any way. Unlike Intermedia'slinkbase, Microcosm'srequired freezing a doc-
ument once it had links; adding or deleting words would move the link to an
irrelevant phrase.
To solvethis problem, one had to add a secondmethod of identifying link
anchorsin the linkbase, one that required "matching content rather than po-
sition" (De Roure,Walker,and Carr, 67).This method hasthe greatadvantage
of enabling powerfirl generic linking, but it is also much less suited to non-
alphanumeric media. This seemsto be the form of linkbase storagethat al-
lowed Microcosm-Multicosmto becomea Webapplication.Goodmanexplains
how one version marketed by Active Navigationworks:
PortalMaximizer
is implementedessentiallyasa Webproxyserver.
Whentheuserre-
questsa Webpage,the browserwillbedirectedto theWebcosmproxy.Webcosm
will
fetch thepagefrom the originallocationandannotatethe pagewith ertra linksbefore
passingthe modifedWebpagebacktotheuser's browser.
Whenthewebmaster hasac-
tivatedthisfeature,
theuserwillseeportions ofthetexttransformed intohyperlinks,
whicharederived
fromwhatis knownasa linkbase.
Thislinkbase at a min-
contains
imuma sourcewordor phrase,
a destination
URL[UniformResourceLocator]anda
description
of thelink.Thelinkbase
is generatedautomaticallybycrawling theWeb
siteat predeterminedintervals,
with the resultsfullytunableso that by movinga
slideronecandecidehowbroador narrowparticular
themescanbe.Bymakingthe
themesbroader,
nearly
everywordin a document
couldtheoretically
behyperlinked,
but by selectively
tuningthatvariable,
morerelevant
resultsareobtained.
Multiple
linkbasescanbe used,sothatdifferent
groupsofuserscouldseedifferent
results,
on theirprofileor interests.
depending (Emphasis
added)
By storing links apart from text, images,and other media forms, open hy-
permedia systemscan place links in someoneelse'sWeb document without
ever affecting that document. VannevarBush walks the Web. Depending on
the desiresof those who own the server,these addedlinks can be viewed by
anyonewho visits their website,or they can be screenedfrom outsiders.The
capacityof open hypermedia applicationslike Portal Maximizer to add links
to documents coming from another site has important implications for our
conceptionsofauthorship, intellectual property,and political rights, particu-
larly the right offree speech.
As we have observedin the discussion of the hypermedia
Hypertextwithout Linksl pioneers Bush and Nelson, they believed that one of the
greateststrengths of hypertext lies in its capacityto permit
users to discover or produce multiple conceptual structures in the same
body of information. A respected group of computer scientists, however,
reject Nelsonian style link-and-lexia hypertext representedby Intermedia,
Microcosm, and the World Wide Wbb. In'As We Should Have Thought"-
the title an obviousplay on Bush'sseminal essay-Peter |. Niirnberg, fohn |.
Leggett,and Erich R. Schneider assert, for example, that "linking is more
than harmful-it is downright deadly" (96). For anyone whose chief ex-
perience of hypermedia has involved reading computer help files and
materials on the World Wide Web, these statementsseem to come from
authors dwelling in some ThroughtheLookingGlassalternateuniverse-par-
ticularly when they explain that the "two main problems . . . with hyper-
media researchtoday" derive from "our current notion of linking. Firstly,
linking implies a certain kind of structural paradigm, one in which the user
(or occasionallya program) links information together for purposesof navi-
gation . . . Secondly,linking implies the primacy of data, not structure" (96).
They certainly describewhat is commonly understood to be hypertext, and
their reasonfor rejecting it becomesclear when they explain their emphasis
on structure:
Weshouldhaverealized
thathypermedia isjusta special
caseof a general
philosophy
in
ofcomputing which is
structure moreimportant thandata. should
Structure bethe
atomicbuilding
ubiquitous, blockavailable at alltimesandfromwhich
to allsystems
g
(includin
abstractions
allother are
data) derived.Herewe ofthe
callthisphilosophy
primacy "structural
of structure (95)
computing."
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 but simply wish to place their fundamentally different approachto comput-
ing "on a par with navigationsystems"(97).
Ntrnberg, Leggett,and Schneiderpoint to VIKI, a systemdevelopedby
CatherineC. Marshalland Frank M. Shipman III, as an exampleof spatial
hypertext.As Marshall and Shipman explain,VIKI, which functions as a con-
ceptual organizer,"providesusers with visual and spatial affordancesfor or-
ganizingand interpreting information" ("Information Triage,"125)."spatial
hypertext," they explain elsewhere, "has its origins in browser-basedap-
proachesin which the emerging hypertext network is portrayed graphically,
in an overview . . . In browser-basedhypertext, boxes generally symbolize
nodes;lines representthe links among them. In a completelyspatialview
of hypertext, the lines-links-may be removed from the picture, and the
nodes may move about freely against their spatial backdrop" ("Spatial Hy-
pertext,"online version). Systemslike VIKI rely on our "spatial intelligence,"
using graphicinterfacesto organizecomplex ideas.Boxlikeicons,which may
contain text, representconcepts,and users can arrangetheseboxesand nest
one inside another to explore or expresstheir relationship. The Storyspace
view, which functions in this manner, exemplifies one feature of spatial hy-
pertext, but to this VIKI adds "stmcture finding algorithms that analyzethe
spatial layout and the visually salient properties of the information objects,"
so that authors do not haveto construct explicit structuresthemselves.Many
discussionsof spatialhypertextso emphasizeconceptualstructuresthatthey
make it seem purely an organizational tool, but Marshall and Shipman be-
Iieve that both readersand writers can benefit from it "For readers,the sys-
tem providesan opporhrnity to readin context,with awarenessofthe related,
nearby nodes." For writers, it supports exploring various conceptual struc-
tures. For both, the graphicdisplay of manipulatableinformation hierarchies
"helps keep complexity tractable" ("Spatial Hypertext,"online version).
Niirnberg, Leggett,and Schneider'sdefinition of the conceptmakes me
suspectthat what they term spatialhyperte.rt
has little to do with hypertert and
hypermedia,though it certainly representsan important areaof research
in computer science.In contrast, Marshall and Shipman'sdescription of a
graphic overviewin which one can hide the lines representing links (which
one can do in Storyspace)suggeststhat such spatial display of information
doesplay a role in specifichypertext systems,though I don't know if by itself
that feature constitutesa form of hypermedia.Graphic sitemaps,suchas The
Victoian Web'sopening screen,the Storyspaceview, and EastgateSystemss
Tinderbox all exemplify graphic presentation of conceptual structures, but
they dont haveVIKI's ability to analyzeand represent such structrres com-
29
AN rNrRoDUcrloN putationally. Since the computer scienceliterature uses the term spatialhy-
peftert,I shall, too: in later chaptersit refers to those aspectsof hypertext en-
vironments, such as Storyspace,that use the graphic arrangement of lexias
to convey structural information.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 loss and gain, becauseas f . David Bolterand RichardGrushin convincinglyar-
gue, everynew medium
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Writing, probablythe most important technologyhuman beings everde-
veloped,exchangespresenceand simultaneity for asynchronouscommuni-
cation-for the opportunity to respond at one'sown convenience.Becauseit
does not base the act of communication on presence,writing does not re-
quire the person communicating to be in either the same place or the same
time as the person receiving the communication. The person communicat-
ing information placesit in a form that permits someone else to receiveit
later.Writing, printing, cinema,and video are all forms of asynchronouscom-
munication, which, as Mcluhan points out in TheGutenbergGalaxy,permits
reflection, abstraction,and forms of thought impossible in an oral culture.
Writing's combinationof absenceand asynchronisityobviouslypermits a new
kind of education,as well as itself becoming a goal of education,sinceteach-
ing reading and writing becomesa primary function of early instruction in
erasin which these skills are important.
For millennia, writing, which eventually leads to silent reading, none-
thelessremained a technologythat oddly combined orality and literacy.The
explanationfor this situation lies in economic and material factors.The
high cost and scarcity of writing surfacesprompted scribes to omit spaces
between words and adopt a bewildering array of abbreviations,all so they
could cram as many charactersaspossibleon a scroll or page.Thesematerial
conditions produced a kind of text that proved so difficult to read that it
chiefly servedas a mnemonic device,and readersoften read aloud. Eventu-
ally, around the year 1000,cheaperwriting materials led to the development
of interword spacing, which in turn encouragedsilent reading-a practice
that tended to exchangeexpressiveperformance and a communal experi
encefor privary,increasingreading speed,and the senseof personalor inner
place.Interword spacing,like the codex(whatwe generallycall a book),even-
tually changedreading from a craft skill to an ordinary one required ofevery
citizen.
Sincethe invention of writing and printing, information technologyhas
concentratedon the problem of creating and then disseminating static, un-
changing records oflanguage. As countless authors since the inception of
writing have proclaimed, such fixed records conquer time and space,how-
evertemporarily, for they permit one person to sharedata with other people
in other times and places.As Elizabeth Eisensteinargues,printing addsthe
absolutelycrucial element of multiple copiesof the sametext; this multiplic-
ity, which preservesa text by dispersing individual copiesof it, permits read-
ers separatedin time and spaceto refer to the same information (116).As
Eisenstein,Marshall Mcluhan, William M. Ivins, J. David Bolter, and other
33
AN tNrRoDUcroN studentsofthehistoryoftheculturaleffectsofprinttechnologyhaveshown,
Gutenberg'sinvention produced what we today understand as scholarship
and criticism in the humanities. No longer primarily occupiedby the task of
preservinginformation in the form of fragile manuscripts that degradedwith
frequent use, scholars,working with books, developednew conceptionsof
scholarship,originality, and authorial properfy.
Hand-set printing with movable type permits large numbers of readers
widely separatedin time and spaceto encounter essentiallythe same text-
and hence createsa new kind of virrual community of readers and many
other things basicto modern culture. The existenceof multiple copiesof the
samete)ctpermits readershundreds of miles and hundreds of yearsapart to
refer to specificpassagesby page number. Printing, which thus exemplifies
asynchronous,silent communication, provides the conditions for the devel-
opment of a humanistic and scientific culture dependenton the ability to cite
and discuss specific details of individual texts. And of course it drastically
changesthe nature of education,which moves from dictating primary texts
to the student to teaching the student modes of critical analysis."Even in the
early eighteenth century," Mcluhan reminds us, "a 'textbook'was still de-
fined as a 'ClassickAuthor written very wide by Students,to give room for an
Interpretation dictated by the Master, &c., to be inserted in the Interlines'
(O.E.D.).Beforeprinting, much of the time in schooland collegeclassrooms
was spent in making such texts" (UnderstandingMedia, t89).
High-speed printing, which appearedin the nineteenth century truly
acted as a democratizing force, producing many of our conceptionsof self
intellectual property,and education.In addition to creatinga virhral commu-
nity ofreaders,the relativelyinexpensivetextscreatedby high-speedprinting
radically changedthe notions of an earlier manuscript culture about how to
preservetexts:with printing, one preservestextsby creating and distributing
multiple copies of them rather than, as with manuscripts, which eventually
degradeafter many readings,protecting the text by permitting fewer people
to have accessto it. As we all know the book also functions as a kind of self-
teaching machine that turns out to be far more accessibleand hence more
quickly democratizing than manuscript texts can everbe.
Although the fixed multiple text produced by print technology has had
enormous effects on modern conceptions of literature, education, and re-
search,it still, asBushand Nelsonemphasize,confrontsthe knowledgeworker
with the fundamental problem of an information retrieval system basedon
physical instantiations of text-namely, that preserving information in a
fixed, unchangeablelinear format makes information retrieval difficult.
34
HYPERTEXT
3.0 We may statethis problem in two ways. First, no one arrangementof
information proves convenient for all who need that information. Second,
although both linear and hierarchical arrangementsprovide information in
some sort of order, that order doesnot alwaysmatch the needsof individual
users of that information. Over the centuries scribes, scholars,publishers,
and other makers ofbooks have invented a range ofdevices to increasethe
speedof what today are called information processingand retrieval. Manu-
script culture graduallysawthe invention ofindividual pages,chapters,para-
graphing, and spacesbetweenwords. The technologyof the book found
enhancementby pagination, indices, and bibliographies. Such deviceshave
made scholarshippossible,if not alwayseasyor convenientto carry out.
The next great changein information technology-and that which most
concernsus-came with the developmentof digital information technology.
For the first time, writing, which had alwaysbeen a matter of physicalmarks
on a physicalsurface,insteadtakesthe form ofelectronic codes,and this shift
from ink to electronic code-what fean Baudrillard calls the shift from the
"tactile" to the "digital" (Simulations,115)-produces an information tech-
nology that combines fixity and flexibility, order and accessibility-but at a
cost.12
Using Diane Balestri'sterminology,we can saythat all previous media
took the form of hard text (citedin Miles, " softvideography");computing pro-
duces soft text, and this fundamental change, like all developmentsin in-
fotech, comes with gains and losses.For example,although electronic writ-
ing has the multiplicity of print, it does not have the fixity-and hence the
reliability and stability-of either written or printed texts.
As Bolter and Grushin point out, over the past half century digital com-
puting has undergone what they call a "processof 'remediatization " during
which societyunderstood it as having fundamentally different purposes:
r About the same time, a few pioneers saw the computer as "a new writing
technology" (66).
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 that it is "not directly accessibleto either the writer or to the reader.The bits
of the text are simply not on a human scale.Electronictechnologyremovesor
abstractsthe writer and reader from the text. If you hold a magnetic tape or
optical disk up to the light, you will not see text at all . . . In the electronic
medium severallayers of sophisticatedtechnology must intervene between
the writer or reader and the codedtext. There are so many levelsof deferral
that the readeror writer is hard put to identify the text at all: is it on the screen,
in the transistor memory or on the disk?" (Writing Space,42-43).Further-
more, whereasa printed book has weight and mass, its digital form appears
immaterial."Ifyouwantto getpickyaboutthephysics,"Mitchellelegantlyex-
plains, "we can say that the corpus of classicalliterature is now embodied
electromagnetically,and, yes,electronsdo havemass.But that is irrelevant at
the level of everydayexperience.My briefcasequickly getsweighed down if I
load volumes of the Loeb ClassicalLibrary into it, but my laptop doesnot get
any heavierif I downloadthe TIG onto its hard drive" (Me++,23Ln.7).
The "'virrual' and the 'material,"' Ned Rossiterreminds us, "are always
intimately and complexly intertwined" (177),and so emphasizing the virfu-
ality of electronicturt and imogeinno way implies that the actualreading ex-
perienceinvolveseither a disembodiedreaderor a nonmaterial presentation
of text itself. As N. Katherine Hayles emphasizes,we haveto find new ways
"to think about embodiment in an ageof virfuality" (193).1s
We must, for ex-
ample, come to the absolutelynecessaryrecognition that the physical,mate-
rial conditions of computer deviceswe use affect our experienceof virhral
text. As I havepointed out elsewhere,the size of monitors, the changefrom
bitmap to grayscaleto color displays,the portability of computers, and our
physical distancefrom them make dramatic differencesin kinds of texts we
can read and write ("What's a Critic to Dol" and "Connected Images,"82).16
Computer text may be virtual, but we who read it are still physical,to read it
we rely on physicaldevices,and it has effectson the physicalworld. "Bits just
don't sit out there in cyberspace,"Mitchell reminds us, and therefore "it
makesmore senseto recognizethat invisible, intangible, electromagnetically
encodedinformation establishesnew types of relationships amongphysical
eventsoccurring in physicalplaces" (Me++, 4).
The code-basedexistence of electronic text that makes it virrual also
makes it infinitelyvariable. If one changesthe code,one changesthe text. As
Hayleshas pointed out, "When a text presentsitself asa constantlyrefreshed
image rather than as a durable inscription, transformations can occur that
would be unthinkable if matter and energy,rather than informational pat-
terns, formed the primary basisfor the systemicexchanges"(30).Further-
37
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 tion. Beforenetworkedcomputing, scholarlycommunication relied chiefly on
moving physicalmarks on a surfacefrom one placeto another with whatever
costin time and money such movement required. Networkedelectroniccom-
munication so drasticallyreducesthe time scaleof moving textual informa-
tion that it producesnew forms of textuality. fust as transforming print text
to electronic coding radically changedthe temporal scaleinvolved in manip-
ulating texts, so too has it changedthe temporal scaleof sharing them. Net-
worked electronic communication has both dramatically speededup schol-
arly communication and createdquickly accessibleversions of older forms
of it, such as online, peer-reviewedscholarlyjournals, and new forms of it,
such as discussion lists, chat groups, blogs, and IRC (Internet RelayChat)
(Landow,"Electronic Conferences,"350). In networked environments users
also experienceelectronic text as location independent, since wherever the
computer storing the text may residein physicalreality,usersexperienceit as
beinghere,on their machines.When one movesthe text-as-code, it movesfast
enough that it doesn't matter where it "is" becauseit can be everywhere ...
and nowhere.tTFinally, electronic Iertis net-work-able,alwayscapableof be-
ing joined in electronic networks. Thus, hypertext and the World Wide Web.
Like many featuresof digital textuality,the sheer speedof obtaining in-
formation has its good and bad sides.Its advantagesinclude increasingly so-
phisticated World Wide Web searchtools, such as Google,that can provide
neededinformation nearly instantaneously.For example,as part of the pro-
cessof writing Hypertert3.O I wantedto look up sometechnicalterms (RSS,
Atom feed)relatedto blogs.Typing one of theseterms into Google,I pressed
the "return" key and receiveda list of relevantweb documents in less than a
second-O.22 second,to be exact;the information I found most useful
occurred in the first and third listed items. The convenienceof such infor-
mation retrieval has increasinglyled studentsand faculty to use such search
tools insteadofphysical libraries. Indeed, "'one ofthe rarestthings to find is
a member of the faculty in the library stacks,"'-so Katie Hafner's article in
the Nep YorkTimesquotesan instructor at a major researchuniversity.
True, Hafner slightly sensationalizesthe use of Googlein researchby not
clarifying the difference between Internet searchesand online resources,
such as large collections of scholarly journals that originally appearedin
print. Facultyand studentsdevotea good deal of their researchtime to locat-
ing and reading these scholarly journals, so online versions of them are
enormously convenient:one can locateindividual articlesin a few minutes at
most, multiple users can read them at the same time, and one can obtain
them when the library is closed;some journals are actuallymore to pleasant
39
AN lNTRoDUcrloN to read online, since one can increasethe size of print in the online copy.
Nonetheless,not all researchinvolves back issues of specialistperiodicals,
and depending on Internet searchtools at the present time might causeone
to miss a good deal:
Thebiggest
problemisthatsearch
engines
likeGoogle
skimonlythethinnestlayers
of information
thathasbeendigitized.Mosthavenoaccess
to theso-called
deepWeb,
whereinformation is contained
in isolated
databases
likeonlinelibrarycatalogs.
Searchenginesseekso-called staticWebpages,
whichgenerally
do nothavesearch
functions
oftheirown.Information onthedeepWeb,ontheotherhand,comesto the
surfaceonlyas the resultof a database
queryfromwithina particular
site.Use
Coogle,for instance,
to research
UptonSinclair's 1934campaign
forgovernor
of Cal-
ifornia,
andyouwillmissan entirecollection
of pamphlets
accessible
onlyfromthe
University
of California
at LosAngeles's
archive
of digitized
campaign
literature.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Far more important, libraries frequently do not have that kind of infor-
mation missed by Internet searchtool in handwritten, Qped, or printed form
becausemany of thesematerials are out of fashion and hencefall beneaththe
radar. As an old-fashionedhide-bound scholar whose first books depended
on manuscripts and extremelyrare printed material, I quickly discoveredthat
my own university library and others had neither the information I needed
nor the information aboutthe information. For example,looking for the pub-
lished transcripts of sermons fohn Ruskin commented on in his diary while
in the midst of an agonizing religious crisis, I discoveredthat major New York
libraries had no record of whatwas once an extremelypopular and profitable
genre (at least three weekly British periodicals dispatchedstenographersto
take down the sermons of popular preachers;I stumbled onto the fact of their
existencewhen Ruskin quoted from one in a famous letter to The Times;the
greatVictorian scholarGeoffreyTillotson, then my Fulbright advisor,told me:
"I think you're on to something important. Follow it up."). I finally found un-
cataloguedcopiesstoredin a carton in the basementof a theologicalseminary.
Another example:the catalogueof the Beinekerare book library at Yale-"ac-
cessed"by snailmail and the good offices of a librarian-listed the manu-
script of one of Ruskin'sown childhood notes on sermons (his mother made
him do it), but I unexpectedlydiscoveredthe valuablefirst draft ofthese notes
in a display casein the tiny museum in Coniston, where Ruskin lived for
many years.Evenif one knows where materialsarelocatedthrough the schol-
arly grapevine,they may not be maintained in easily searchableform. After
traveling to the Isle of Wight to work with the vastcollection of Ruskin letters
and diaries at the Bembridge School, I discoveredthey were uncatalogued.
Evenlocating the catalogueentry for an item (the information about the in-
formation) doesnt mean you will find it. Thus, when I thought I had located
in the then-British Museum Library a crucial anonymous exhibition pam-
phlet in fact written by the artist V7.Holman Hunt himsel{, I submitted my
call-slip,waited forty-fiveminutes, and discoveredthat it had been "destroyed
by enemy action" during the Blitz; I unexpectedlybumbled onto a copyat the
bottom of a trunk when, as I was leavinghis adoptedgranddaughter'shome,
sheasked,"Would you like to look through some things in the garagel"That's
enough of what van Dam called van "barefoot-in-the-snowstories" (889) in
his keynoteaddressat the world's first hlpertext conference.Two points: first,
it's obviously better to be lucky than good, and, second, digitizing all the li-
brary cataloguesand deepWeb material in the world doesnot help if the in-
formation you need is not there in the first place-and for much of the most
interesting kind of researchthat cataloguinginformation doesnot exist.
41
HYPERTEXT
3.0 used to sell toothpastein the 1950sand aloewas used to sell hand lotion and
other cosmeticproductsin the 1970sand 1980s,interac-tivehas beenusedto
sell anything to do with computing, and the word certainly playeda support-
ing role in all the hype that led to the dotcom bust. The first time I heard the
two terms criticized, I believe,was in 1988,when a speakerat a conference,
who was satirizing falseclaims that computersalwaysgiveuserschoices,pro-
jected a slide of a supposeddialogue box. To the question, "Do you want me
to eraseall your datal" the computer offered two choices:"Yes"and "OK"'18
Espen Aarseth, who has particular scorn for inleracliveand interactivity,
quite rightly points out that "to declarea systemis interactiveis to endorseit
with a magic power" (aS).He proposesto replaceitby ergotic,"using a term
appropriatedfrom physicsthat derivesfrom the Greekwords ergonandhodos,
meaning'work' and'path.' In ergodic literature, nontrivial effort is required
to allow the reader to traversethe text. Ifergodic literature is to make sense
as a concept,there must alsobe nonergodicliterature, where the effort to tra-
versethe text is trivial, with no extranoematicresponsibilities placed on the
readerexcept(for example)eyemovement and the periodic or arbitrary turn-
ing of pages" \1-2\. Ergodic,which has the particular value of being new and
thus far not used in false advertising,has receivedwide acceptance,particu-
larly by thosewho study computer gamesas cultural forms. Still, Marie-Laure
Ryans Nanative as Virtual Reality(2001),one of the most important recent
books on digital culture, retains "interactive,"and a glancethrough the pro-
ceedings of 2003 Melbourne Digital Arts Conference reveals that people
working with fi1m and video also prefer the term.le
Ergodic,whenusedasa technicalterm, has its problems, too, sinceit's not
clearthat the reader's"eyemovement" and turning pages,which result from
intellectual effort, are in fact trivial-a point Aarseth himself seemsto accept
when he emphasizesBarthes'spoint that readerscan skip about a page (78).
Ergodicnonethelessappearsa useful coinage,and so is the word interactive
when used,as in Ted Nelson'swritings, to indicatethat the computer user has
power to intervene in processeswhile they take place, as opposedto the
power to act in a way that simply producesan effect,such as flipping a switch
to turn on a light. The wide misuse of an important term is hardly uncom-
mon. After alI, deconstructionhasbeen used in academicwriting and news-
papers to mean everything from "ordinary interpretation" to "demolition"
while the term classicalhasrneant everything from a "historical period," to an
"aestheticstyle,"to an "eternal principle found throughout human culture."
Before writing these paragraphs I checked the earlier version of Hypefiert
and found only four usesof interactiveotherthan in quoted material;this one
43
HYPERTEXT
3.0 sion. Interestingly enough, when Baudrillard correctly emphasizesthe role
of digitality in the postmodern world, he generally deriveshis examplesof
digitalization from media that, parficularly at the time he wrote, for the most
part dependedon analoguerather than digital technology-and the different
qualities and implications of each are great.Whereasanaloguerecording of
sound and visual information requires serial,linear processing,digital tech-
nology removesthe need for sequenceby permitting one to go directly to a
particular bit of information. Thus, if one wishes to find a particular passage
in a Bach sonata on a tape cassette,one must scan through the cassettese-
quentially, though modern tape decks permit one to speed the processby
skipping from spaceto spacebetween sectionsof music. In contrast,if one
wishes to locatea passagein digitally recordedmusic, one can instantly travel
to that passage,note it for future reference,and manipulate it in ways im-
possiblewith analoguetechnologies-for example,one can instantly replay
passageswithout having to scroll back through them.
In concentratingon nonalphanumeric media, and in apparentlyconfus-
ing analogue and digital technology,Baudrillard misses the opporrunity to
encounter the fact that digitalization also has the potential to prevent,block,
and bypass linearity and binarity, which it replaceswith multiplicity, true
reader activity and activation,and branching through networks. Baudrillard
has describedone major thread or constituent of contemporaryreality that is
potentially at war with the multilinear, hypertextualone.
In addition to hypertext, severalaspectsof humanities computing derive
from virruality of text. First of all, the easeof manipulating individual al-
phanumeric symbols produces simpler word processing.Simple word pro-
cessingin turn makes vastly easierold-fashioned,traditional scholady edit-
ing-the creationof reliable,supposedlyauthoritativetextsfrom manuscripts
or published books-at a time when the very notion of such single, unitary,
univocal texts may be changing or disappearing.
Second,this same easeof cutting, copytng,and otherwise manipulating
texts permits different forms of scholarlycomposition, ones in which the re-
searcher'snotes and original data exist in erperientially doser proximity to
the scholarlytext than everbefore. According to Michael Heim, as electronic
textuality frees writing from the constraints of paper-print technology,"vast
amounts of information, including further texts, will be accessibleimmedi-
ately below the electronic surface of a piece of writing . . . By connecting a
small computerto a phone,a professionalwill be ableto read'books'whose
footnotes can be expandedinto further'books'which in turn open out onto
45
::::;;':'ff
."11;
i;:H*11:1',H':il,T
precedented
linkage
rilff[ ffi:::::17
oftext.Bylinkage
I meannotsomeloosephysicalconnectionlike
discrete
bookssharing
a commonphysical spacein thelibrary.
Textderives
originally
fromtheLatinwordforweaving
andfor interwoven
material,
andit hascometo have
extraordinary
accuracy ofmeaning inthecaseofwordprocessing.
Linkageintheelec-
tronicelement
is interactive,
thatis,textscanbebrought
instantly
intothesamepsy-
chicframework.
(Electric
Language,l50-Gl
)
The presence of multiple reading paths, which shift the balance between
reader and writer, thereby creating Barthes'swriterly text, also createsa text
that exists far less independently of commentary, anaTogues, and traditions
than doesprinted text. This kind of democratizationnot only reducesthe hi-
erarchical separation between the so-calledmain text and the annotation,
which now exist as independent texts, reading units, or lexias, but it also
blurs the boundaries of individual texts. In so doing, electronic linking re-
configures our experienceof both author and authorial property, and this
reconceptionofthese ideaspromisesto affectour conceptionsofboth the au-
thors (and authority) of terts we study and of ourselvesas authors.
Equallyimportant, all these changestake place in an electronic environ-
ment, the Nelsonian docuverse,in which publication changesmeaning. Hy-
pertext,far more than any other aspectof computing, promises to make pub-
lication a matter of gaining accessto electronicnetworks. For the time being
45
HYPERTEXT
3.0 scholarswill continue to rely on books,and one can guessthat continuing rm-
provements in desktop publishing and laser printing will produce a late
effiorescenceof the text asa physicalobject.Nonetheless,thesephysicaltexts
will be produced (or rather reproduced)from electronictexts, and as readers
increasinglybecomeaccustomedto the convenienceof electronicallylinked
texts, books, which now define the scholar'stools and end-products, will
graduallylose their primary role in humanistic scholarship.
AN lNrRoDUcrroN tory. If we hope to discern the fate of readingand writing in digital environ-
ments, we must not ffeat all previous information technologiesof language,
rhetoric, writing, and printing as nontechnological.
As fohn Henry Cardinal Newman'sldca of a Universityremindsus, writ-
ers on education and culture havelong tended to perceiveonly the negative
effects of technology.To us who live in an age in which educatorsand pun-
dits continually elevatereading booksas an educationalideal and continually
attacktelevision as a medium that victimizes a passiveaudience,it comesas
a shock to encounter Newman claiming that cheap,easilyavailablereading
materials similarly victimized the public. According to him,
Whatthesteamenginedoeswithmatter,
the printingpressis to do withmind;it is
to actmechanically,
andthepopulation
is to bepassively,
almostunconsciously
en-
lightened,
bythe meremultiplication
anddissemination
of volumes. it be
Whether
il:rT::r::rTr
ll"ri'J:*::]*r,1':#]:lFif
Part of Newman's rationale for thus denouncing cheap, abundant reading
materialslies in the belief that they supposedlyadvancethe dangerousfallacy
that "learning is to be without exertion, without attention, without toil; with-
out grounding, without advance,without finishing"; but, like any conserva-
tive elitist in our own day,he fears the people unsupervised,and he cannot
believethat reading without proper guidance-guidance, that is, from those
who know from those in institutions like Oxford-can produce any sort of
valid education,and, one expects,had Newman encounteredthe self-taught
mill-workers and artisansofVictorian Englandwhomadediscoveriesin chem-
istry, astronomy,and geologyafter reading newly availablebooks, he would
not havebeen led to changehis mind.
Like Socrates,who feared the effects of writing, which he took to be an
anon)rynous,impersonal denaturing of living speech,Newman also fears an
"impersonal" information technology that people can use without supervi-
sion. And also like Socrates,he desires institutions of higher learning-
which for the ancient took the form of face-to-faceconversationin the form
of dialectic-to be sensitive to the needs of specific individuals. Newman
therefore argues that "a University is, according to the usual designation,
an Alma Mater,knowing her children one by one, not a foundry, or a mint, or
a treadmill."
Newman'scriticism of the flood of printed matter produced by the new
technologysuperficiallyechoesThomas Carlyle,whose "Signs of the Times"
48
HYPERTEXT
3.0 (1829)had lambastedhis age for being a mechanical one whose "true Deity
is Mechanism."In fact, claims this first of Victorian sages,
nottheexternal
andphysical
aloneis managed
by machinery,
butthe internal
and
spiritual
also.Heretoo nothingfollowsitsspontaneous nothingis lefttobe
course,
accomplished . . . lnstruction,
byold,naturalmethods thatmysterious
communing
of Wisdomwithlgnorance,
is no longeran indefinable process,
tentative requiring
a
studyofindividual anda perpetual
aptitudes, ofmeansandmethods,
variation to at-
tainthesameend;buta secure,
universal,
straightforward
business,
to beconducted
in thegross,bypropermechanism,
withsuchintellect
ascomesto hand.(101)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Studentsoftechnology and reading practicepoint to severalhundred yearsof
gradual change and accommodation,during which different reading prac-
tices, modes of publication, and conceptionsof literature obtained. Accord-
ing to Kernan,not until about 1700did print technology"transform the more
advancedcountries of Europe from oral into print societies,reordering the
entire socialworld, and restructuring rather than merely modifying letters"
(9). How long, then, will it take computing, specificallycomputer hypertext,
to effect similar changesl How long, one wonders, will the change to elec-
tronic languagetake until it becomesculturally pervasivelAnd what byvays,
transient cultural accommodations,and the like will intervene and thereby
createa more confusing, if culturally more interesting, picturel
The secondchief rule is that studying the relations of technologyto liter-
ature and other aspectsof humanistic culture does not produce any me-
chanical reading of culture, such as that feared by Jamesonand others. As
Kernan makes clear,understanding the logic of a particular technologycan-
not permit simple prediction becauseunder varying conditions the same
technology can produce varying, even contradictory,effects.J. David Bolter
and other historians of writing have pointed out, for example,that initially
writing, which servedpriestly and monarchical interests in recording laws
and records,appearedpurely elitist, evenhieratic;later,asthe practicediffused
down the social and economic scale,it appeareddemocratizing, even anar-
chic. To a large extent, printed books had similarly diverseeffects,though it
took far lesstime for the democratizingfactorsto triumph overthe hieratic-
a matter of centuries,perhapsdecades,instead of millennia!
Similarly, as Marie-Elizabeth Ducreux and Roger Chartier have shown,
both printed matter and manuscript books functioned as instruments of
"religious acculturation controlled by authority, but under certain circum-
stances[they] also supportedresistanceto a faith rejected,and proved an ul-
timate and secretrecourseagainst forced conversion."Booksof hours, mar-
riage charters,and so-calledevangelicalbooks all embodieda "basictension
betweenpublic, ceremonial,and ecclesiasticaluse of the book or other print
obj ect, and personal,private,and internali zed r eadingl'22
Kernan himself points out that "knowledge of the leading principles of
print logic, such as fixity, multiplicity, and systematization,makes it possible
to predict the tendenciesbut not rhe exactwaysin which they were to mani
fest themselvesin the history of writing and in the world of letters. The ide-
alization of the literary text and the attribution to it of a stylistic essenceare
both developmentsof latent print possibilities, but there was, I believe,no
precisenecessitybeforehandthat letters would be valorizedin theseparticu-
5I
AN tNrRoDUcrloN lar ways" (181).Kernan alsopoints to the "tension,if not downright contra-
diction, betweentwo of the primary energiesof print logic, multiplicity and
fixity-what we might call 'the remainderhouse' and the '7ibrary'effects"(55),
eachof which comesinto play,or becomesdominant, only under certain eco-
nomic, political, and technolosicalconditions.
The third lesson or *1. Jn. can derive from the work of Kernan and
other historians of the relations among reading practice,information tech-
nology,and culture is that transformations havepolitical contextsand politi
cal implications. Considerationsof hypertext, critical theory, and literature
haveto take into accountwhat famesoncallsthe basic "recognition that there
is nothing that is not socialand historical-indeed, that everythingis 'in the
last analysis'political" (Political l.Jnconscious,
201.
If the technology of printing radically changedthe world in the manner
that Kernan convincingly explains,what, then, will be the effectsof the par-
allel shift from print to computer hypertextl Although the changesassociated
with the transition from pdnt to electronictechnologymay not parallel those
associatedwith that from manuscript to print, paylng attention to descrip-
tions of the most recent shift in the technologyof alphanumeric text provides
areasfor investigation.
One of the most important changesinvolvedfulfilling the democrattzing
potential of the new information technology.During the shift from manu-
script to print culture "an older systemof polite or courtly letters-primariTy
oral,aristocratic,authoritarian,court-centered-was sweptaway. . . and grad-
ually replaced by a new print-based, market-centered,democratic literary
system" whose fundamental values "were, while not stictly determined by
print ways, still indirectly in accordancewith the actualities of print" (Ker-
nan, PintingTechnologies,4).If hipertextuality and associatedelecffonic in-
formation technologieshave similarly pervasiveeffects,what will they bel
Nelson, Miller, and almost all authors on hypertext who touch upon the po-
litical implications of hypertext assumethat the technologyis essentiallyde-
mocratizing and that it therefore supports some sort of decentralized,liber-
ated existence.As our earlier brief glance at Internet search technology
shows, networked electronic media have at least two contradictory logics-
empowerment of individual readersand their vastly increasedvulnerability
to surveillanceand consequentloss ofprivacy and security.
Kernan offers numerous specific instancesof ways that technoloW "ac-
tually affectsindividual and sociallife." For example,"by changing their work
and their writing, fprint] forced the writer, the scholar,and the teacher-the
standardliterary roles-to redefine themselves,and if it did not entirely cre-
52
HYPERTEXT
3.0 ate,it noticeablyincreasedthe importance and number of critics, editors,bib-
liographers,and literary historians." Print technologysimilarly redefinedthe
audiencefor literature by transforming it from
HYPERTEXT
3.0 between quotation marks." The implication of such citability, separability,
appearsin the fact, crucial to hypertext,that, as Derrida adds,"in so doing it
can break with every given context, engendering an infinity of new contexts
in a manner which is absolutelyillimitable" ("Signature,"185).
Like Barthes,Derrida conceivesoftext as constituted by discretereading
units. Derrida'sconceptionof text relatesto his "methodologyof decomposi-
tion" that might transgressthe limits of philosophy. "The organ of this new
philospheme," as Ulmer points out, "is the mouth, the mouth that bites,
chews,tastes. . . The first step of decomposition is the bite" (AppliedGram-
matology,5T).Derrida, who describestext in terms of something close to
Barthes'slexias,explainsin Glasthat "the object of the presentwork, its style
too, is the 'mourceau,"' which Ulmer translatesas "bit, piece, morsel, frag-
ment; musical composition; snack,mouthful." This mourceau,addsDerrida,
"is alwaysdetached,as its name indicatesand so you do not forget it, with the
teeth," and these teeth, Ulmer explains,refer to "quotation marks, brackets,
parentheses:when language is cited (put between quotation marks), the
effect is that of releasingthe grasp or hold of a controlling context" (58).
Derrida'sgroping for a way to foreground his recognition of the way text
operatesin a print medium-he is, after all, the fierce advocateof writing
as againstorality-shows the position, possiblythe dilemma, of the thinker
working with print who seesits shortcomingsbut for all his brilliance cannot
think his way outside this mentalit|. Derrida, the experienceof hypertext
shows,gropestoward a new kind of text: he describesit, he praisesit, but he
can only presentit in terms of the devices-here thoseof punctuatio
ciatedwith a particular kind of writing. As the Marxists remind us, thought
derivesfrom the forcesand modes of production, though, aswe shall see,few
Marxists or Marxians ever directly confront the most important mode of lit-
erary production-that dependent onthe techneof writing and print.
From this Derridean emphasison discontinuity comesthe conceptionof
hypertext as a vast assemblage,what I have elsewheretermed the metatert
Derrida in fact employs the word asseru-
and what Nelson calls the docuverse.
blagefor cinema,which he perceivesas a rival, an alternative,to print. Ulmer
points out that "the gram or trace provides the 'linguistics'for collage/mon-
tage" (AppliedGrammatology,26T),
andhe quotes Derrida'suse of assemblage
in Speechand Phenomena:"The word 'assemblage'seemsmore apt for sug-
gestingthat the kind of bringing-together proposedhere has the structure of
an interlacing, a weaving,or a web, which would allow the different threads
and different lines of senseor force to separateagain, as well as being ready
to bind others together" (131).To carry Derrida's instinctive theorizing of
55
HYPERTEXA
T ND hypertextfurther, one may also point to his recognition that such a montage-
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y like textuality marks or foregroundsthe writing processand therefore rejects
a deceptivetransparency.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 necessarilyturn one'sattention awayfrom such approaches.What is perhaps
most interesting about hypertext, though, is not that it may fulfill certain
claims of structuralist and poststructuralist criticism but that it provides a
rich means of testing them.
HYPERTEXA
T ND at the moment. One experienceshypertext as an infinitely decenterableand
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y recenterablesystem,in part becausehypertexttransforms any document that
has more than one link into a transient center,a partial sitemapthat one can
employ to orient oneself and to decidewhere to go next.
Western culture imagined quasimagical entrancesto a networked real-
ity long before the developmentof computing technology.Biblical typology,
which playedsuch a major role in English culture during the seventeenthand
nineteenth centuries,conceivedsacredhistory in terms of typesand shadows
of Christ and his dispensation.Thus, Moses,who existed in his own right,
alsoexistedas Christ, who firlfilled and completedthe prophet'smeaning. As
countlessseventeenth-centuryand Victorian seflnons, tracts, and commen-
taries demonstrate,any particular person, event,or phenomenon acted as a
magical window into the complex semiotic of the divine schemefor human
salvation.Like the biblical type, which allows significant eventsand phenom-
ena to participate simultaneously in many realities or levelsof reality,the in-
dividual lexia inevitablyprovidesa way into the network of connections.Given
that EvangelicalProtestantismin America preseryesand ertends thesetradi-
tions of biblical exegesis,one is not surprised to discoverthat some of the
first applicationsofhypertext involvedthe Bible and its exegeticaltradition.,
Not only do lexiaswork much in the manner of types,they also become
BorgesianAlephs, points in spacethat contain all other points, becausefrom
the vantagepoint each provides one can see everything else-if not exactly
simultaneously,then a short way distant, one or two jumps away,particularly
in systemsthat havefull text searching.Unlike forge Luis Borges'sAleph, one
does not have to view it from a single site, neither does one have to sprawl
in a cellar resting one'shead on a canvassack.3The hypertext document
becomesa traveling Aleph.
As Derrida points out in "Strucrr-rre,Sign,and Playin the Discourseof the
Human Sciences,"the processor procedurehe calls decenteringhas played
an essentialrole in intellectual change.He says,for example,that "ethnology
could have been born as a scienceonly at the moment when a de-centering
had come about: at the moment when European culture-and, in conse-
quence,the history of metaphysicsand of its concepts-had been dislocated,
driven from its locus, and forced to stop considering itselfas the culture of
reference" (251).Derrida makes no claim that an intellectual or ideological
centeris in any way bad,for, ashe explainsin responseto a query from Serge
Doubrovsky,"l didn't say that there was no center, that we could get along
without a center.I believethat the center is a function, not a being-a reality,
but a function. And this function is absolutelyindispensable" (27L\.
58
HYPERTEXT
3.0 A11hypertext systemspermit the individual reader to choosehis or her
own center of investigation and experience.What this principle means in
practiceis that the readeris not lockedinto any kind ofparticular organization
or hierarchy.Experienceswith various hypertextsystemsrevealthat for those
who chooseto organizea sessionon the systemin terms of authors-moving,
say,from Keatsto Tennyson-the systemrepresentsan old-fashioned,tradi-
tional, and in many ways still useful author-centeredapproach.On the other
hand, nothing constrainsthe readerto work in this manner, and readerswho
wish to investigatethe validity ofperiod generalizationscan organize their
sessions in terms of such periods by using the Victorian and Romantic
overviewsas starting points or midpoints while yet others can begin with ide-
ological or critical notions, such as feminism or the Victorian novel. In prac-
tice most readersemploy the materialsin TheVictoian Webas abrt-centered
system,sincethey tend to focus on individual works, with the result that even
if they begin sessionsby looking for information about an individual author,
they tend to spend most time with lexias devotedto specific texts, moving
betweenpoem and poem (Swinburne's"Laus Veneris" and Keats's"La Belle
Dame Sans Merci" or works centering on Ulyssesby foyce,Tennyson, and
Soyinka)and betweenpoem and informational texts ("LausVeneris"and files
on chivalry,medieval revival, courtly love, Wagner,and so on).
HYPERTEXA
T NO answer or fi.rlfillment. Thus, their explanation of a plateau accuratelyde-
CRITICALTHEORY scribes the way both individual lexias and clusters of them participate in a
web. 'A plateau,"they explain, "is alwaysin the middle, not at the beginning
or the end. A rhizome is made of plateaus.Gregory Batesonuses the word
'plateau' to designate something very
special: a continuous, selivibrating
region of intensities whose developmentavoidsany orientation toward a cul-
mination point or external end" (2t-221, such as orgasm, victory in war, or
other point of culmination. Deleuzeand Guattari,who criticize the "Western
mind" for relating "expressionsand actionsto exterior or transcendentends,
instead of evaluating them on a plane of consistencyon the basis of their
intrinsic value," take the printed book to exemplify such characteristiccli
mactic thought, explaining that "a book composedof chaptershas culmina-
tion and termination points" (22).
Like Derrida and like the inventors of hypertext, they propose a newer
form of the book that might provide a truer, more efficient information tech-
nology,asking: "What takesplacein a book composedinsteadof plateausthat
communicate with one another acrossmicrofissures,as in a brainl We call a
'plateau' any multiplicity
connected to other multiplicities by superficial
underground stemsin such a way as to form or extend a rhizome" (22).Such
a description, I should add, perfectly matches the way clusters or subwebs
organizethemselvesin large networkedhypertextenvironments, such asthe
World Wide Web.In fact, reducing Deleuzeand Guattari'sgrand prescription
to relativelypuny literal embodiment, one could take the sectionsconcerning
Gaskelland Trollope inThe VicTorianWeb,or the individual diary entries in
Phil Gyford'sWeblog version of Samuel Pepys'sDiaies, as embodiments of
plateaus.Indeed, one of the principles of reading and writing hypermedia-
as in exploring a library of printed books-lies in the fact that one can begin
anylvhere and make connections,or, as Deleuze and Guattari put it, "each
plateaucan be readstarting anywhereand canbe relatedto any other plateau."
Such a characteristicorganization (or lack of it) derives from the rhi
zome's fundamental opposition to hierarchy, a structural form whose em'
bodiment Deleuzeand Guattari find in the arborescent:"unlike treesor their
roots, the rhizome connectsany point to any other point, and its traits are not
necessarilylinked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very differ-
ent regimes of signs, and even nonsign states" (21).As Meyer explains in
Plateaus,a Storyspaceweb that has since been published as part of Witing at
theEdge,wegenerallyrely on "arborescentstruchrres,"such asbinary thought,
genealogies,and hierarchies,to divide the "seemingly endlessstream of
information about the world into more easilvassimilable bits. And. for this
60
HYPERTEXT
3.0 purpose, these structures serve admirably." Unfortunately, these valuable
"organizationaltools end up becoming the only methods of understanding,"
and limit insteadof enhanceor liberateour thought. "ln contrast,Deleuzeand
Guattariproposethe rhizome asa usefirl model for analysingstructures-the
potato,the strawberryplant, with their thickenings and shifting connections,
with their network-like structureinsteadof a tree-likeone" ("Tree/Rhizome").
This fundamental network structure explainswhy
therhizome
is reducible to theOnenorthemultiple. . . lt hasneither
neither begin-
a middle(milieu)fromwhichit growsandwhichit over-
ningnorend,but always
spills. . . Whena multiplicity
of thiskindchanges it necessarily
dimension, changes
in natureaswell,undergoes a metamorphosis . . . Therhizomeis an antigenealogy.
It is a short-term
memory, Therhizome
or antimemory. operates expan-
byvariation,
sion,conquest,
capture, Unlikethe graphic
offshoots. or photography,
arts,drawing,
therhizomepertains
unliketracings, to a mapthatmustbeproduced,constructed,
a mapthatisalways
detachable, reversible,
connectable, andhasmultiple
modifiable,
andexitsandits ownlinesofflight. . . In contrastto centered
entrylvays (evenpoly-
modesof communication
centric)systemswith hierarchical and preestablished
paths,therhizomeis an acentered, nonsignifring
nonhierarchical, withouta
system
Ceneral memoryor centralautomaton,
andwithoutanorganizing defined
solelyby
a circulation
ofstates.(21)
H Y P E R T E XA
TND ing is that it is entirely oriented toward an experimentation in contact with
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y the rea1"(12).Maps and hypertextsboth, in other words, relatedirectly to per-
formance,to interaction.
Like some statementsby Derrida, some of Deleuze and Guattari'smore
cryptic discussionsof the rhizome often become clearer when considered
from the vantagepoint of hypertext. For example,when they state that the
rhizome is a "a short-term memory or antimemory," something apparently
in complete contrast with any information technology or technology of cul-
tural memory they nonethelesscapturethe provisional,temporary changing
quality in which readersmake individual lexiasthe temporary center of their
movement through an information space.
Perhaps one of the most difficult portions of A ThousandPlateausin-
volvesthe notion of nomadic thought, something, again,much easierto con-
vey and experiencein a fluid electronic environment than from within the
world of print. According to Michael foyce,the first important writer of
hypertextfiction and one of the creatorsof Storyspace,Deleuzeand Guattari
reject "the word and world fully mappedaslogos,"proposing insteadthat "we
write ourselvesin the gap of nomos, the nomadic" (Of TwoMinds,207).They
offer or propose,he explains,"being-for spaceagainstbeing-in space.Weare
in the water,inscribing and inscribed by the flow in our sailing. We write our-
selvesin oscillationbetweenthe smooth spaceofbeing for-time (whathappens
to us as we go aswell as what happensto the spacein which we do so) and the
striated spaceof in-time (what happensoutside the spaceand us)" (207).
Those who find the ruptures and seams as important to hypertext as
the link that bridges such gapsfind that the rhizome has yet another crucial
aspectof hypertextuality.Moulthrop, for example,who "describeshypertexts
as composed of nodes and links, local coherencesand linearities broken
acrossthe gap or synapseof transition," takes this approach:"In describing
'prin-
the rhizome as a model of discourse,Deleuzeand Guattari invoke the
ciple of asignifying rupture' (9), a fundamental tendency toward unpre-
dictability and discontinuity. Perhapsthen hypefiext and hypermedia repre-
sent the expressionof the rhizome in the socialspaceof writing" ("Rhizome
and Resistance,"
304).
We must take carenot to push the similarity too far and assumethat their
descriptionsof rhizome, plateau,and nomadic thought map one to one onto
hypertext, since many of their descriptions of the rhizome and rhizomatic
thought appearimpossible to fulfill in any information technologythat uses
words, images, or limits of any sort. Thus when Deleuzeand Guattari write
that a rhizome "has neitherbeginning nor end, but alwaysa middle (milieu)
62
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3.0 from which it grows and which it overspills,"they describe something that
has much in common with the kind of quasi-anarchicnetworked hypertext
one encounters on the World Wide Web, but when the following sentence
addsthat the rhizome "is composednot of units but of dimensions, or rather
directions in motion" (21),the parallel seems harder to complete. The rhi
zome is essentiallya counterparadigm,not something realizablein any time
or culture, but it can serveas an ideal for hypertext,and hypertext,at leastNel-
sonian, ideal hypertext,approachesit as much as can any human creation.
HYPERTEXA
T ND The fourth meaning of network in relation to hypertext comes close to
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y matching the use of the term in critical theory. Network in this fullest sense
refersto the entiretyof all thoseterms for which there is no term and for which
other terms stand until something better comes along, or until one of them
gathers fuller meanings and fuller acceptanceto itself: Iiterature,infoworld,
docuverse,infact, allwritinginthe alphanumeric aswell as Derridean senses.
The future wide areanetworksnecessaryfor large-scale,interinstitutional and
intersite hypertext systemswill instantiate and reify the current information
worlds, including that of literature. To gain accessto information, in other
words, will require accessto some portion of the network. To publish in a
hyperterh.ralworld requires gaining access,howeverlimited, to the network.
The analogy,model, or paradigm of the network so central to hypertext
appearsthroughout structuralist and poststructuralist theoretical writings.
Relatedto the model of the network and its componentsis a rejection of
linearity in form and explanation,often in unexpectedapplications.One
exampleof such antilinear thought will suffice.Although narratologistshave
almost alwaysemphasizedthe essentiallinearity of narrative,critics have
recently begun to find it to be nonlinear. BarbaraHerrnstein Smith, for ex-
ample, arguesthat "by virrue of the very nature of discourse,nonlinearity is
the rule rather than the exceptionin narrativeaccounts"("NarrativeVersions,
Narrative Theories," 223). Since I shall return to the question of linear and
nonlinear narrativein a later chapter,I wish here only to remark that nonlin-
earity has become so important in contemporary critical thought, so fash-
ionable,one might say,that Smith's observation,whether accurateor not, has
becomealmost inevitable.
The generalimportance of non- or antilinear thought appearsin the fre-
quencyand centrality with which Barthesand other critics employ the terms
link, network,web,andpoth. More than almost any other contemporarytheo-
rist, Derrida usesthe terms link, web,network,matix, and interweavir.gasso-
ciatedwith hypefiexruality; and Bakhtin similarly employslinks (Problems,9,
25),linkage(9),interconnectedness(19),and interwoven(72).
Like Barthes,Bakhtin, and Derrida, Foucaultconceivesof text in terms of
the network, and he relies preciselyon this model to describehis project, "the
archaeologicalanalysisof knowledge itselfl' Arguin g in The Order of Things
that his project requires rejectingthe "celebratedcontroversies"that occupied
contemporaties,he claims that "one must reconstitutethe generalsystemof
thought whosenetwork, in its positivity,rendersan interplay of simultaneous
and apparentlycontradictoryopinions possible.It is this network that defines
the conditions that make a controversyor problem possible,and that bearsthe
54
HYPERTEXT
3.0 historicityofknowledge" (75).Order,for Foucault,is in part "the innerlaw, the
hidden network" (n<);and accordingto him a "network" is the phenomenon
"that is able to link together" (727)a wide range ofoften contradictory tax-
onomies, obsewations,interpretations, categories,and rules of observation.
Heinz Pagels'sdescription of a network inThe Dreamsof Reasonsuggests
why it has such appealto those leery of hierarchical or linear models. Ac-
cording to Pagels,'A network has no 'top' or 'bottom.' Rather it has a plural-
ity of connectionsthat increasethe possible interactions between the com-
ponents ofthe network. There is no central executiveauthority that oversees
the system" (20).Furthermore, as Pagelsalsoexplains,the network functions
in various physical sciencesas a powerful theoretical model capableof de-
scribing-and hence offering researchagendafor-a range of phenomena
at enormously different temporal and spatial scales.The model of the net-
work has capturedthe imaginations of those working on subjectsas appar-
ently diverseas immunology, evolution, and the brain.
H Y P E R T E XA
TND confining situation, he perceivesa network as something that confines and
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y limits: "Locked within the totality of a corpus, within a complex system of
relationships,the novel is, in its very letter, allusion, repetition, and resump-
tion of an objectwhich now begins to resemblean inexhaustibleworld" (2681.
Frederic fameson, who attacks Louis Althus ser in The Political Uncon'
sciousfor creatrngimpressions of "facile totalization" and of "a seamlessweb
of phenomena" (271,himself more explicitly and more frequently makes
these models the site of error. For exampTe,when he criticizes the "anti
speculativebias" of the liberal tradition in Marxism and Fonn, he notes "its
emphasis on the individual fact or item at the expenseof the network of re-
lationships in which that item may be imbedded" as liberalism's means of
keeping people from "drawing otherwise unavoidable conclusions at the
political level" (x).The network model here representsa firll, adequatecon-
textualization,one suppressedby an other-than-Marxistform of thought, but
it is still only necessaryin describing pre-Marxian society.fameson repeats
this paradigm in his chapteron Herbert Marcusewhen he explainsthat "gen-
uine desirerisks being dissolvedand lost in the vast network of pseudosatis-
factions which make up the market system" (100-101).Once again, network
provides a paradigm apparentlynecessaryfor describing the complexitiesof
a fallen society.It does so again when in the Sarlre chapter he discusses
Marx's notion of fetishism, which, according to fameson, presents "com-
'objective' network of relationships which they entertain
modities and the
with eachother" asthe illusory appearancemasking the "reality of sociallife,"
which "lies in the labor processitself" (296).
HYPERTEXT
3.0 them all." No passagehas any particular priority overthe others, in the sense
of being more important or as being the "origin or end of the others" (58).
Similarly, in providing "an 'example' of the deconstructive strategy of
interpretation,"in "The Critic as Host" (1979),he describesthe dispersed,
linked text block whose paths one can follow to an ever-widening,enlarging
metatext or universe. He applies deconstructivestrategy"to the cited frag-
ment of a critical essaycontaining within itself a citation from another essay,
like a parasitewithin its host."Continuing the microbiological analogy,Miller
next explains that "the 'example' is a fragment like those miniscule bits of
some substancewhich are put into a tiny test tube and explored by certain
techniquesof analyticalchemistry. [One gets]so far or so much out of a little
piece oflanguage, contert after contextwidening out from thesefew phrases
to include as their necessarymilieux a1lthe family of Indo-European lan-
guages,all the literature and conceptualthought within theselanguages,and
all the permutations of our social structures of household economy, gift-
giving and gift receiving" (223).
Miller does point out that Derrida's "Glas and the personal computer
appearedat more or less the same time. Both work self-consciouslyand
deliberatelyto make obsoletethe traditional codexlinear book and to replace
it with the new multilinear multimedia hypertextthat is rapidly becoming the
characteristicmode of expressionboth in culture and in the study of cultural
forms. The 'triumph of theory' in literary studiesand their transformation by
the digital revolution are aspectsof the same sweeping change" (.,Literary
Theory" 20-21]t.This sweeping change has many components, to be sure,
but one theme appearsboth in writings on hypertert (andthe memex) and in
contemporarycritical theory-the limitations of print culture, the culture of
the book. Bush and Barthes,Nelson and Derrida, like all theorists of these
perhaps unexpectedlyintertwined subl'ects,begin with the desire to enable
us to escapethe confinements of print. This common project requires that
one first recognizethe enormous power of the book, for only after we have
made ourselvesconsciousof the ways it has formed and informed our lives
can we seekto pry ourselvesfree from some of its limitations.
Looked at within this context, Claude Ldvi-strauss'sexplanationsof
preliterate thought in The SavageMind and in his treatises on mythology
appearin part as attempts to decenterthe culture of the book-to show
the confinements of our literate culture by getting outside of it, however
tenuously and however briefly. In emphasizing electronic, noncomputer
media, such as radio, television,and film, Baudrillard, Derrida, fean-Frangois
67
HYPERTEXA
T ND Lyotard,Mcluhan, and others similarly argueagainstthe future importance
C R I T I C A LT H E O R Y of print-basedinformation technology,often from the vantagepoint of those
who assumeanaloguemedia employing sound and motion as well as visual
information will radically reconfigure our expectationsof human nature and
human culture.
Among major critics and critical theorists, Derrida standsout as the one
who most realizesthe importance of free-form information technologybased
on digital, ratherthan analogue,systems.As he points out, "the development
of practical methodsof information retrieval extendsthe possibilities of the
'message'vastly,to the point where it is no longer the 'written translation of
HYPERTEXT
3.0 science,therefore,of hlpertext.sOne may add that Derrida also describes
disseminationas a descriptionof hypertext:"Alongwith an orderedextension
of the conceptof text, dissemination inscribes a different law governing the
effectsof senseor reference (the interiority of the 'thing,' reality, objectivity,
essentiality,existence,sensible or intelligible presence in general, etc.), a
different relation betweenwriting, in the metaphysicalsenseof the word, and
its 'outside' (historical,political, economical,sexual,etc.),,(Dissemination,42\.
Reconfiguringthe Text
RECONFIGURING icons in the form ofred crosses)and the fact that readerscan add both book-
THE TEXT marks and their own annotations.
A more elaborateform of hypertexluality appearsin the earlier CD Word:
The InteractiveBibleLibrary,which a team basedat DallasTheological Semi-
nary createdusing an enhancedversion of Guide"t. This hypertext Bible cor-
pus, "intended for the student, theologian,pastor,or lay person" rather than
for the historian of religion, includesthe King ]ames,New International, New
American Standard,and RevisedStandardversions of the Bible, as well as
Greektexts for the New Testamentand Septuagint.Thesematerials are sup-
plementedby three Greeklexica,two Bible dictionaries,and three Bible com-
mentaries (DeRose,CD Word,L, 117-26).Using this system,which storesthe
electronic texts on a compact disc, the Bible reader can juxtaposepassages
from different versions and compare variants, examine the original Greek,
and receiverapid assistanceon Greek grammar and vocabulary.
A similar kind of corpus that usesa more sophisticatedhypertext system
is Paul D. Kahn'spioneering ChineseLiteratureIntermedia web, which offers
different versionsof the poetry of Tu Fu (772-7701,ranging from the Chinese
text, Pin-yin transcriptions,and literal translationsto much freer onesby Ken-
neth Rexroth and others. ChineseLiteraturealso includes abundant second-
ary materials that support interpreting Tu Fu's poetry. Like CD Word.,Kahns
Intermedia corpuspermits both beginning and advancedstudentsto approach
a canonicaltext in a foreign languagethrough various versions,and like the
hypertext Bible on compact disc, it also situatesits primary text within a net-
work of links to both varying translations and referencematerials.
Beforeconsidering other kinds of hypertext,we should note the implicit
justifications or rationales for these two successfulprojects. CD Word pres-
ents its intended readerswith a particularly appropriatetechnologicalpres-
entation of the Bible becausethey habitually handle this text in terms of brief
passages-or, as writers on hypertext might put it, as if it had "fine granu-
larity." Becausethe individual poems of Tu Fu are fairly brief, a body of them
invites similar conversionto hypertext.
Figure8. The Original lntermediaVersionof TheIn Memoriam Web.ln this snapshotof a typicalscreenduring a sessionon Inter-
media, the active document, In Memoriam, section 7 ("ln Mem 7"), appears at the lower left center ofthe screenwith a darkened
striP acrossits top to indicate its status. Using the capacitiesofhypertext to navigatethe poem easily,a readerhas juxtaposed sec-
tions I l9 and 7, which echo and completeeachother.ln Memoriamoverview(lN M EM OV), which appearsat the upper left, is a
graPhicdocumentthat seryesas a sitemap:it organizeslinked materialsunder generalizedheadings,such as "CulturalContext:
contrast to the hierarchicallyorganizedoverviewsthe author creates,the Web View shows titled icons representingall documents
connectd electronicallyto the activedocument, here section 7 ofthe poem. Touchingany link markerwith the arrow-shapedcursor
darkensthe iconsrepresentingthe documentslinkedto it; in this case,the readerhasdarkenedthe markerabovethe phrase(com-
paredto I 19" and therebydarkenedicons representingboth the text ofsection 7 and a studentessaycomparingit to sectionI 19.
tlr tdttt*gl&M{)t t
n tl #eesf .rr
.4i. .fr " _jEl*--]
In Memoriam ffi
Sectioni ik*,
, S {a t} *! f'.t6rlsiis8 *
I soi
T( S(tion 6
F(
revq 4 &i']f t r{}a
:A ln sem*rdft :
Likc
Io follo*
.lidsd.
linLcplrawrook
rddd a. euu.
vm
r;o*
fiarroiffi;
lng A hand that canbe cl Time and Hour
Alfind Tenny*on
: c'e4r1
- rrrl tseholdryr for I can
Brqr*phy
(hr*n*logy : L i li,i And like a gurltv th
; caH l. At earlhst fiDminfl t{}
Dt
Artislir N.*lation* t'a'n n {LL r\ i,ldri*lJ uv
. d,:".r':
\ti{ual arls : . - The Retigion in
: f,ngland 0v*ryiew '-
Ccnl*xle
: e f} * *s{ rhir {an ,* {!*ss, i
Annotation to li Memoriam'
(SML}
Rkks 871c{rmparesI 3 with L 9 ot virt$r Htlur$"
i Tennvsqn's"If I wer* hvsd", rvhich rc$ "e{rrr Tfurp,and ieach nx, truny yeir$"
prebabh'rvrillento llenru llaliam "Cl :
'"on
hour For private sormwk barren
hard-in-hrndwrth thee I le aho drav
compariton with I,r Prinrrs"c6t 1S8:"lt '?ll was good
that Tinx could bring"
handsro latelvrlasut rvith vours." I : "ihe
'Thefkh of tinr"
hrl* draws nearlhe birth of Christ"
Figure 9. The StoryspaceVersion of The In Memoriom Web. Readerscan make their way through this body of interlinked docu-
ments in a number ofways. One can proceed by following links from principal overviews,such as that for the entire web (at \fi1,
religion in England (lower right), or individual motifs-in this casethat for tim e (middle right). One can also explorethe folderlike
structure ofthe Storyspaceview (upper rightl, which can contain a dozen or more layers,or one can follow links from individual
sections ofthe poem. This screen shot indicates how multiwindow hypertext systems, such as Storyspace,Intermedia, and Mul-
ticosm, enableauthorsto fix the locationof windows,therebypermitting one to arrangethe screenin ways that help orient the
reader.Readerscan easily move between parts ofthe poem and commentary on it.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 by using narrative to structure description, In Memoriam anticipates elec-
tronic hypertextuality precisely by challenging narrative and literary form
basedon it. Convincedthat the thrust of elegiacnarrative,which drives the
reader and the mourner relentlesslyfrom grief to consolation,falsified his
own experiences,the poet constructeda poem of 131fragments to commu-
nicate the ebb and flow of emotion, particularly the way the aftershocksof
grief irrationally intrude long after the mourner has supposedlyrecovered.
Arthur Henry Hallam's death in 1833forced Tennyson to question his
faith in nature, God, and poetry. In Memoiam revealsthat Tennyson, who
found that brief lynics best embodied the transitory emotions that buffeted
him after his loss,rejectedconventionalelegyand narrativebecauseboth pre-
sentedthe readerwith a too unified-and hence too simplified-version of
the experiencesofgriefand acceptance.Creatingan antilinear poetry offrag-
ments, Tennyson leads the reader of In Memoiam from grief and despair
through doubt to hope and faith; but at each step stubborn, contrary emo-
tions intrude, and one encountersdoubt in the midst of faith and pain in the
midst of resolution. Instead of the elegiacplot of "Lycidas,"'Adonais," and
"Thyrsis," In Memoiam offers fragments interlacedby dozensof imagesand
motifs and informed by an equal number of minor and major resolutions,
the most famous of which is section 95's representation of Tennyson'scli
mactic, if wonderfully ambiguous, mystical experienceof contactwith Hal-
lam's spirit. In addition, individual sections,like 7 and 1!9 or 28,78, andL04,
variously resonatewith one another.
The protohypertextuality of In Memoiam aromizesand dispersesTen-
nyson the man. He is to be found nowhere, exceptpossibly in the epilogue,
which appearsafter and outside the poem itself. Tennyson, the real, once-
existing man, with his actual beliefs and fears, cannot be extrapolatedfrom
within the poem's individual sections,for each presentsTennyson only at a
particular moment. Traversingthese individual sections,the reader experi
encesa somewhatidealizedversion of Tennyson'smoments of grief and
recovery.In Memoiam thus fulfills Paul Val6ry's definition of poetry as a
machine that reproducesan emotion. It also fulfills another of Benjamin's
observations,one he makes in the courseof contrastingpainter and camera-
man: "The painter maintains in his work a natural distancefrom reality,the
cameramanpenetratesdeeplyinto its web. There is a tremendous difference
betweenthe pictures they obtain. That of the painter is a total one, that of the
cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembledunder a
new law" (Illuminations, 233-34). Although speaking of a different infor-
mation medium, Benjamin here capturessome senseof the way hypertext,
75
RECONFIGURING when comparedto print, appearsatomized; and in doing so,he also conveys
THE TEXT one of the chief qualities of Tennyson'santilinear, multisequential poem.
The In. Memoiamweb attemptsto capturethe nonlinear organization of
the poem by linking sections,such as 7 and 119,2 and 39,or the Christmas
poems, which echo acrossthe poem to one another. More important, using
the capacitiesof hypertext, the web permits the reader to trace from section
to section severaldozen leitmotifs that thread through the poem. Working
with section 7,for example,readerswho wish to move through the poem fol-
lowing a linear sequencecan do so by using links to previous and succeeding
sections,but they can also look up any word in a linked electronicdictionary
or follow links to variant readings,critical commentary (including a compar-
ison of this sectionand 119),and discussionsof the poem's intertertual rela-
tions. Furthernore, activating indicated links near the words dark, house,
d.oors,
hand, andguilty producesa choiceof severalkinds of materials.Choos-
inghand instantly generatesa menu that lists all the links to that word, and
these include a graphic directory of In Mernoiam's maior images, critical
commentary on the image of the hand, and, most important, a concordance-
like list of each use of the word in the poem and the phrase in which it ap-
pears;choosing any one item in the list producesthe linked document, the
graphicoverviewof imagery a critical comment, or the full text of the section
in which a particular use of hand appears.
Using the capacitiesof Intermedia and Storyspaceto join an indefinite
number of links to any passage(or block) of text, the reader moves through
the poem along many different axes. Although, like the previously men-
tioned hypertext materials, the In Memoriarnwebcontains referencemateri-
als and variant readings,its major difference appearsin its use of link paths
that permit the reader to organize the poem by means of its network of leit-
motifs and echoing sections.In addition, this hypertext presentationof Ten-
nyson'spoem also contains a heavily linked graphic overviewof the poem's
literary relations-its intertextual relations,sources,analogues,confluences,
and influences-that permits one to read the poem along axesprovided by
sets of links relating to the Bible and to works by thirty-eight other writers,
chiefly poets, including Vergil, Horace, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare,and
Milton as well asthe Romanticsand Victorians.Although Lanestedt,various
students, and I createdthese links, they represent a form ofobjective links
that could have been createdautomatically by a full-tert search in systems
such as Microcosm. Here, as in other respects,this web representsan adap-
tive form ofhypertext.
In contrast to adapting texts whose printed versions alreadydivide into
76
HYPERTEXT
3.0 sectionsanalogousto lexias, one may, in the manner of Barthes'sffeatment
of "sarrasine" in S/2, impose one's own divisions on a work. Obvious ex-
amples of possible projects of this sort include hlpertert versions of either
"sarrasine" alone or of it and Barthesk S/2. Stnrt Moulthrop's version of
ForkingPaths:An lwteractionafierJorgeLuisBorges(1987)adaptsBorges's"Fork-
ing Paths"in an electronicversion that activatesmuch of the work's potential
for variation (seeMoulthrop, "Readingfrom the Map"). Other fiction that ob-
viously calls for translation into hlpertext includes Julio Cortiza{s Hopscotch
and Robert Coover's"The Babysitter."
These instances of adaptivehypertext all exemplify forms of transition
betweentexhralityand hypertexruality.In addition,works originally conceived
for hypertextalreadyexistaswell. Thesewebselectronicallylink blocksof text,
that is, lexias, to one another and to various graphic supplements, such as
illustrations, maps, diagrams, and visual directories and overviews,some of
which are foreign to print technology.In the future there will be more meta-
texts formed by linking individual sectionsof individual works, although the
notion of an individual, discretework becomesincreasinglyundermined and
untenablewithin this form of information technology,asit alreadyhaswithin
much contemporary critical theory. Such materials include hypertextual
poetry and fiction, which I shall discusslater in this volume, and the already
abundant World Wide Web equivalentsof scholarlyand critical work in print.
One of the first such works in this new medium-certainly the first on
Intermedia-was Barry J. Fishman's"The Works of Graham Swift: A Hyper-
text Thesis," a 1989 Brown University honors thesis on the contemporary
British novelist. Fishman'sthesis takesthe form of sixty-twolexias,of which
fifty-five are text documents and sevendiagrams or digitized photographs.
The fifty-five text documents he created,which range from one-half to three
single-spacepages in length, include discussions of Swift's six published
bookJength works, the reviewseachreceived,correspondencewith the nov-
elist, and essayson themes, techniques, and intertexfual relations of both
eachindividual book and Swift'sentire oeuvreup to 1989.Although Fishman
created his hypermedia corpus as a relatively self-contained set of docu-
ments, he linked his materials to severaldozen documents alreadypresent
on the system,including materialsby faculty members in at leastthree differ-
ent departments and comments by other students. Since Fishman created
his web, it has grown as many other students addedtheir own lexias,and it
moved first to Storyspaceand, more recently,to the World Wide Web,where
it constitutesan important part of a web containing materials on recent An-
glophone postcolonialand postimperial literature.
I have been describing new kinds ofdiscursive prose, for at
New Formsof Discursive the very least hypertext enablesnew forms of the academic
essay,book review and thesis. More than a decade'swork by
Prose-AcademicWriting
thousandsofscholars using the Internet has shown that these
and Weblogs academicgenrescantake three basicforms. At their simplest,
the author simply placesa text without links into an HTML
template that includes navigation links. As Peter Brusilovsky and Riccardo
Rizzo have pointed out in a prize-winning conferencepaper, a great deal of
current academicwriting for the Webfollows this model, which doesnot take
advantageof the possibilities of hypertext.
In a secondkind of hypertext prose,the author createsa document with
links to documents on the same as well as on other websites.In essencethis
means, as I urge my students,that we must write with an awarenessthat we
are writing in the presenceof other texts. These other texts may support or
contradictour argument, or some of them may serveasvaluableannotations
to it. For example,my review in The Vicloian Webof foseph Bizup's Monu-
factuing Culture:Vindicationsof Early Victoion Industry(2Q03)containsmore
than a dozen links to on-site materials about authors, novels,and historical
events. In contrast, a review of Dale H. Porter's The ThamesEmbqnkment:
Environrnent,Technology, and.Societyin VictorianLondon(1998)contains few
links to existing lexiasbut more than a dozen to brief samplepassagesfrom
Porter'sbook on topicsincluding Oxford in 1850,the invention of urban green
spaces,civil engineering as a profession,and Victorian wagesfor skilled and
unskilled labor. In addition to making links to these brief lexias from the
main text, I also appendeda list of them plus a few others at the end of the re-
view. Links to Porter'smaterials were also addedto the sitemapsfor science,
technology,social history and economics. Both author and publisher were
delighted with this approachto reviewing becausethey believed,correctly,
that it spreadword about Porter'swork in a particularly effectiveway.
The third kind of hlpertext essay,as we have seenfrom Fishman'shon-
ors thesis, takesthe form of a set of networked documents,createdeither to
stand alone,as it largelywas, or to take part in a larger web. Either way,an au-
thor wanting to conceiveof an argument in terms of networked documents
can write a conciseessayto which she or he links a wide rangeof supporting
evidence. Readerscan then choosewhat areas they want to investigatein
greaterdepth, and these auxiliary materials thereby becomeparatexts,easily
accessibleadd-onsto the lexia one is currently reading.
The Weblog,or blog, asit is commonly known, is anothernew kind of dis-
cursive prose in digital form that makes us rethink a genre that originally
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3.0 arose when writing took the form of physical marks on physical surfaces.
Blogging, the latest Internet craze,has major importance for anyone inter-
ested in hypertext becauseone form ofit provides the first widely available
means on the Web of allowing the activereader-authorenvisagedby Nelson,
van Dam, and other pioneers.Blogstake the form of an online journai or
diary most commonly written by a single person, and, like paper journals
and diaries, they present the author'swords in dated segments.Unlike their
paperpredecessors,they presententries in reversechronologicalorder.They
can employ two different forms of hypertextuality.First, unlike discussion
lists, all bloggers can link chronologically distant individual entries to each
other, thereby "allowing readersto put events in context and get the whole
story without the diarist having to erplain again" (McNeill, 30).The second
form of hypertexruality occurs only in those blogger systems that permit
readersto comment on entries. Here's how it works: encountering a com-
ment on my son'sblog about the legality of China's revoking the patent for
Viagra, I clicked on the word "Comment" and thereby opened a form into
which I pastedmy remarks plus a few sentencesfrom Vincent Mosco'shis-
torical accountof nineteenth-centuryAmerican information piracy (which I
use in chapter 8, below). Before I could submit it, the form containing my
comment requestedthree bits of information: my e-mail address(required),
my name ("real is appreciated"),and the URL of my website,if any (optional).
Returning to the blog, I discoveredthat the zero next to "comment" had
changedto "1." Clicking on the word "comment" opened a document con-
taining what I had just submitted plus a spacefor other people to add their
responsesto my comment. There are more than a dozen kinds of blogging
software,and many, including b2Evolution, MoveableType,and Serendipity,
havethe Trackbackfeature that also allows bloggersto post links back to the
site of anyonewho commented on them.
Visually,blogstakemany forms, but most haveseveralcolumns,the widest
dedicatedto the dated entries and one or more others containing links to
archivesof older entdes, personal information, associatedblogs, and major
topics of interest to the person who owns the site. Many contain images and
evenvideo, and most contain a personal statementor description of the site,
which may be very brief, such as "i stashthings here so i can find them again.
sometimesother peoplecome visit. or so the tracker implies." Somebloggers
maintain two or more sites, one devotedto their academicor professional
interestsand another to their personaldiary. Many usersprefer reading blogs
of friends and family members to e-mail, becausethey haveno spam, and for
that and other reasonsthey havebecome enormously popular. Many sophis-
79
RECONFIGURINC siteswith someof the information for which I waslooking, but among the top
THE TEXT entries appearedone from the blog of a young woman enumerating her sex-
ual experiences(I hadn t meant that "how many"!). Her entry,which appeared
as a separatelexia, containedlinks to another blog with similar material, and
when I clicked on the link in the original blog labeled "Home," I found a site
whosecontentsreminded me ofthe HBO televisionshow "Sexandthe City"-
more for the comedy,though, than the sex.Although the blogger identifies
herself only as "Blaise K. ," she includes enough personal information, in-
cluding photographsand the asserLionthat she is black and fewish, that her
anon;rnity doesnt seem very well protected. I assume the blogger intends
the site for her friends, but Googlemistakenly brought me there, as it may
well bring her parentsand employers.It is verydifficult to maintain this kind
ofpublic privacy.
McNeill points out that such sites "often reinforce the stereotypeof the
diary as a genre for unbridled narcissism" becausethey assume that other
people care about what bloggers have to say.That narcissism, McNeill ad-
mits, often turns out be justified, for some online diaries receivethousands
of visitors and make their authors famous. They also place the author's re-
marks about private matters in a very public space.In fact, one of the most
interesting effectsof blogging lies in the way it unsettlesour accustomedbor-
ders betweenthe private and public spheres."In their immediacy and acces-
sibility, in their seeminglyunmediated state,Web diaries blur the distinction
between online and offiine lives, 'virnral reality' and 'real life,' 'public' and
'private,' and
most intriguingly for auto/biography studies,betweenthe life
and the text" (McNeill, 25).Thoseblogs that acceptcomments allow McNeill
claims, the "readerof an online diary" to participateactively
in constructing
thetextthediaristwrites,andtheidentities
heor shetakeson in the
narrative.
Thoughactiveandevenintimate, however,
thatparticipation
remains vir-
tual,disembodied.Theconfessor staysbehindthe "grille"of the Internet,allowing
the diarist*and the reader-the illusionof anonymitynecessary for "full" self-
exposure.JanetMurraynotesthat"somepeopleputthingson theirhomepage. . .
thattheyhavenottoldtheirclosest friends.Theenchantmentofthe computer cre-
atesforusa publicspacethatalsofeelsveryprivate inti
and mate" (99). . . Fortheon-
linediarist,havingreaders
meansthatthediaristhasboth.joinedandcreated com-
munities,
actsthatinformthetextsheor shewillproduce.
(27,32)
Many bloggers dont in fact allow comments, or else they screen them,
and some intend their online diaries solelyfor a circle of friends and control
accessto them by using passwords.Nonetheless,once an entry goesonline,
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3.0 Internet searchtools can bring it to the attention of Web surfers. The edges
of a blog, like the borders of any document on the Internet, are porous and
provisional at best. Most of the time when we considerthe way digital media
blur the borders of documents,we mean that links and searchtools limit the
power ofauthorship. In blogs we encounter a new prose genre that also un-
settlesour long-standing assumptions about public and private.
RECONFIGURINC One earlier solution was to call this reading-and-writing site a worksta-
THE TEXT tion by analogyto the engineer'sworkstation, the term assignedto a relatively
high-poweredmachine, often networked with others, that in the early 1990s
had far more computing power,memory and graphiccapacitiesthan the per-
sonal computer. However, becauseworkstationseems to suggestthat such
objectsexist only in the workplaceand find applicationonly for gainful labor
or employment, this choice of terminology also misleads. Nonetheless,I
shall employ it occasionally,if only becauseit seemscloserto what hypertext
demands than any of the other terms thus far suggested.The problem with
terminology arises,as has now becomeobvious,becausethe roles of reader
and author change so much in hypermedia technology that our current
vocabularydoesnot havemuch appropriateto offer.
Whatever one wishes to call the reading-and-writing site, one should
think of the actual mechanism that one will use to work (and play) in hyper-
text not as a free-standingmachine, like today'spersonal computer. Rather,
the "object one reads"must be seenas the entrance,the magic doorway,into
the docuverse,since it is the individual reader'sand writer's means of partic-
ipating in-of being linked to-the world of linked hypermediadocuments.
A similar terminological problem appearsin what to do with the term
turt, which I have already employed so many times thus far in this study.
More than any other term crucial to this discussion,turthas ceasedto inhabit
a single world. Existing in two very different worlds, it gatherscontradictory
meanings to itself, and one must find some way of avoiding confusion when
using it. Frequently,in trying to explain certain points of difference, I have
found myself forced to blur old and new definitions or have discoveredmy-
self using the old term in an essentiallyanachronisticsense.For example,in
discussingthat hypertext systemspermit one to link a passage"in" the "text"
to other passages"in" the "text" aswell as to those "outside" it, one confronts
preciselysuch anachronism.The kind of text that permits one to write, how-
everincorrecdy,ofinsides and outsidesbelongsto print, whereaswe arehere
consideringa form ofelectronic virhral textuality for which thesealreadysus-
pect terms have become even more problematic and misleading. One solu-
tion has been to vse text as an anachronistic shorthand for the bracketed
material in the following expression: "lf one were to transfer a [complete
printed] text (work),say,Milton's ParadiseLost,intoelectronicform, one could
link passageswithin [what had been] the [original] text (Milton's poem) to
eachother; and one could alsolink passagesto a wide range of materials out-
side the original text to it." The problem is, ofcourse, that as soon as one con-
verts the printed text to an electronic one, it no longer possessesthe same
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HYPERTEXT
3.0 kind oftextuality. In the following pagessuch referencesto text haveto be un-
derstood,therefore,to mean "the electronicversion of a printed text."
The question of what to call "text" in the medium of hypermedia leads
directly to the question of what to include under that rubric in the first place.
This question in turn immediately forces us to recognizethat hypertext
reconfiguresthe text in a fundamental way not immediately suggestedby the
fact of linking. Hypertertuality, like all digital texruality,inevitably includes a
far higher percentageof nonverbalinformation than doesprint; the compar-
ative easewith which such material can be appendedencouragesits inclu-
sion. Hypertext,in other words, to some degreeimplements Derrida'scall
for a new form of hieroglyphic writing that can avoid some of the problems
implicit and thereforeinevitablein Westernwriting systemsand their printed
versions.Derrida arguesfor the inclusion of visual elementsin writing as
a means of escapingthe constraints of linearity. Commenting on this thrust
in Derrida's argument, Gregory Ulmer explains that grammatology thereby
"confronts" four millennia during which anything in languagethat "resisted
linearization was suppressed.Briefly stated,this suppressionamounts to the
denial of the pluridimensional characterof symbolicthought originally pres-
'mlthogram' (Leroi-Gourhan'sterm), or nonlinear writing (picto-
ent in the
graphic and rebus writing)" (AppliedGrammatology,8).Derrida, who asksfor
a new pictographicwriting as a way out of logocentrism, has to some extent
had his requestsansweredin hypertext.N. Katherine Haylesarguesthat dig-
ital text alone, evenwithout links, emphasizesthe visual, because"the com-
puter restoresand heightens the senseof word as image-an image drawn
in a medium as fluid and changeableas water" (26).
Becausehypertext systemslink together passagesof verbal text with
images as easily as they link two or more passagesof text, hypertext in-
cludeshypermedia,and I thereforeuse the two terms interchangeably.More-
over, since computing digitizes both alphanumeric symbols and images,
electronictext in theory easily integratesthe two. In practice,popular word-
processingprograms,such as Microsoft Word, haveincreasinglyfeaturedthe
capacityto include graphic materials in text documents,and, as we shall see,
this capacityto insert still and moving images into alphanumeric text is one
of the characterizingfeaturesof HTML. Linking, which permits an author to
send the readerto an image from many different portions of the text, makes
such integration of visual and verbal information eveneasier.
In addition to expandingtlre quantity and diversity of alphabeticand non-
verbal information included in the text, computer text provides visual ele-
ments not found in printed work. Perhapsthe most basic of these is the cur-
85
RECONFIGURING sor, the blinking arrow line, or other graphic element that represents the
THE TEXT reader-author'spresencein the text. The cursor,which the user moves either
from the keypadby pressingarrow-markedkeysor with deviceslike a mouse,
rollerball, or trackpad,providesa moving intrusive image of the reader'spres-
ence in the text. Holding the mouse over a footnote number in Microsoft
Word producesthe text in the note in a pop-up window. The reader can also
changethe text by using the mouse to position the cursor betweenthe letters
in a word, say,betweentandhinthe.Pressinga button on the mouseinserts
a vertical blinking line at this point; pressing the backspaceor deletekey
removesthe t. Typing will insert charactersat this point. In a book one can
alwaysmove one's finger or pencil acrossthe printed page,but one's intru-
sion alwaysremains physicallyseparatefrom the text. One may make a mark
on the page,but one'sintrusion doesnot affect the text itself.
The cursor, which adds reader presence,activity, and movement, com-
bines in most previous and extant hypertext systemswith another graphic
element, a symbol that indicatesthe presenceof linked material.aThe World
Wide Web offers severalkinds of changing cursors:the cursor changesfrom
an arrow to a hand when positioned over a linked word or image, and com-
monlyused favascriptschangethe appearanceoflinked objectsupon mouse-
over-when, that is, the user positionsthe mouse overthem. Yetother scripts
produce drop-down menus of links. All these graphic devicesremind read-
ers that they are processingand manipulating a new kind of text, in which
graphic elementsplay an important part.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 ing from a systemofverbal languageto one that centrally involvesnonverbal
information-visual information in the form of syrnbols and representa-
tional elementsaswell asother forms of information, including sound-has
encounteredstiffresistance, often from those from whom one is leastlikely
to expectit, namely, from those who alreadyemploy computers for writing'
Eventhosewho advocatea changefrequently find the experienceofadvocacy
and changeso tiring that they resist the next stage,evenif it appearsimplicit
in changesthey havethemselvesadvocated.
This resistanceappearsparticularly clearlyin the frequently encountered
remark that writers should not concernthemselveswith typesettingor desk-
top publishing but ought to leavethose activities to the printer. Academics
and other writers, we are told, do not design well; and even if they did, the
argument continues, such activities are a waste of their time. Such advice,
which has recently become an injunction, should make us ask why. After
all, when told that one should not avail oneself of some aspector form of
empowerment,particularly as awriter, one should askwhy.Whatif someone
told us: "Here is a pencil. Although it has a rubber apparatusat the opposite
end from that with which you write, you should not use it. Realwriters don't
use it"l At the very least we should wonder why anyone had included such
capacitiesto do something; experimenting with it would show that it erases;
and very likely, given human curiosity and perversity,which may be the same
thing in certain circumstances, we would be tempted to try it out. Thus a
capacitywould evolveinto a guilty pleasure!
Anyone with the slightest interest in design who has even casuallysur-
veyedthe output of commercial and university presseshas noticed a high
percentageofappallingly designedor obviously undesigned books. Despite
the exemplary work of designers like P.f . Conkwright, Richard Eckersley,
and Glen Burris, many pressescontinue to produce nasty-lookingbookswith
narrow margins and gutters, tl?e too small or too coarsefor a particular lay-
out, and little senseofpage design. Financial constraints are usually offered
as the soledeterminant of the situation, though good design doesnot haveto
produce a more costlyfinal product, parricularly in an age of computer type-
setting. In severalcasesI am awareof,,publishers haveassignedbook design
to beginning manuscript editors who havehad no training or experiencein
graphic design. As one who has been forflrnate enough to have benefited
from the efforts of first-rate,talented designersfar more than I havesuffered
from those of poor ones, I make these observationsnot as a complaint but
as a preparation for inquiring why authors are told they should not concern
87
RECONFIGURING themselveswith the visual appearanceof their texts and why authors readily
THE TEXT acceptsuch instruction.
They do so in part becausethis injunction clearlyinvolvesmatters of sta-
tus and power. In particular, it involves a certain interpretation-that is, a
socialconstruction-of the idea ofwriter and writing. According to this con-
ception,the writer's role and function is just to write. Writing, in turn, is con-
ceived solely as a matter of recording (or creating) ideas by means of lan-
guage.On the surface,such an approachseemsneutral and obviousenough,
and that in itself should warn one that it has been so naturalized asto include
cultural assumptionsthat might be worth one'swhile to examine.
The injunction "just to wdte," which is basedon this purely verbal con-
ception of writing, obviously assumesthe following: first, that only verbal
information has value, at least for the writer as a writer and probably for the
readeras reader;6second,that visual information has less value. Making use
of such devaluedor lesser-valuedforms of information (or doesvisual mate-
rial deservethe description"real information" at alll) in someway reducesthe
statusofthe writer, making him orher lessof a real writer. This matter of sta-
tus againraisesits headwhen one considersanotherreasonfor the injunction
"just to write," one tied more tightly to conceptionsof division of labor, class,
and status. In this view of things, it is thought that authors should not con-
cern themselveswith matters that belong to the printer. Although troubled by
this exclusion, I acceptedthis argument until I learned that until recently
(say,in the 1930s)authors routinely wanderedaround the typesettingshop at
Oxford University Presswhile their bookswere being set and were permitted
to render advice and judgment, something we are now told is none of our
business, beneath us, and so on. The ostensiblereason for instructing au-
thors to refuse the power offered them by their writing implement also in-
cludesthe idea that authors do not havethe expertise,the sheerknow-how to
produce good design. Abundant papers bybeginningundergraduates and
beginning PC users, cluttered with dissonant typefacesand font sizes,used
to be thrust forward to support this argument, one that we receivetoo readily
without additional information. Now peoplepoint to ugly websitesand blogs.
The fact that beginners in any field ofendeavor do a fairly poor quality job
at a new activity hardly arguesforcefully for their abandoningthat activity.If
it did, we would similarly advisebeginning studentsimmediately to abandon
their attempts at creativeand discursivewriting, at dravingand philosophy,
and at mathematicsand chemistry.One reasonwe do not offer such instruc-
tions is becausewe feel the skills involved in those endeavorsare imDt-rr-
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HYPERTEXT
3.0 tant-apparently in contrastto visual ones.Another reason,of course,is that
teaching involvesour livelihood and status.The question that arises,then, is
why is visual information less importantl The very fact that people experi-
ment with visual elementsof text on their computers showsthe obviousplea-
sure they receivein manipulating visual effects.This pleasure suggestsin
turn that by forbidding the writer visual resources,we deny an apparently
innocent sourceof pleasure,something that apparentlymust be castasideif
one is to be a true writer and a correct reader.
Much of our prejudice againstthe inclusion of visual information in text
derivesfrom print technology.Looking at the history of writing, one seesthat
it has a long connectionwith visual information, not leastthe origin of many
alphabeticsystemsin hieroglyphics and other originally visual forms of writ-
ing. Medieval manuscripts present some sort of hypertext combination of
font sizes, marginalia, illustrations, and visual embellishment, both in the
form of calligraphyand that of pictorial additions.
This same prejudice against visual elements appearsin recent suppos-
edly authoritative guidelines for creating websites.jakob Nielsen'sDesigning
WebUsability,for example,advisesweb designersto avoid graphic elements,
particularly for opening screens (homepages),becausethey unnecessarily
consume both bandwidth and screenreal estate.I certainly understand the
reasonsfor such advice.Like many other users in the early daysof commer-
cial sites, I've waited many minutes for the opening screenof a national air-
line's site to download even though I had high-speednetwork access,finally
giving up. Earlyweb designersfound themselvessounderstandablyenthralled
by elaborate graphics and animation that they cluttered sites with nonfunc-
tional elements that consumed important resources.As the airline website
shows,this approachproved disastrousfor commercial applicationsat a time
when most potential customers had slow Internet connections. Obviously,
designersmust balanceeaseof accessagainst visual elements that encour-
agepeople to accessthe site in the first place,but avoiding graphic elements
as a basic design principle doesnt make much sensefor one obvious reason:
images and other graphic elements are the single most important factor in
the astonishing growth of the Word Wide Web. The invention of the image
tag (<img src:"picture.jpg">), which instructs the web browser to placea pic-
ture, icon, or other graphic element within text, made the World Wide Web
immensely appealing,turning it into a medium rich with visual pleasures.
The embed tag, which placesQuicktimeVR, sound, and video in an HTML
document, similarly convertsthe Web to a multimedia platform. Therefore,
whether or not we believeit has an identifiable loeic-a Mcluhan-esque mes-
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HYPERTEXT
3.0 new ways. "Change the code, changethe text" becamethe rule from which
derivethe advantagesof so-calledwordprocessing(which is actuallythe com-
position, manipulation, and formatting of text in computer environments).
The advantagesof word processingover typewriters becameso immediately
obviousthemselvesin businessand academiathat dedicatedword processors
and then personalcomputers swiftly made tlpewriters obsolete."Changethe
code,changethe text" aiso produces the "styles" option in word-processing
software,such as Microsoft Word, which permits a writer to createand deploy
stylescontaining font, type size,and rules for varioustext entities (paragraph,
inset quotation, bibliography,and so on). By simply highlighting a word, sen-
tence,or paragraph,the user of such softwarecan easilymodify the appear-
ance of text, whether it is intended to remain on screen or issue forth as a
printout or as a t)?eset book.
The sametext-as-codethat permits word processingalsopermits moving
words. In its simplest form, text animation simply involvesmoving the text on
screena line at a time, essentiallydispensing the poem at a rate determined
by the author. Kate Pullinger and Talan Memmot's elegant Branded.(2003;
Figure 10)functions in this way. Pearl Forss'sAuthorship(2000),which com-
bines sound and text animation, exemplifiesthe use of this kind of animated
text to create experimental discursive writing for e-space.First, to the ac-
companiment of a driving drumbeat, the words "What is" appearin white
block letters against a black screen to which are quickly added in the red-
orange words "an authorl" The question mark then danceson screen,after
which the sentencemovesdownward as words of Roland Bartheson au*ror-
ship move on screen;these in turn are replacedby Forss'spronouncements
about authorship; then in greenappearthe words "what matterswho's speak-
ingl"-a question immediately identified as having been asked by Beckett
(whosename, in white, undulates on screen).Next, an image of a rose fills
the entire screen, and on top of it appear many pink letters, which soon
arrangethemselvesto state,'A roseby any other name would smell as sweet,"
an assertionimmediately challengedby the question (in green) "or would it?"
And this screenis rapidly obliteratedby the appearanceof imagesof theorists
on authorship and coversof their books,all of which build to a collage.What
I've describedmakes up the opening section or movement, severalof which
follow, eachpunctuated by the same assemblingcollage.
Such tert animation, often accompaniedby sound, appearsmore fre-
quently in digital literary art than in discursiveor informational projects.For
example,severalof the animated poems onthe DotzeSentits:Poesiacatalona
d'avuiCD-ROM(1996),suchas ]osepPalaui Fabre's"La Noia" and Feliu For-
Figure10. AnimatedText.In KatePullingerand TalanMemmot's elegantanimatedpoem, Bronded,textanimationtakesthe form
of moving the text on screen a line at a time, dispensing the poem at a rate determined by the authors.
RECONFIGURINC return to find the text where one left it, unchanged.The characteristicfixity
THE TEXT of writing, therefore, endows the reader with the ability to processit asyn-
chronously-that is, at the convenienceof the reader.nConsider the differ-
enceof such fixed text from video and animated text: if one leavesthe televi-
sion set to answerthe phone or welcome a guest,the program has moved on
and one cannot retrieve it, unless, that is, one has a digital or analoguecopy
ofit and can replay it. The very greatdifferencein degreeofaudience control
betweenvideo as seenon broadcasttelevision and video viewed from storage
media, such as videotape,DVD, or TiVo, suggeststhat they are experienced
asdifferent media. Still, sincevideo,like cinema, is a temporal form-a tech-
nology that presentsits information in necessarysequence-one generally
has to follow long patches of the story or progtam in its original sequence
to find one's place in an interrupted narrative. Animated text, in contrast,
entirelyconlrolsthe reader'saccessto information at the speedand at the time
the author wishes. One could, it is true, replay the entire animated text, but
the nature of the medium demandsthat the minimum chunk that can be ex-
amined takes the form of the entire sequence.
Another form of moving text appearsin the timed links of Stuart Moul-
throp's Hegirascope,linksthat dramaticallyaffect the reader'srelation to text.
The reading experienceproducedby thesetimed links contrastssharplywith
that possiblewith wdting, print, and most hypertext.Sincethe text disappears
at timed intervals outside the reader'scontrol, the characteristicfixity of writing
disappearsasthe document being readis replacedby another.Someof the re-
placementshappenso quickly that this text enforcesrapid reading,preventing
any closereading, much less leisurely contemplation of it. Michael foycefa-
mously assertedthat "hypertextis the revengeof text upon television" (OfTwo
Minds,47, tll), by which I take him to mean that hypertext demands active
readersin contrastto television'srelativelypassiveaudience.Theseexamplesof
animated(or disappearing)text in contrastappearto be extensionsof television
and film to encompassand dominate text, or in Joyce'sterms, the revengeof
television (broadcastmedia) on hypertext.This is not necessarilya bad thing,
anymore than cinemais worsethan print narrative.Animated text,like cinema
and video, existsas an art form with its own criteria. It's just not hypertext.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 work on the assumption that it must take the form of node and link. A good
deal oftheoretical and practical attention has appropriatelybeen paid to the
description,implementation, and categorizationof linking. However,as Noah
Wardop-Fruin has reminded us, Ted Nelson, who did not confine hypertext
to the node-and-link form, also proposed stretchtext.According to Nelson's
ComputerLib/Dream Machines(1974),"this form of hypertext is easyto use
without getting lost . . . Gapsappearbetweenphrases;new words and phrases
pop into the gaps, an item at a time . . . The Stretchtextis stored as a text
streamwith extras,codedto pop in and pop out at the desiredaltitudes" (315).
Compare a reader'sexperienceof stretchtextto that when reading on the
Web.When one follows a link on the World Wide Web,one oftwo things hap-
pens: either the present text disappearsand is replacedby a new one or the
destination text opens in a new window. (On Windows machines, in which
the newly openeddocument obscuresthe previous one becauseit appearson
top of it, only an experienceduser would know that one can move the most
recently openedwindow out of the way.Macintosh machines follow a differ-
ent paradigm, emphasizing a multiple-window presentation.)By and large,
standard web browsers follow the replacementparadigm whereas other
hypertextenvironments,such as Intermedia, Storyspace,and Microcosm,
emphasizemultiple windows. Stretchtext,which takes a different approach
to hypertextuality,doeswhat its name suggestsand stretchesor expandstext
when the readeractivatesa hot area.
For an example,let us look at a single sentenceas it appearsin a docu-
ment basedon passagesfrom this book that I made using Nicholas Friesner's
Web-basedstretchtext.One first encountersthe following:
Usinghypertext,students
of criticaltheorynowhavea laboratory
withwhichto test
its ideas.Mostimportant,
perhaps, an experience
of reading
hypertext
or reading
withhypertext
greatlyclarifies
manyof themostsignificant
ideasof criticaltheory.As
J. DavidBolterpointsout in thecourseof explaining
thathypertextuality
embodies
poststructuralist
conceptions in printbecomes
ofthe opentext,"whatis unnatural
naturalin theelectronic
mediumandwillsoonno longerneedsaying at all,because
it canbeshown."(www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/stretchtext
l gplz.html)
RECONFICURING theory including notions of the author, text, and multivocality." Clicking on
THE TEXT any ofthe four instancesofbold text generatesadditional passages,the last
three of which also contain a standard HTML link. Stretching "text," for ex-
ample,"produces"text-and PearlForss'sWhat Is qn Author aclsas an exper-
iment contrasting reader'sreactions to moving text versus reader-centered
hypertext."Clicking on the title of her project opens it in a new window.
A most important distinguishing characteristicof stretchtextfollows from
the manner in which it makes new text appearframed by the old: stretchtext
doesnot fragment the text like other forms of hypermedia. Instead,it retains
the text on the screenthat provides a contextto an anchor formed by a word
or phraseevenafter it has been activated.Stretchingthe text provides a more
immediate perceptualincorporation of the linked-to text with the tert from
which the link originates.In effect, lrzrtbecomesconturtas new text is added;
or rather, the previouslypresenttext remains while the new text appearsand
sewesas its context.This conversionof tert to contextfor other texts may be
seenmore abstractlyin any textual medium, but stretchtexttakesthis notion
quite literally.
The experienceof using Friesner'sWeb-basedimplementation demon-
stratesthat in certain situations stretchtexthas an advantageover link-and-
nodehypertext;in other usesthe link-and-nodeform works better.One strong
advantageofstretchtext derivesfrom the fact that hidden text is alreadypres-
ent, though not visible, when the web browser loads the HTML file, and it
therefore appearsinstantly when the text expands.The text also contracts
instantly,thus providing two real advantages:first, becausethe newly appear-
ing text appearsin immediate physicalproximity to the text one was reading
before activatingthe stretchtext,the readerexperiencesnone ofthe disorien-
tation that may occur when following a link. Second,the very speed with
which the stretchtextappearsencouragesreadersto check stretchableareas
to seeif they in fact want the additional information on offer with the effect
that readersfeel they havemore control over obtaining information'
Experienceusing stretchtextsuggeststhat it providesa convenientmeans
of obtaining definitions, brief explanations,and glossary-likeannotations.In
addition, a secondor even third layer of stretchtextseemsbetter suited than
the replacement-window paradigm for more detailed information directly
related.to the oiginal anchor.The one disadvantagethe more clearly alomiz-
ing link-and-node hypertext does not have appearsifone expandsancillary
information-say, comments on Morris in an essayabout Ruskin: reading a
successionof increasingly more detailed stretchtext passagesof the main
topic can createreaderdisorientation when he or she returns to the passage's
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HYPERTEXT
3.0 original form by shrinking the text. Here the occasionallycriticized atomiz-
ing effectof link-and-notehypertextin fact provesa major advantagebecause
when readersfollow a link, they know they have moved to someplacenew.
The gap that alwaysplays an essentialrole in linked hypermediahere has an
orienting, rather than a disorienting, effect. One obvious way to take advan-
tageof both forms of hypertext,of course,involvesincluding links to exterior
lexiasat appropriatepoints within the stretchedtext ("appropriate"here mean-
ing thoseplacesat which further expansionof the original text makesreturn-
ing to the original contractedtext confusing).
Friesner'sWeb-basedstretchtextalso works well with images and hence
proves itself to be a form of hypermedia that provides authors with new
options.Web-basedhypermediahasthree main waysof incorporatingimages:
(1) placing images at the end of the link whether they appearalone or within
text containingexplanatoryinformation, (2)placingimageswithin a favascript-
createdpop-up window usually smaller than the document it overlays,and
(3) placing thumbnail imageswithin a text, often at the right or left margin,
which can link to larger images (a simple use of align : "left" or "right" plus
hspace= "10" within the image tag provides an easyway to allow tert to flow
around an image, providing an aestheticallypleasing border that separates
them). stretchtextoffers a fourth way to handle images,and like its purely text-
basedform, it has some particularly effectiveapplications.A lexia chiefly de-
votedto discussingone painting most effectivelyincludes the image of it as a
linked thumbnail within the text, but passingmentions of details,sources,or
analogouspaintings work betteras stretchtextpresentations,for they arenon-
intrusive,quickly viewed,and quickly dosed and left behind. Thus, stretchtext-
image presentationseemsparticularly well suited for introducing imagesto
which one may wish to refer briefly. Since one can nest images as weli as
alphanumeric information in Friesner'sstretchtext,it also providesa conven-
ient way for the readerto accessdetailsofpainting, earlierversions,and so on.
When I first read about stretchtext I envisioned it functioning verti-
cally,as it does so effectivelyin Friesner'sversion; that is, I assumedthe text
would move apart aboveand below the stretching section,although I did not
imagine the text would appearinstantaneously.When Ian M. Lyons created
TextStretcheras a Director demonstration of the concept,he experimented
with severalapproachesto make words appearfrom within an alreadypres-
ent text. In one version the text moveshorizontally, and as new words arrive,
they push the old text to the right. In a secondversion the stretchabletext
divides vertically,leaving an empty area.In one of these implementations of
97
RECONFIGURING stretchtext,the words fiIl in from left to right until the spacedisappears;in
THE TEXT anotherthat Lyonsconsidersespeciallyusefirl for poetry,the first word of the
new text appearsin the centerofthe vacantarea,and words then flow out from
either side. If speedis calibratedwith effectivestopsand starts,word-by-word
presentation may give the impression of speechinscribed on the fly. Letter-
by-letterpresentationmay then give the impression of the text'sbeing typed
out by either a human or an artificial source,depending on speedchanges.
In linear stretch mode, activating the stretchtextanchor makes the sen-
tence or phrase in which it appearsdivide, producing an empty spacethat
new words begin to fill, moving from left to right. Once one begins animat-
ing the presentation of new text, a temporal delay occurs. As Lyons points
out, this delaycan perceptuallycreatethe impression of a certain amount of
resistancethe medium itself presents to the embodiment of the text' fust
how much resistanceis met in turn dependson the relativespeedwith which
words and letters appearon the screen.With linear presentation (here pre-
sumed to be in the direction of normal reading),the potential for a different
reading experiencemultiplies, depending on whether one presentstext one
word or one letter at a time. (Lyonschoseto present one word at a time.)
In the expansion-from-centermode, Lyonsexplains,
This form of stretchtext, which Lyons created for writing poetry', obviously
draws attention to the experienceof text itself, intentionally preventing the
readerfrom readingthroughthe text, from too readily taking the text astrans-
parent. With informational hypertext, however, one does not wish to fore-
ground the linguistic aspectofthe medium, and one thereforeneedsdevices
that enablereading.
98
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Like all hypertextenvironments, TextStretcherneedsa means of indicat-
ing to the readerthe presenceof an anchor,here defined as a span of text or
other information that, when the proper protocol is followed, activatesthe hy-
pertert functionality; in node-and-linkhypertext such activationinvolvesfol-
lowing a link; in stretchtextit involvesinserting nestedor hidden text within
the present text. Different link-and-node systems have employed different
ways of indicating hot texl Intermedia used static indications of links-a
horizontal arrow within a rectangleat the end of a text span;the World Wide
web usesboth staticand dynamic means-the standardblue underlined text
that authors and users can customize and the changing appearanceof the
user'smouse from an arow to a hand when positioned over an anchor.
In creating TextStretcher,Lyons chosetwo simple symbols:(1) a vertical
line within parenthesesto indicate an anchor and (2) a hyphen between
parenthesesto indicate that one can contractthe stretchedtext to produce its
earlier state.when one clicks on an icon representinghot text in all versions
of TextStretcher,new words appear,and depending on the icon, clicking
again can either make the newly arrived text disappearor expand it further
with new information. Friesner'sweb-basedstretchtextuses a boldfacefont
to indicate an expandableanchor and a colored unboldface font to indicate
contractible text. Some experimenting with his version have used phrases,
such as "fSho{Hide Additional Content]" and icons, and others working
with stretchtextcombine a three- or four-inch gap followed by'.More,' on a
coloredrectangle.None of these approachesseemsentirely satisfactoryand
one possiblesolution might involve revealingthe locationsof stretchabletext
by mouse-overs.Stretchtextcomplementsnote-and-linkhypermedia so valu-
ably that solving these interface issueswarants considerableattention.
RECONFIGURING into other texts. As an individual lexia losesits physical and intellectual sep-
THE TEXT aration from others when linked electronically to them, it also finds itself
dispersedinto them. The necessarycontextualizationand intertextuality pro-
duced by situating individual reading units within a network of easily navi-
gable pathwaysweavestexts, including those by different authors and those
in nonverbal media, tightly together. One effect is to weaken and perhaps
destroyany senseoftextual uniqueness.
Such notions are hardly novel to contemporary literary theory, but here
as so many other caseshypertext createsan almost literal reification or
in
embodiment of a principle that had seemedparticularly absffactand difficult
when read from the vantagepoint of print. Since much of the appeal,even
charm, of thesetheoreticalinsights lies in their difficulty and evenprecious-
ness,this more literal presentationpromisesto disturb theoreticians,in part,
of course,becauseit greatly disturbs statusand power relations within their
field ofexpertise.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Contemporary readersof Plato, Vergil, or Augustine processedtexts
without interword spacing,capitalization,or punctuation. Had you read
theselast two sentencesfifteen hundred yearsago,they would havetaken the
following form:
theyencou
nteredtexts
sodifferentfromou
rsthateventosuggestth
atwesharecom mon
experiencesofread
ingmisleadscontemporaryreadersofpl
atovergi
Ioraugustine
processedtextswithoutinterwordspaci
ngcapital
izationorpu
nctuation
hadyouread
theselasttwosentencesfifteenh
undredyearsagotheywouldtakethefollowingform
RECONFIGURING ture in terms of the unitary text of modern scholarship certainly fictional-
THE TEXT izes-and falsifies-their intertextual relations.
Modern scholar\ editions and manuscripts combine both uniqueness
and multiplicity, but they do so in different ways.A modern edition of Plato,
Vergil, or Augustine begins by assuming the existenceof a unique, unitary
text, but it is produced in the first place becauseit can disseminatethat text
in a number of identical copies.In contrast,eachancient or medievalmanu-
script, which embodiesonly one of many potential variations of "a text,"
existsas a unique object.A new conceptionoftext is neededby scholarstry-
ing to determine not some probably mythical and certainly long-lost master
text but the ways individual readers actually encountered Plato, Vergil, or
Augustine in a manuscript culture. In fact, we must abandonthe notion of a
unitary text and replaceit with conceptionsof a dispersedtext. We must do,
in other words, what some art historians working with analogousmedieval
problems have done-take the conception of a unique type embodied in a
single objectandreplaceitwith a conceptionof a type asa complex setofvari-
ants. For example,tryingto determine the thematic, iconological, and com-
positional antecedentsof early-fourteenth-centuryivory Madonnas, Robert
Suckaleand other recent students ofthe Court Stylehave abandonedlinear
derivations and the notion of a unitary type. Instead, they emphasize that
sculptors choseamong severalsetsof fundamental forms or "groundplans"
as points of departure. Somesort of changein basic attitudestoward the cre-
ations of manuscript culfure seemsnecessary.
The capacityofhypertext to link all the versions or variants of a particu-
lar text might offer a means of somewhat redressing the balance between
uniqueness and variation in preprint texts. Ofcourse, evenin hypertextpre-
sentations,both modern printing conventionsand scholarly apparatuswill
still infringe on attempts to recreatethe experienceof encountering these
texts, and nothing can restorethe uniqueness and corollary auraof the indi
vidual manuscript. Nonetheless,asthe work of PeterRobinsonshows,hyper-
text offers the possibility ofpresenting a text as a dispersedfield ofvariants
and not as a falselyunitary entity. High-resolution screensand other techno-
logical capacitiesalso increasinglypermit a means of presenting all the indi
vidual manuscripts. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, has already put online
detailed,large-scaleimages of some of its most precious illuminated manu-
scripts. An acquaintancewith hypertext systemsmight by itself sufficiently
changeassumptions about textuality to free students of preprint texts from
someof their biases.
All forms of hypertext, even the most rudimentary, change
A Third Convergence:Hypertext our conceptionsoftext and textuality.The dispersedtextual-
iry characteristicof this information technologythereforecalls
and Theoriesof scholarty Editing
-
into question some of the most basic assumptions about the
nature of text and scholarly textual editing. The appearanceof the digital
word has the major cultural effect of permitting us, for the first time in cen-
turies, easilyto perceivethe degreeto which we havebecomeso accustomed
to the qualities and cultural effectsof the book that we unconsciouslytrans-
fer them to the productions of oral and manuscript cultures. We so tend to
take print and print-based culture for granted that, as the ;'argonhas it, we
have"naturalized" the book by assuming that habits of mind and manners of
working associatedwith it havenaturally and inevitably alwaysexisted.Eisen-
stein, Mcluhan, Kernan, and other students of the cultural implications of
print technology have demonstrated the ways in which the printed book
formed and informed our intellectual history. They point out, for example,
that a great part ofthese cultural effectsderive from book technology'scre-
ation of multiple copiesof essentiallythesametext. Multiple copiesof a fixed
text in turn produce scholarshipand education as we know it by permitting
readersin different times and placesto consult and refer to the "same" text.
Historians of print technologyalsopoint out that economicfactorsassociated
with book production led to the development of both copyright and related
notions of creativityand originality. My reasonfor once again going overthis
familiar ground lies in the fact that all thesefactorscombine to make a single,
singular unitary text an almost unspoken cultural ideal. They provide, in
other words, the cultural model and justification for scholarlytextual editing
as we haveknown it.
It is particularly ironic or simple poetic justice-take your pick-that
digital technologyso calls into question the assumptionsof print-associated
editorial theory that it forces us to reconceiveediting texts originally pro-
duced for print as well as those createdwithin earlier information regimes.
Print technology'semphasis on the unitary text prompted the notion of a
single perfect version of all texts at preciselythe cultural moment that the
presenceof multiple print editions undercut that emphasis-something not
much recognized,if at all, until the arrival of digitality. As the work of fames
Thorpe, George Bornstein, ferome J. McGann, and others has urged, any
publication during an author's lifetime that in some manner receivedhis or
her approval-if only to the extent that the author later chosenot to correct
changesmade by an editor or printer-is an authentic edition. Looking at
the works of authors such as Ruskin and Yeats,who radically rewrote and
't03
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 be an existing edition. In fact, one can envisagea situation in which readers
might ultimately encounter a range of annotations.
An exampletaken from my recent experiencewith having students cre-
ate an annotatedversion-read "edition"-of Carlyle's"Hudson's Statue"on
the World Wide Web illuminates some of the issueshere. I intended the as-
signment in part to introduce undergraduatesto various electronicresources
availableat my university,including the online versionsof the OxfordEnglish
Dictionary and Encyclopoedia
Britannica.l wished to habituatethem to using
electronicreferencetools accessibleoutside the physical precinctsofthe
library both to acquaintthem with thesenew tools and alsoto encouragestu-
dents to move from them to those presentlyavailableonly in print form. For
this project students choseterms or phrasesranging from British political
history ("Lord Ellenborough" and "People'sLeague")to religion and mlth
("Vishnu," "Vedas,""Loki"). They then defined or describedthe items chosen
and then briefly explained Carlyle'sallusion and, where known, his uses of
theseitems in other writings.
This simple undergraduateassignment immediately raised issues cru-
cial to the electronic scholarlyedition. First of all, the absenceof limitations
on scale-or to be more accurate,the absenceof the same limitations on
scale one encounters with physical editions-permits much longer, more
substantialnotes than might seem suitablein a print edition. To some ertent
a hypertext environment alwaysreconfiguresthe relative statusof main text
and subsidiary annotation. It also makes much longer notes possible.Elec-
tronic linking makes information in a note easily available,and therefore
these more substantialnotes convenientlylink to many more placesboth
inside and outside the particular text under considerationthan would be
either possible or convenientlyusable in a print edition. Taking our present
example of "Hudson's Statue,"for instance,we seethat historical materials
on, say,democraticmovementslike Chartism and the People'sInternational
League,can shift positions in relation to the annotated text unlike a print
environment, an electronic one permits perceiving the relation of such
materials in oppositemanners. The historical materials can appearas anno-
tations to the Carlyle text, or conversely"Hudson's Statue" can appear-be
experiencedas-an annotation to the historical materials. Both in other
words exist in a networked textual field in which their relationship depends
solelyon the reader'sneed and purpose.
Such recognitions of what happens to the scholarly text in wide-area-
networked environments, such as those createdbv World Wide Web and
r05
RECONFIGURING HyperG, only complicates matters by forcing us to confront the question,
THE TEXT "What becomesof the conceptand practiceof scholarlyannotationl" Clearly,
linking by itself isnt enough, and neither is text retrieval. At first glance,it
might seem that one could solve many issues of scholarlyannotation in an
electronicenvironment by using sophisticatedtext retrieval.In the caseof my
student-createdannotated edition of "Hudson's Statue,"one could just pro-
vide instructions to use the availablesearchtools, though this do-it-yourself
approachwould probably appealonly to the already-experienced
researcher.
Our textual experiment quickly turned up another,more basicproblem when
severalbright, hard-working neophpes wrote elegantnotes containing accu-
rate, clearly attributed information that nonethelessreferred to the wrong
person, in two casesproviding material about figures from the Renaissance
rather than about the far-lesser-knownnineteenth-centuryfigures to whom
Carlyle referred. What this simple-minded example suggests,of course, is
nothing more radical than that for the foreseeablefuture scholarship will
alwaysbe needed,or to phrase my point in terms relevantto the present
inquiry, one cannot automatetexfual annotation.Tert retrieval,howevervalu-
able,by itself can't do it all.
Fine, but what about hypertextl The problem, after all, with information
retrievallies in the fact that activereadersmight obtain either nonsignificant
information or information whosevalue they might not be ableto determine.
Hypertext, in contrast, can provide editorially approvedconnecfions in the
form of links, which can move from a passagein the so-calledmain text-
here "Hudson's Statue"-to other passagesin the same text, explanatory
materials relevant to it, and so on. Therefore, assuming that one had per-
mission to createlinks to the various online resources,such asthe OED, one
could do so. If one did not have such permission, one could easilydownload
copies of the materials from them, chooserelevant sections,and put them
back online within a web to which one had access;this secondprocedure
is in essencethe one many students chooseto follow. Although providing
slightly more convenienceto the reader than the text-retrievaldo-it-yourself
model, this model still confronts the reader with problems in the form of
passages(or notes)longer than he or she may wish to read.
One solution lies in creating multilevel orlinked progressiveannotation.
Looking at the valuable,ifoverly long, essayone student had written on Car-
lyle and Hindu deities,I realizedthat a better way of proceedinglay in taking
the brief concluding section on Carlyle'ssatiric use of these materials and
making that the first text or lexia the reader encounters; the first mention
'r05
HYPERTEXT
3.0 of, say,Vedasor Vishnu, in that lexia was then linked to the longer essays,
thereby providing conveniently accessibleinformation on demand but not
before it was required.
I have approachedthese questions about scholarlyeditions through the
apparentlyunrelated matters of a student assignment and educationalmate-
rials becausethey remind us that in anything like a fully linked electronic
environment, all texts have variable applicationsand purposes. One conse-
quenceappearsin the variableforms that annotation and editorial apparatus
will almost certainly haveto take: since everyonefrom the advancedscholar
down to the beginning student or readeroutsidethe setting ofan educational
institution might be ableto read such texts,they will require variouslayersor
levels of annotation, something particularly necessarywhen the ultimate
linked text is not a scholarlynote but another literary text.
Thus far I have written only as if the linked material in the hypertext
scholarly edition consists of textual apparatus,explanatorycomment, and
contextualization,but by now it should have become obvious that many of
those comments inevitably lead to other so-calledprimary texts.Thus, in our
putative edition of "Hudson's Statue" one cannot only link it to reference
works, such as the OED,Ihe Britannica, (and possibly in the future) to the
Dictionary of National Biography,but also to entire linguistic corpora and to
other texts by the same author, including working drafts, letters, and other
publications. Why stop therel Evenin the relativelyflat, primitive version of
hypertext offered by the present World Wide Web of the Carlylean text
demands links to works on which he draws, such as fonathan Swift's Taleof
a Tub, and those that draw on him, such as Ruskin's "Trafficl'whose satiric
image of the Goddess-oiGetting-on (or Britannia of the Market) derives
rather obviouslyfrom Carlyle'sruminations on the never-completedstatueof
a stock swindler. Finally, one cannot restrict the text field to literary works,
and "Hudson's Statue" inevitably links not only to the Bible and contempo-
rary guidesto its interpretation but alsoto a wide rangeof primary materials,
including parliamentary documents and contemporary newspapers, to
which Carlyle'stext obviouslyrelates.
Once again, though, Iinking, which reconfiguresour experienceand
expectationsof the text, is not enough, for the scholarlyeditor must decide
how Io link various texts. The need for some form of intermediary lexias
again seemsobvious,the first, say,briefly pointing to a proposedconnection
betweentwo texts,the next in sequenceproviding a summary of complex
relations (the outline, in fact, of what might in the print environment have
been a scholarlyarticle or evenbook), the third an overviewof relevant com-
I07
RECONFIGURING parisons,and the last the actualfull text ofthe other author. At eachstage(or
THE TEXT lexia), the reader should have the power not only to return to the so-called
main text of "Hudson's Statue" but also to reach these linked materials out
of sequence.VannevarBush, who invented the general notion ofhypertext,
thought that chains or trails of links might themselvesconstitute a new form
of scholarlywriting, and annotationsin the form of such guided tours might
conceivablybecomepart of the future scholarly edition. We can be certain,
however,that as constraints of scalelessen,increasing amounts of material
will be summoned to illuminate individual texts and new forms of multiple
annotation will developas a way of turning availability into accessibility.
The fact that a single lexia can function very differently within
Hypertextand the Problemof large networked hyperterts raisesfundamental questions about
the applicability of StandardGeneralizedMarkup Language
TextStructure
(SGML) and its heir, ExtendedMarkup Language(XML), to
eiectronic scholarlyeditions, which increasingly appearin vast electronic in-
formation spacesrather than in the stand-aloneversionswe seetoday in CD-
ROMs, such as PeterRobinson'sChaucerproject and Anne McDermott's edi
tion of JohnsonsDicIionary.Therelation of markup languagesand hypertext
appearsparticularly crucial to scholarlyediting since so many large projects
dependon SGML, XML, and their more specificscholarlyforms specifiedby
the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI).
One of the fundamental strengths of XML, of course,lies in its creation
of a single electronictext that can lend itself to many forms of both print and
electronic presentation. Looking at medieval scripta continua above,we
encounteredtext without any markup, not evenspacesbetweenwords. Later
manuscript and print text contains presentationalmarkup-that is, the
encoding takes the form of specific formatting decisions; one indicates a
paragraphby skipping, say,an ertra line and indenting five or sevenspaces.
Although perfectly suited to physical texts, such forms of encoding appear
particularly inefficient and even harmful in electronic environments, since
they prevent easytransference and manipulation of texts. So-calledproce-
dural markup characterizeshandwritten and printed text; to indicate a para-
graph, authors and scribes,as we haveseen,follow a certain procedure,such
as that describedabove.Electronictext works better when one createsa gen-
eralizedmarkup that simply indicatesthe presenceof a text entity, such as a
paragraph,that is then defined in another place.
Once all aspectsof any particular text havebeen indicatedwith the correct
SGML and XML tags, the text appearsin a wonderfully generalized,poten-
'r08
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 tially multiplicitous form. For example,after one has tagged(or "marked up")
eachinstance of a text element, such as titles at the beginning of eachchap-
ter, by placing them betweena particular set of tags-say, <chaptertitle>and
</chaptertitle>-one can easily configure such text elements differently in
different versions of a text. Thus, if printed on my university's mainframe
printer, which permits only a single proporfional font, chapter titles appear
bolded in the larger of two availablesizes.If printed with a typesettingdevice,
however,the same chaptertitles automaticallyappearin a very different font
and size, say,30-point Helvetica.If presentedelectronically,moreover,chap-
ter titles can appear in a color different from that of the main text; in the
DynaTert translation of the version of Hypefiert, for example,they appearin
green whereasthe main text appearsin black. My first point here is that once
one has createdsuch a generalizedtext, one can adaptit to different publica-
tion modes with a single instruction that indicates the specific appearance
of all labeled text elements. My secondpoint here is that such tagged text
recordsits own abstractstructLrre.
In "What Is Text Reallyl," their pioneering essayon SGML, Stephen f .
DeRose,David G. Durand, Elli Mylonas,and Allen H. Renearargue that text
consistsofhierarchically organized contextobjects,such as sentences,para-
graphs, sections,and chapters.Do hypertext and markup languages,there-
fore, conceiveof text in fundamentally opposedwaysl At first glance, this
seems to be the case,since hypertext produces nonhierarchical text struc-
tures whereas SGML and XML record hierarchical book structures. The
question arises, To what extent do such visions of markup languagesand
hypertext conflictl After all, SGML and XML fundamentally assert book
structure. But do they asserta single essentialstructure, however reconfig-
urablel Hypertext subvertshierarchy in text and in so doing might seem
to subvert markup languagesand call into question their basic usefulness.
In electronic space,as we havealreadyobserved,an individual lexia may in-
habit, or contribute to, severaltext structures simultaneously.At first consid-
eration this fact might appearto suggestthat markup languagesfundamen-
tally opposehypertert, but such is hardly the case.
Once again,Ted Nelson provides assistance,for it is he who pointed out
that the problem with classificationsystemslies in the fact not that they are
bad but that different people-and the same person at different times-
require different ones. One of the great strengths of hypertext, after all, lies
in its ability to provide accessto materials regardlessof how they are classi-
fied and (hence)how and where they are stored.From the Nelsonianpoint of
view,hypertextdoesnot so much violate classificationsas supplementthem,
r09
RECONFIGURING making up for their inevitable shortcomings. From the point of view of one
THE TEXT considering either the relation of hypertext to markup languages or the
hypertextualizationof them, the problem becomesone of finding some way
to encodeor signal multiple structures or multiple classificationsof struc-
ture. Ifa scholarlyannotation and main text can exchangeroles, status,and
nature, then one needsa devicethat permits a SGML- or XMl-marked lexia
to present a different appearance,ifso required, on being enteredor opened
from different locations.
Returning to our examplesfrom "Hudson's Statue,"we realize that read-
ers starting from Carlyle'stert will experiencelinked materials on Chartism
and the People'sLeagueas annotations to it, but readers starting with pri
mary or secondarymaterials concerning these political movements will
experience"Hudson's Statue" as an annotation to them. When discussing
writing for electronic spacein chapter 5, I suggestways in which both soft-
ware designersand individual authorshaveto assistreaders.For the moment
I shall point out only that one such means of orienting and hence empower-
ing readerstakesthe form of clearlyindicating the permeableborders of the
provisional text to which any lexia belongs. Using such orientation rhetoric
might require that materials by Carlyle have a different appearancefrom
those of conceivablyrelatedmaterials, such aslexiasabout the English Revo-
lution of the 1640sand Victorian political movements. In such a case,one
needsa way of configuring the text according to the means from which it is
accessed.This textual polyrnorphism in turn suggeststhat in such environ-
ments text is alive, changing, kinetic, open-endedin a new way.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 bring about. The achievementof the Scholastics,pre-eminently among the
world's scribal elites, was to conventionalizethe themes, plot and shapesof
booksin a truly rigorous way,asthey alsostructured syllabuses,scripture and
debate" (69).Their conventionsof book stmcture, however,changedfunda-
mentally with the adventof the printing press,which encouragedalphabetic
ordering, a procedurethat had never before caught on. Whyl
Onereason
mustcertainly
bethatpeoplehadalready
become
accustomed
overtoo
manycenturies
to thematically
ordered
material.
Suchmaterial
borea closeresem-
blanceto the "normal"organization
of writtenwork:... Alphabetization
mayalso
havebeenoffensive
to theglobalScholastic
viewof things.lt musthaveseemeda
perverse,
disjointed
andultimately
meaninglesswayof orderingmaterial
to menwho
wereinterested
in neatframesfor containing
all knowledge.
Certainly,
alphabetiza-
tion posesproblems
of fragmentation
that maybe lessimmediately
obvious
with
wordlistsbutcanbecome
serious
whendealing
withsubject
lists.(75-77)
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 means of which one can arrive at the individual lexia (which, from one per-
spective,becomesequivalent to a work)? Said provides materials for an
answerwhen he arguesthat a "'beginning' is designatedin order to indicate,
clarify, or define alaterlime, place, or action. In short, the designation of a
beginning generallyinvolvesalso the designationof a consequenlintention"
(5).In Said'sterms, therefore,evenatomizedtext can make a beginning when
the link site, or point of deparhrre, assumesthe role of the beginning of a
chain or path. According to Said,"we seethat the beginning is the first point
(in time, space,or action) of an accomplishmentor processthat has duration
and meaning. The beginning,then, is thefirst stepin the intentionalprod.uaion
ofmeanin{'(5).
Said'squasihypertextual definition of a beginning here suggeststhat "in
retrospectwe can regard a beginning as the point at which, in a given work,
the writer departsfrom all otherworks; a beginning immediately establishes
relationships with works alreadyexisting, relationships of either continuity
or antagonism or some mixture of both" (3).
RECONFIGURING terms, since they derive from another educationaland information technol-
THE TEXT ogy and have hidden assumptions inappropriate to hypertext. Particularly
inapplicableare the relatednotions of completion and a finished product. As
Derrida recognizes,a form of texruality that goesbeyond pdnt "forces us to
extend . . . the dominant notion of a 'text,"' so that it "is henceforth no longer
a finished corpus of writing, some content enclosedin a book or its margins
but a differential network, a fabric of tracesreferring endlesslyto something
other than itself, to other differential traces" ("Living On," 83-84).
Hypertexhralmaterials,which by definition are open-ended,expandable,
and incomplete, call such notions into question. If one put a work conven-
tionally considered complete, such as Ulysses,
into a hypertext format, it
would immediately become "incomplete." Electroniclinking, which empha-
sizes making connections, immediately expands a text by provrdinglarge
numbers of points to which other texts can attachthemselves.The fixity and
physicalisolation of book technology,which permits standardizationand rel-
ativelyeasyreproduction, necessarilyclosesoffsuch possibilities. Hypertext
opens*rem up.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 first place.In a word, we do not believethat there exists,in all rigor, a Platonic
text,closedupon itself, completewith its inside and outside"(130).
Derrida furthermore explains, with a fine combination of patience and
wit, that in noticing that texts really do not have insides and outsides, one
does not reduce them to so much mush: "Not that one must then consider
that it [the text] is leaking on all sides and can be drowned confusedlyin the
undifferentiated generalityof the element. Rather,providedthe articulations
are rigorously and prudently recognized,one should simply be able to un-
tangle the hidden forces of attraction linking a present word with an absent
word in the text of Plato"(130).
Another sign of Derrida'sawarenessof the limitations and confinements
of contemporaryattitudes,which arise in associationwith the technologyof
the printed book, is his protohypertextualapproachto tertuality and mean-
ing, an approachthat remains skeptical of "a fundamental or totalizing
principle," since it recognizesthat "the classical system's 'outside' can no
longer take the form of the sort of extra-textwhich would arrest the concate-
nation of writing" (5).
Hypertext both on the Internet and in its read-writeforms thus createsan
open, open-borderedtext, a text that cannot shut out other textsand therefore
embodies the Derridean text that blurs "all those boundaries that form the
running border of what used to be calleda text, of what we once thought this
word could identify, i.e.,the supposedend and beginning of a work, the unity
of the corpus,the title, the margins, the signatures,the referential realm out-
side the frame, and so forth." Hypertext therefore undergoeswhat Derrida
describesas "a sort ofoverrun lddbordement]thatspoils all these boundaries
and divisions" ("Living On," 83). Anyone who believesDerrida is here being
overly dramatic should consider the power of the open hypermedia systems
discussedin chapter 1 to add links to someoneelsek Web document.
In hypertext systems,links within and without a text-intratextual and
intertextual connectionsbetweenpoints of text (including images)-become
equivalent,thus bringing texts closer together and blurring the boundaries
among them (Figure 12). Consider the caseof intertextual links in Milton.
Milton's various descriptions of himself as prophet or inspired poet in Par-
adiseLostand his citations of Genesis3:15provide obvious examples.E*ra-
textual and intratextual links, in contrast,are exemplified by links betweena
particular passagein which Milton mentions prophecyand his other writings
in prose or poetry that make similar or obviously relevant points, as well as
biblical texts,commentariesthroughout the ages,comparableor contrasting
lt5
The BorderlessText
Linkingchangesthe experience
of text and
authorshipby renderingthe bordersof atl text
permeabte:
Thelliad echoes,references,
By reifoingattusions, and so
o n ,[ i n k i n g
(1) makes
themmaterial,
Invocations
in ParodiseLost
Bookof Exodus
HYPERTEXT
3.0 The speedwith which one can move betweenpassagesand points in sets
of texts changesboth the way we read and the way we write, just as the high-
speed number-crunching computing changed various scientific fields by
making possible investigationsthat before had required too much time or
risk. One changecomesfrom the fact that linking permits the readerto move
with equalfacility betweenpoints within a text and thoseoutside it. Once one
can move with equalfacility between,say,the opening sectionof ParadiseLost
and a passagein Book 12 thousandsof lines "away:'andbetweenthat open-
ing section and a particular anterior French text or modern scholarly com-
ment, then, in an important sense,the discretenessof texts,which print cul-
ture creates,has radically changedand possibly disappeared.One may argue
that, in fact,all the hypertextlinking of such textsdoesis embodythe way one
actuallyexperiencestextsin the act ofreading; but ifso, the act ofreading has
in some way gotten much closerto the electronic embodiment of text and in
so doing has begun to changeits nature.
These observations about hypertext suggest that computers bring us
much closerto a culture some of whosequalities havemore in common with
that of preliterateman than evenWalter I. Ong has been willing to admit.
In Orality and Literacyhe argues that computers have brought us into what
he terms an ageof "secondaryorality"thathas "striking resemblances"to the
primary, preliterate orality "in its participatory mystique, its fostering of a
communal sense,its concentrationon the present moment, and even its
useof formulas" (136).Nonetheless,althoughOng finds interestingparallels
between a computer culture and a purely oral one, he mistakenly insists:
"The sequentialprocessingand spatializing of the word, initiated by writing
and raised to a new order of intensity by print, is further intensified by the
computer, which maximizes commitment of the word to spaceand to (elec-
tronic) local motion and optimizes analytic sequentialityby making it virhr-
ally instantaneous" (136).In fact, hypertext systems,which insert everytext
into a web of relations, produce a very different effect,for they allow non- or
multisequential reading and thinking.
One major effect of such nonsequential reading, the weakening of the
boundariesofthe text, can be thought ofeither as correctingthe artificial iso-
lation of a text from its contextsor asviolating one of the chief qualities of the
book. According to Ong, writing and printing produce the effect of discrete,
self-containedutterance:
Byisolating detached
thoughton a writtensurface, making
fromanyinterlocutor,
utterance
in thissenseautonomous attack,
andindifferentto writingpresents
utter-
117
HYPERTEXT
3.0 blurs the distinction betweenwhat is inside and what is outside a text. It also
makes all the terts connectedto a block of text collaboratewith that text.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 spheres"therefore becomesvery difficult, and in a fully networked environ-
ment such text hierarchies tend to collapse.
Hypertext linking situatesthe presenttext at the centerofthe textual uni-
verse,thus creating a new kind of hierarchy,in which the power of the cen-
ter dominatesthat of the infinite periphery.But becausein hypertextthat cen-
ter is alwaysa transient, decenterablevirtual center-one created,in other
words, only by one's act of reading that particular text-it never tyrannizes
other aspectsof the network in the way a printed text does.
Barthes, well aware of the political constraints of a text that makes a
readerread in a particular way,himself manipulates the political relations of
text in interesting ways. The entire procedure or construction of S/2, for
example, servesas a commentary on the political relationships among por-
tions of the standardscholarlytext,the problem ofhierarchy. Barthesplaliily
createshis own version of complex footnote systems.Like Derrida in Glas,he
createsa work or metatextthat the readeraccustomedto reading books finds
either abrasivelydifferent or, on rare occasion,a wittily powerful commentary
on the way bookswork-that is, on the way they force readersto seerelation-
ships betweensectionsand therebyendow certain assemblagesof words with
power and value becausethey appearin certain formats rather than others.
Barthes,in other words, comments on the footnote, and a7lof S/Z wrns
out to be a criticism of the power relatronsbetweenportions of text. In a foot-
note or endnote, we recall, that portion of the text conventionallyknown as
the main text has a value for both readerand writer that surpassesany of its
supplementaryportions, which include notes, prefaces,dedications,and so
on, most of which take the form of apparatusesdesignedto aid information
retrieval. These devices,almost all of which derive directly from print tech-
nology,can function only when one has fixed, repeatable,physicallyisolated
texts. They have great advantagesand permit certain kinds ofreading: one
need not, for example,memorize the location of a particular passageif one
has systemfeaturessuch as chaptertitles,tablesofcontents,andindices.So
the reference devicehas enornous value as a means of reader orientation,
navigation,and information retrieval.
It comes at certain costs,coststhat, like most paid by the reader of text,
havebecomeso much a part of our experiencesof reading that we do not
notice them at all. Barthes makes us notice them. Barthes,like most late-
twentieth-century critical theorists, is at his best seeingthe invisible, breath-
ing on it in hopes that the condensatewill illuminate the shadowsof what
others havelong missed and taken to be not there. What, then, doesthe foot-
note imply, and how doesBarthesmanipulate or avoidit? Combinedwith the
121
RECONFIGURING physical isolation of each text, the division between main text and footnote
THE TEXT establishesthe primary importance of main text in its relation to other texts
even when thinking about the subject instantly revealsthat such a relation-
ship cannotin fact exist.
Takeour scholarlyarticle, the kind of articleswe academicsall write. One
wishes to write an article on some aspectof the Nausicaasection of ]oyce's
Ulysses,a text that by even the crudest quantitative measures appearsto be
more important, more powerful than our note identifying, say,one of the
sourcesof Gerty McDowell's phrasing from a contemporarywomen'smaga-
zine. foyce'snovel, for example,existsin more copiesthan our article can or
will and it thereforehas an enormouslylarger readershipand reputation-all
problematic notions, I admit, all relying on certain ideologies;and yet most
of us, I expect,will accedeto them for they are the valuesby which we work.
Ostensibly,that is. Evendeconstructionistsprivilege the text, the greatwork.
Once,however,one begins to write one'sarticle, the conventionsof print
quickly call thoseassumptionsinto question,since anything in the main text
is clearly more important than anything outside it. The physically isolated
discretetext is very discreetindeed, for as Ong makes clear,it hides obvious
connections of indebtednessand qualification. When one introduces other
authors into the text, they appearas attenuated,often highly distorted shad-
ows of themselves.Part of this is necessarysince one cannot, after all, re-
produce an entire article or book by another author in onet own. Part of this
attenuation comes from authorial inaccuracy,slovenliness,or outright dis-
honesty. Nonetheless,such attenuation is part of the messageof print, an
implication one cannot avoid,or at least one cannot avoid since the adventof
hypertext,which by providing an alternativetextual mode revealsdifferences
that turn out to be, no longer, inevitabilities and invisibilities.
In print when I provide the pagenumber of an indicated or cited passage
from foyce,or even include that passagein text or note, that passage-that
occasionfor my article-clearly exists in a subsidiary comparativelyminor
position in relation to my words, which appear,after all, in the so-calledmain
tert. What would happen, though, if one wrote one's article in hypertextl
Assuming one worked in a fully implemented hypertexrual environment,
one would begin by calling up foyce'snovel and, on one side of the video
screen, opening the passageor passagesinvolved. Next, one would write
one'scomment, but where one would usually cite foyce,one now does so in
a very different way. Now one createsan electronic link between one's own
text and one or more sectionsof the foyceantext. At the same time one also
links one'stext to other aspectsof one'sown text, texts by others, and earlier
122
HYPERTEXT
3.0 texts by oneself. Severalthings havehappened,things that violate our expec-
tations. First, attachingmy commentary to a passagefrom foycemakes it
exist in a far different, far less powerful, relation to Joyce,the so-calledorigi-
nal text,than it would in the world of physicallyisolatedtexts. Second,as soon
as one attachesmore than one text block or lexia to a single anchor (or block,
or link marker), one destroysall possibility of the bipartite hierarchy of foot-
note and main text. In hypertext,the main text is that which one is presently
reading. So one has a double revaluation: with the dissolution of this hier-
archy,any attachedtext gains an importance it might not havehad before.
In Bakhtin'sterms, the scholarlyarticle, which quotesor cites statements
by others-"some for refutation and others for confirmation and supple-
mentation-is one instance of a dialogic interrelationship among directly
signifying discourseswithin the limits of a single context . . . This is not a
clash of two ultimate semanticauthorities, but rather an objectified (plotted)
clash of two representedpositions, subordinatedwholly to the higher, ulti
mate authority of the author. The monologic context, under these circum-
stances,is neither broken nor weakened"(Problerus,188).
Trying to evadethe
constraints,the logic, of print scholarship,Bakhtin himself takesan approach
to quoting other authors more characteristicof hypertext or postbook tech-
nology than that of the book. According to his editor and translator,Emerson,
when Bakhtin quotes other critics, "he does so at length, and lets eachvoice
sound fully. He understands that the frame is always in the power of the
framer, and that there is an outrageousprivilege in the power to cite others.
Thus Bakhtin's footnotes rarely sewe to narrow down debate by discredit-
ing totally, or (on the other hand) by conferring exclusive authority. They
might identify, expand,illustrate, but they do not pull rank on the body of the
text-and thus more in the nature of a marginal gloss than an authoritative
footnote" (>oorvii).
Derrida also comments on the status relations that cut and divide texts,
but unlike Barthes,he concerns himself with oppositions between preface
and main text and main text and other texts. Recognizingthat varying levels
of statusaccrueto different portions of a text, Derrida examinesthe way each
takes on associationswith power or importance. In discussingHegel'sintro-
duction to the Logic,Denidapoints out, for example,that the prefacemust be
distinguished from the introduction. They do not havethe samefunction, or
eventhe same dignity, in Hegel's eyes(Dissernination,lT).Derrida'snew tex-
tuality, or true textuality (which I have continually likened to hypertextuality),
represents"an entirely other typology where the outlines of the prefaceand
the'main'text are blurred" (39).
One tends to think of text from within the position of the lexia
Hypertextand Decentrality:The under consideration.Accustomed to reading pages of print
on paper,one tends to conceiveoftext from the vantagepoint
Philosophical
Grounding
ofthe readerexperiencingthat page or passage,and that por-
tion of text assumesa centrality. Hypertext, however,makes such assump-
tions of centrality fundamentally problematic. In contrast,the linked text,the
annotation, exists as the other lert, and it leads to a conception (and experi-
ence)of text as Other.
In hypertextthis annotation, or commentary or appendedtext can be any
linked text, and thereforethe position of any lexia in hypertextresemblesthat
of the Victorian sage.For like the sage,say,Carlyle,Thoreau, or Ruskin, the
lexia stands outside, offcenter, and challenges.In other words, hypertext,
like the sage,thrives on marginality. From that essentialmarginality to which
he stakeshis claim by his skillfirl, aggressiveuse ofpronouns to opposehis
interests and views to those of the reader,he defines his discursiveposition
or vantagepoint.
Hypertext similarly emphasizesthat the marginal has as much to offer as
doesthe central, in part becausehypertext refusesto grant centrality to any-
thing, to any lexia, for more than the time a gazerestson it. In hypertext,cen-
trality, like beauty and relevance,resides in the mind of the beholder. Like
Andy Warhol'smodern person'sfifteen minutes of fame, centrality in hyper-
text only exists as a matter of evanescence.
As one might expectfrom an
information medium that changesour relations to data,thoughts, and selves
so dramatically,that evanescenceof this (ever-migrating)centrality is merely
a given-that's the way things are-rather than an occasionfor complaint or
satire. It is simply the condition under which-or within which-we think,
communicate, or record these thoughts and communications in the hyper-
texfual docuverse.
This hypertextual dissolution of centrality, which makes the medium such
a potentially democratic one, also makes it a model of society of conversa-
tions in which no one conversation,no one discipline or ideology,dominates
or founds the others. It is thus the instantiation of what Richard Rorty terms
edifyingphilosophy,the point of which "is to keep the conversation going
rather than to find objectivetruth." It is a form of philosophy
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 deceive
themintothinking
thatfromnowonalldiscourse
couldbe,or shouldbe,nor-
maldiscourse. Theresulting freezing-over of culture wouldbe,in theeyesof edifying
p h i l o s o p h et rhse,d e h u m a n i z a toi of hnu m a nb e i n g s( .3 7 7 )
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 individual documents from one another in the worlds of print and manu-
script. In reducing the autonomy of the text, hypertextreducesthe autonomy
of the author. In the words of Michael Heim, "as the authoritativenessof text
diminishes, so too does the recognition of the private self of the creative
author" (ElecrricLanguage,22Il. Granted,much of that so-calledautonomy
had been illusory and existed as little more than the difficulty that readers
had in perceivingconnectionsbetweendocuments.Nonetheless,hypertext-
which I am here taking as the convergenceof poststructuralist conceptions
of textuality and electronic embodiments of it-does do awaywith certain
aspectsof the authoritativenessand autonomy of the text, and in so doing
it does reconceive the figure and function of authorship. One powerful
instance of the way hypermedia environments diminish the author'scontrol
over his or her own text appearsin the way so-calledopen systemspermit
readersto insert links into a lexia written by someoneelse.Portal Maximizer,
for example,permits overlaying one author's Web documents with another
author'slinks, although the original document remains unchanged.3
William R. Paulson,who examines literature from the vantagepoint of
information theory arrives at much the same position when he argues that
"to characterizetexts as artificially and imperfectly autonomous is not to
eliminate the role of the author but to deny the reader'sor critic's submission
to any instance ofauthority. This perspectiveleavesroom neither for author-
ial mastery of a communicative object nor for the authority of a textual
coherenceso complete that the readerk (infinite) task would be merely to
receiveits rich and multilayered meaningJ' Beginning from the position of
information theory Paulsonfinds that in "literary communication," as in all
communication, "there is an irreducible element of noise," and therefore
"the reader'stask does not end with reception, for reception is inherently
flawed. What literature solicits of the reader is not simply receptivebut the
active,independent, autonomous construction of meaning" (139).Finding
no reasonto exile the author from the text, Paulsonnonethelessends up by
assigningto the readera small portion of the power that, in earlier views,had
been the prerogativeof the writer.
Hypertext and contemporary theory reconceivethe author in a second
way.As we shall observewhen we examine the notion of collaborativewrit-
ing, both agree in configuring the author of the text as a text. As Barthes
explains in his famous exposition of the idea, "this 'I'which approachesthe
textisalreadyitselfapluralityofothertexts,ofcodeswhichareinfinite"(S/2,
10).Barthes'spoint, which should seem both familiar and unexceptionalto
anyonewho has encounteredfoyce'sweaving of Gerty McDowell out of the
127
RECONFIGURING texts of her classand culture, appearsmuch clearer and more obvious from
THE AUTHOR the vantagepoint of intertextuality.In this case,as in others at which we have
alreadylooked, contemporarytheory proposesand hypertext disposes;or, to
be less theologically aphoristic, hypertext embodies many of the ideas and
attitudes proposedby Barthes,Derrida, Foucault,and others.
One of the most important of these ideas involves treating the self of
author and reader not simply as (print) text but as a hypertext. For all these
authors the self takes the form of a decentered(or centerless)network of
codesthat, on another level, also sewes as a node within another centerless
network. Jean-FrangoisLyotard,for example,rejects nineteenth-centuryRo-
mantic paradigmsof an islanded self in favor of a model of the self as a node
in an information network: 'A self doesnot amount to much," he assuresus
with fashionablenonchalance,"but no self is an island; each existsin a fab-
ric of relations that is now more complex and mobile than everbefore.Young
'nodal
or old, man or woman, rich or poor, a person is always located at
points' of specificcommunication circuits, howevertiny thesemay be. Or bet-
ter: one is alwayslocatedat a post through which various kinds of messages
pass"(Postrnodem Condition,15).Lyotard'sanalogybecomeseven stronger if
one realizesthat by "post" he most likely means the modern Europeanpost
office,which is a telecommunicationscentercontaining telephonesand other
networked devices.
Sometheorists find the idea of parricipating in a network to be demean-
ing and depressing,particularly since contemporary conceptionsof texhral-
ity deemphasizeautonomy in favor of pariicipation. Before succumbing to
posthumanist depression,however,one should place Foucault'sstatements
about "the author's disappearance"in the context of recent discussionsof
machine intelligence (Foucault, "What Is an Authorl" 119).According to
Heinz Pagels,machines capableof complex intellectual processingwill "put
an end to much discussionabout the mind-body problem, becauseit will be
very hard not to attribute a consciousmind to them without failing to do so
for morehuman beings. Gradually the popular view will become that con-
sciousnessis simply'what happens'when electroniccomponentsare put
together the right way" (92).Pagels'sthoughts on the eventualelectronic so-
lution to the mind-body problem recall Foucault'sdiscussionof "the singular
relationship that holds betweenan author and a text [as]the manner in which
a text apparentlypoints to this figure who is outside and precedesit" ("What
Is an Authorl" 115).This point of view makes apparentthat literature gener-
atespreciselysuch appearanceofa self, and that, moreover,we havelong read
a self "out" of texts as evidencethat a unified self exists"behind" or "within"
't28
HYPERTEXT
3.0 or "implicit in" it. The problem for anyone who yearns to retain older con-
ceptions of authorship or the author function lies in the fact that radical
changes in terruality produce radical changesin the author figure derived
from that textuality. Lack of textual autonomy, like lack of textual centered-
ness, immediately reverberatesthrough conceptionsof authorship as well.
Similarly, the unboundednessof the new tertuality dispersesthe author as
well. Foucaultopensthis side of the question when he raiseswhat, in another
context,might be a standardproblem in a graduatecourseon the methodol-
ogy ofscholarship:
lfwewishto publish
thecomplete
worksof Nietzsche,
forexample,
wheredowedraw
thelinelCertainly,
everything butcanweagreeon what,,every-
mustbe published,
thing"means? Wewill,of course,includeeverything that Nietzsche himselfpuO-
l i s h e da, l o n gw i t ht h ed r a f t so f h i sw o r k sh, i sp l a n sf o r a p h o r i s mhsi,sm a r g i n a l i a ;
notations
andcorrections.
Butwhatif,in a notebook
filledwithaphorisms,wefinoa
reference,
a reminder
of anappointment, anaddress,
or a laundrybill,shouldthisbe
includedin hisworks)Whynotl . . . lf somehavefoundit convenientto bypassthe
individuality
of thewriteror hisstatusas an authorto concentrate
on a work,they
havefailedto appreciatetheequally problematicnatureof theword,,work"andthe
u n i t yi t d e s i g n a t e( 1
s1. 9 )
RECONFIGURING of the self so central to moral, criminal, and copyright law. The editor of the
THE AUTHOR Soncino edition of the Hebrew Bible reminds us that
Given such long observed multiplicities of the self,' we are forced to real-
ize that notions of the unitary author or self cannot authenticate the unity of
a text.8 The instance of Balaam also reminds us that we have access to him
only in Scriptures and that it is the biblical text, after all, which figures the
unwilling prophet as a fractured self.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 haveto do so, since L6vi-strauss'smythographic works have provided abun-
dant examplesof it. Although the diachronic relationship betweenthesetwo
influential thinkers seemedworthy of notice, I could not add the passage
from Foucaultand my comment becauseit disturbed my planned line of ar-
gument, which next required Said'srelation of ethnology and linguistics to
the erosionof "the authority ofthe human subl'ect"in contemporarythought.
I did not want to veer offin yet another direction. I then consideredputting
this observationin note T,buL again,it also seemedout of placethere.
Had I written this chapter within a hypertext environment, the need to
maintain a linear thrust would not haverequired this kind of choice.It would
haverequired choices,but not this kind, and I could havelinked two or more
passagesto this point in the main text, thereby creating multiple contexts
both for my argument and for the quoted passagethat servedas my point of
deparhrre.I am not urging, ofcourse, that in its print form this chapterhas
lost something of major importance becauseI could not easilyappendmul-
tiple connectionswithout confusing the reader.(Had my abandonedremark
seemedimportant enough to my overall argument, I could havemanagedto
include it in several obvious ways, such as adding another paragraph or
rewriting the main text to provide a point from which to hang another note.)
No, I make this point to remind us that, as Derrida emphasizes,the linear
habits of thought associatedwith print technologyoften influence us to think
in particular ways that require narowness, decontextualization,and intel-
lectual attenuation, if not downright impoverishment. Linear argument, in
other words, forcesone to cut offa quoted passagefrom other, apparently
irrelevant contextsthat in fact contribute to its meaning. The linearity of print
alsoprovidesthe passagewith an illusory centerwhoseforce is intensified by
such selection.
A secondexamplepoints to another kind of exclusionassociatedwith lin-
ear writing. During the course of composing the first three chaptersof this
book, severalpassages,such as Barthes'sdescription ofthe writerly text and
Derrida's exposition of borders, boundaries, and d4bordement, forced them-
selvesinto the line of argument and hence deservedinclusion sevenor eight
times. One can repeatedlyrefer to a particular passage,of course, by com-
bining firll quotation, selections,and skillfr.rlparaphrase,but in generalthe
writer can concentrateon a quoted sectionof text in this manner only when
it servesas the center,or one of the centers,of the argument. If I wished to
write a chapteror an entire book about Derridean d.6bord.ement,I could return
repeatedlyto it in different contexts,thereby revealing its richness of impli
cation. But that is not the book I wished to write in L991,or wish to write now
133
RECONFIGURING nor is that the argument I wish to pursue here, and so I suppressthat text
THE AUTHOR and argument, which henceforth exist only in potentia. After careful consid-
eration, I decide which of the many places in the text would most benefit
from introduction of the quotation and then at the appropriatemoment, I
trundle it forward. As a result, I necessarilycloseoffall but a few of its obvi-
ous points of connection.
As an experiencedwriter accustomedto making such choices,I realize
that selectionis one of the principles of effectiveargument. But why doesone
have to write texts in this wayl If I were writing a hypertext version of this
text-and the versionswould exist so differently that one has to placequota-
tion marks around "version" and "text," and probably "I" as well-I would
not have to chooseto write a single text. I could, instead, produce one that
contained a plurality of ways through it. For example, after preparing the
readerfor Derrida'sdiscussionof ddbordemenf, I could then link my prepara-
tory remarks either to the passageitself or to the entire text of "Living Oni
and I could provide temporary markings that would indicate the beginning
and end of the passageI wished to emphasize.At the sametime, my hyper-
text would link the samepassageto other points in my argument. How would
I go about creating such linksl
To answer this question, let me return to my first and simpler example,
which involved linking passagesfrom L6vi-Strauss'sScopeof Anthropology
and Foucault's"What Is an Authorl" to a remark about the anthropologist's
use of the network model. Let'slook at how one makes a link in three differ-
ent hypermedia environments, Intermedia, Storyspace,and HTML (for the
Web).Unlike creatinglinks in HTML, linking in Microcosm, Storyspace,and
Intermedia follows the now common cut-and-pasteparadigm found in word
processors,graphics editors, and spread sheets.Using the mouse or other
pointing device,one placesthe cursor immediately before the first letter of
the first word in the passagein question, the sign ofwhich is that the tert ap-
pearshighlighted-that is, it appearswithin a black rectangle,and the black
type against a white background now appearsin reversevideo, white letter-
ing against a black background. With the text highlighted, one moves the
mouse until the point of the arrow-shapedcursor coversany part of the word
"Intermedia" that appearsin a horizontal list of words at the top of the screen
("File,""Edit," "lntermedia," and so on). Holding down the mousebutton, one
drawsthe cursor down, therebyproducing the Intermedia menu, which con-
tains choices.Placing the pointer over "Start Link," one releasesthe mouse
button, proceedsto the secondtext, and carries out the same operation until
one opensthe Intermedia menu, at which point one chooses"CompleteLink."
134
HYPERTEXT
3.0 The systemthen producesa panel containing placesto tFpe any desired
labelsfor the linked passages;it automaticallyaddsthe title of the entire texr,
and the writer can describethe linked passagewithin that text. For example,
if I createda link betweenthe hypermedia equivalentof my text for the pre-
vious section of this chapter and a passagein The Scopeof Anthropology,
Intermedia would automaticallyadd the title of that text, "The Erosion of
the Author," to which I would add a phrase,say,"L6viStrauss & myth as net-
work." At the other end of the link, the systemwould furnish "Claude L6vi
Strauss,The Scopeof Anthropology,"and I would add something like "L6vi-
Strauss& societyas network."When a readeractivatesthe link marker in the
main text, the new entry appearsas an option: "Claude L6vi-Strauss,7he
Scopeof Anthropology:(L6vi-strauss& societyas network)J'Storyspacelink-
ing involvesa roughly similar, if simpler, procedure:to link from a phraseto
another document, one highlights the phrase,moves the cursor to a palette
containing an arrow clicks on it, and then clicks on the other document, at
which point a panel appearsin which one can placea description.To make a
link in HTML (which only permits one link per anchor), one has to tFpe
somethinglike <a href : ' ../../levistrauss/1.html'target: "blank">how men
think in myths</>, or use a handy html editor like BBEdit or Dreamweaver,
which would add the HTML tag (<a href :></a>) after I typed in the infor-
mation betweenquotationmarks (../..ilevistrauss/1.html).
In Storyspace,Intermedia, and similar programs,linking the secondtext,
the passagefrom Foucault,follows the identical procedurewith the single ex-
ception that one no longer has to provide a label for the lexia in the main text,
since it alreadyhas one. In HTML one has to sacrificethis secondlink or find
another appropriatephraseto which one could add a link.
If instead of linking these two brief passagesof quotation, documenta-
tion, and commentary, I createda more complex document set, focused on
Derridean dfbordement,one would follow the sameprocedureto createlinks.
In addition, one would also createkinds of documents not found in printed
text, some of which would be primarily visual or hieroglyphic. One, for
example, might take the form of a concept map showing, among other
things, uses of the term ddbordement
in "Living On," other works by Derrida
in which it appears,and its relation to a range of contexts and disciplines
from cartographyand histology to etyrnology and French military history.
Current hypermedia systems,including popular World Wide Web browsers,
permit linking to interactivevideo, music, and animation as well as diction-
aries, text, time lines, and static graphics.In the future these links will take
more dynamic forms, and following them will animate some procedure,say,
135
HYPERTEXT
3.0 I pointed to another kind of"virtual" existence,the virtual text: all texts that
one encounterson the computer screenareyirtual, rather than real. In a sim-
ilar manner, the readerexperiencesthe virhral presenceof other contributors.
Suchvirtual presenceis ofcourse a characteristicofall technologyofcul-
tural memory basedon writing and syrnbolsystems.Sincewe all manipulate
cultural codes-particularly languagebut also mathematics and other syrn-
bols-in slightly different ways,eachrecord of an utteranceconveysa sense
of the one who makesthat utterance.Hypermedia differs from print technol-
ogy,however,in severalcrucial ways that ampllfy this notion of virhral pres-
ence.Becausethe essentialconnectivityof hypermediaremovesthe physical
isolation ofindividual texts characteristicofprint technology,the presenceof
individual authors becomesboth more availableand more important. The
characteristicflexibility of this reader-centered
information technologymeans,
quite simply, that writers have a much greaterpresencein the system,as
potential contributors and collaborativeparticipants but also as readerswho
choosetheir own paths through the materials.
RECONFICURINC which one worker produces a draft that another person then edits by modi
THE AUTHOR fying and adding. The first and the secondforms of collaborativeauthorship
tend to blur, but the distinguishing factor here is that versioning takes place
out of the presenceof the other collaboratorand at a later time.
Both of these models require considerableability to work productively
with other people,and evidencesuggeststhat many peopleeither do not have
such ability or do not enjoy putting it into practice.In fact, accordingto those
who have carried out experiments in collaborativework, a third form proves
more common than the first two-the assembly-lineor segmentationmodel
of working together,accordingto which individual workers divide the overall
task and work entirely independently.This last mode is the form that most
people engagedin collaborativework choosewhen they work on projects
ranging from programming to art exhibitions.
Networked hypertext systemslike the World Wide Web, Hyper-G, Sepia,
and Intermedia offer a fourth model of collaborativework that combines as-
pects of the previous ones. By emphasizing the presenceof other texts and
their cooperativeinteraction, networked hypertext makes all additions to a
systemsimultaneouslya matter of versioningand of the assembly-linemodel.
Once ensconcedwithin a network of electronic links, a document no longer
existsby itself. It alwaysexistsin relation to other documents in a way that a
book or printed document neverdoesand nevercan. From this crucial shift in
the way texts exist in relation to others derivetwo principles that, in turn, pro-
duce this fourth form of collaboration:first, any document placedon any net-
worked systemthat supportselectronicallylinked materialspotentially exists
in collaborationwith any and all other documentson that system;second,any
document electronicallylinked to any other document collaborateswith it.
According to the AmericanHeritageDictionaryofthe EnglishLanguage,the
verb to collaboratecan mean either "to work together, especially in a ioint
intellectual effort," or "to cooperatetreasonably,aswith an enemy occupying
one'scountryJ'Thecombination of labor, political power, and aggressiveness
that appearsin this dictionary definition well indicatessome of the problems
that arise when one discussescollaborativework. On the one hand, the no-
tion of collaboration embracesnotions of working together with others, of
fotminga community of action. This meaning recognizes,as it were, thatwe
all exist within social groups, and it obviously placesvalue on contributions
to that group. On the other hand, collaborationalsoincludes a deepsuspicion
of working with others, something aestheticallyas well as emotionally en-
grained since the adventof Romanticism, which exaltsthe idea of individual
'r
38
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 effort to such a degreethat it, like copyright law often fails to recognize,or
even suppresses,the fact that artists and writers work collaborativelywith
texts createdby others.
Most of our intellectual endeavorsinvolve collaboration. but we do not
alwaysrecognizethat fact for two reasons.The rules of our intellectual cul-
ture, particularly those that define intellectual properfy and authorship, do
not encouragesuch recognitions, and furthermore, information technology
from Gutenbergto the present-the technologyof the book-systematically
hinders full recognition of collaborativeauthorship.
Throughout the past century the physicaland biologicalscienceshave
increasingly conceivedofscientific research,authorship, and publication as
group endeavors.The conditions of scientific research,according to which
many researchprojects require the cooperatingservicesof a number of spe-
cialists in the sameor (often) different fields, bear some resemblancesto the
medieval guild system in which apprentices,journeymen, and masters all
worked on a single complex project. Nonetheless,"collaborationsdiffer
depending on whether the substanceofthe researchinvolves a theoretical
science,such asmathematics,or an empirical science,such asbiology or psy-
chology.The former are characterizedbycollaborationsamong equals,with
little division of labor, whereasthe latter are characterizedby more explicit
exchangeof services,and more substantialdivision of labor" (Galegher,Egido,
and Kraut, 151).The financing of scientific research,which supports the
individual project, the institution at which it is carried out, and the costsof
educating new members of the discipline all nurture such group endeavors
and consequentconceptionsof group authorship.e
In general, the scientific disciplines rely on an inclusive conception of
authorship: anyonewho has made a major contribution to finding particular
results, occasionallyincluding specializedtechnicians and those who de-
velop techniques necessaryto carry out a course ofresearch, can appearas
authors of scientific papers,and similarly, those in whoselaboratoriesa proj-
ect is carried out may receiveauthorial credit if an individual project and the
publication of its results depend intimately on their generalresearch.In the
course of a graduatestudent'sresearchfor a dissertation,he or she may re-
ceivecontinual adviceand evaluation.When the student'sproject bearsfruit
and appearsin the form of one or more publications,the advisor'sname
often appearsas co-author.
Not so in the humanities, where graduatestudent researchis supported
largely by teaching assistantshipsand not, as in the sciences,by research
funding. Although an advisor of a student in English or art history often
139
RECONFIGURING acts in ways closelyparalleling the advisor of the student in physics, chem-
THE AUTHOR istry, or biology,explicit acknowledgmentsof cooperativework rarely appear.
Evenwhen a senior scholarprovidesthe student with a fairly preciseresearch
project, continual guidance, and accessto crucial materials that the senior
scholar has discoveredor assembled.the student does not include the advi-
sor as co-author.
The marked differences between conceptions of authorship in the sci
encesand the humanities demonstratethe validity of Michel Foucault's
observationthat "the 'author-function is tied to the legal and institutional
systemsthat circumscribe,determine, and articulatethe realm of discourses;
it doesnot operatein a uniform manner in all discourses,at all times, and in
any given culture it is not defined by the spontaneousattribution of a text to
its creator,but through a series ofprecise and complex procedures;it does
not refer, purely and simply, to an actual individual" ("What Is an Authorl"
131).One reason for the different conceptionsof authorship and authorial
property in the humanities and the scienceslies in the different conditions of
funding and the different discipline-politics that result.
Another corollary reason is that the humanistic disciplines, which tradi
tionally applyhistorical approachesto the areasthey study,considertheir own
assumptions about authorship, authorial ownership, creativity,and original-
ity to be eternal verities.loIn particular, literary studies and literary institu-
tions, such as departmentsof English,which still bathethemselvesin the
afterglow of Romanticism, uncritically inflate Romantic notions of creativity
and originality to the point of absurdity.An example comes readily to hand
from the prefaceof Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford'srecent study of collabo-
rativewriting, the production of which they discoveredto haveinvolved "acts
of subversion and of liberatory significance": "We began collaborating in
spite of concerned warnings of friends and colleagues,including those of
EdwardP.J. Corbett,the person in whosehonor we first wrote collaboratively.
Weknew that our collaborationrepresenteda challengeto traditional research
conventions in the humanities . Andrea's colleagues(atthe University of British
Columbia) said so when they declined to consider any of her coauthoredor
coeditedworks as part of a review for promotion" (ix-x).
Edeand Lunsford, whose interest in their subjectgrew out of the "differ-
ence between our personal experienceas coauthors and the responsesof
many of our friends and colleagues"(5),set the issue of collaborativewriting
within the contextsof actualpracticein the worlds of businessand academia,
the history of theoriesof creativeindividualism and copyright in recentWest-
ern culture, contemporaryand feminist analysesof many of theseother con-
r40
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 texts.They producea wide rangeof evidencein convincinglyarguing that "the
pervasivecommonsenseassumption that writing is inherently and necessar-
ily a solitary,individual act" (5) supportsa traditional patriarchalconstruction
of authorship and authority. After arguing against "univocal psychological
theoriesof the self" (132)and associatednotions of an isolatedindividualism,
Edeand Lunsford call for a more Bakhtinian reconceptionof the self and for
rather than a hierarchical,mode of collaboration.
what they terma d.ialogic,
I shall return to their ideaswhen I discussthe role of hypertextin collab-
orativelearning, but now I wish to point out that as scholarsfrom Mcluhan
and Eisensteinto Ede and Lunsford havelong argued,book technology and
the attitudes it supports are the institutions most responsiblefor maintain-
ing exaggeratednotions of authorial individuality, uniqueness, and owner-
ship that often drastically falsify the conception of original contributions in
the humanities and conveydistorted pictures of research.The sciencestake
a relativelyexpansive,inclusive view ofauthorship and consequentlyoftext
ownership.ll The humanities take a far more restrictedview that emphasizes
individuality, separation,and uniqueness-often creating a vastly distorted
view of the connection of a particular text to those that precededit. Neither
view possessesan obviousrightness. Eachis obviouslya socialconstruction,
and each has on occasionproved to distort actual conditions ofintellectual
work carried out in a particular field.
Whatever the political, economic, and other discipline-specificfactors
that maintain the conception of noncooperativeauthorship in the humani-
ties, print technologyhas also contributed to the senseof a separate,unique
text that is the product-and hencethe property-of one person,the author.
Hypertext changesall this, in large part becauseit doesawaywith the isola-
tion of the individual text that characterizesthe book. As Mcluhan and other
studentsof the cultural influence of print technologyhavepointed out, mod-
ern conceptions of intellectual properry derive both from the organization
and financing of book production and from the uniformity and fixity of text
that characterizesthe printed book. |. David Bolter explains that book tech-
nology itselfcreated new conceptionsofauthorship and publication:
printing
Because a bookisa costlyandlaborious
task,fewreaders
havetheopportu-
nityto become
published
authors.
An authoris a personwhosewordsarefaithfully
copiedandsentroundtheliterary
world,whereas
readers
aremerely
theaudience
for
thosewords.Thedistinction
meantlessin the ageof manuscripts,
when"publica-
tion"waslessofaneventandwhenthereader!ownnotesandglosses
hadthesame
statusasthetextitself.
Anyreader
coulddecide
to crossoverandbecome
anauthor:
't4'l
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Even though print technology is not entirely or even largely responsible
for current attitudes in the humanities toward authorship and collaboration,
a shift to hypertextsystemswould changethem by emphasizingelements
of collaboration.As Tora K. Bikson and ]. D. Evelandpoint out in relation to
other, nonhumanities work, "The electronic environment is a rich context
in which doing work and sharing work becomesvirrually indistinguishable"
(286).If we can make ourselvesawareof the new possibilitiescreatedby these
changes,we can at the very leasttake advantageofthe characteristicqualities
of this new form of information technology.
One relevant characteristic quality of networked hypertext systems is
that they produce a sense ofauthorship, authorial property, and creativity
that differs markedly from those associatedwith book technology.Hypertext
changesour senseof authorship and creativity(or originality) by moving away
from the constrictions of page-boundtechnology.In so doing, it promises to
have an effect on cultural and intellectual disciplines as important as those
producedby earlier shifts in the technologyof cultural memory that followed
the invention of writing and printing (seeBolter, Mcluhan, and Eisenstein).
RECONFIGURING ductory survey of English literature to explore the materials created for a
THEAUTHOR coursein another discipline. Similarly, students from that coursecould now
encounter materials showing the effectson contemporaryfiction of the con-
cerns coveredin their political sciencecourse.Hypertext thus allows and en-
couragescollaborativework, and at the same time it encouragesinterdisci-
plinary approachesby making materials createdby specialistsin different
disciplines work together-collaborate.
This kind of collaboration-by-linkoccurs all the time on the World Wide
Web. Each time a student or faculty member from another institution has
one of their documents addedto The VicrorianWeb-say, on characterization
or race,class,and genderinJane Eyre-they automaticallyjoin in a discussion
on these topics. Similarly, Phil Gyford'stranslation of Pepys'sDiaies into a
Weblog,at which we looked in the previous chapter,exemplifiesyet another
approachto collaborationon the Web.
The important point here is that hypermedia linking automaticallypro-
ducescollaboration.Looking at the way the arms control materials joined to
those supporting the four English courses,one encountersa typical example
of how the connectivity that characterizeshypertext transforms independ-
entlyproduced documentsinto collaborativeonesand authorsworking alone
into collaborativeauthors. When one considers the arms control materials
from the point ofview oftheir originator, they exist as part ofa discretebody
of materials. When one considersthem from the vantagepoint of a reader,
their statuschanges:as soon as they appearwithin a hypertext environment,
these and all other documents then exist as part of a larger system and in
relation therefore to other materials on that system. By forming electronic
pathwaysbetween blocks of texts, links actualizethe potential relations be-
tween them. fust as hypertext as an educational medium transforms the
teacherfrom a leaderinto a kind of coachor companion, hypertext as a writ-
ing medium metamorphosesthe author into an editor or developer.Hyper-
media, like cinema and video or opera,is a team production.
Reconfiguring
Writing
RECONFIGURING Three points here demand notice. First, the conceptof disorientation re-
WRITING latescloselyto the tendencyto use spatial,geographical,and travelmetaphors
to describethe way users experiencehypertext. Such uses are obviously
appropriateto dictionary definitions of disorient.Neither TheAmeican Her-
itageDiaionary nor Webster's
CollegiateDicNionarydefines disorientation,but
accordingto TheAmeican HeitageDictionory,Iodisorientis "to causeto lose
one'ssenseof direction or location, as by removing from a familiar environ-
ment," and Webster'soffers three definitions of d.isoient:(1) "to causeto lose
one'sbearings: displacefrom normal position or relationship"; (2) "to cause
to lose the senseof time, place,or identity"; and (3) "to confuse."
In general, authors writing about hypertext seem to mean confuseand
specificallylosebeoingswhenthey use the term, and this usagederivesfrom
commonplaceapplicationof spatialmetaphorsto describethe reader'sbehav-
ior in a hypertextenvironment. Thus, in "The Art of Navigatingthrough Hy-
pertext," ]akob Nielsen points out in the usual formulation that "one of the
major usability problems with hypertext is the user's risk of disorientation
while navigating the information space.For example, our studies showed
that 56 percent of the readersof a document written in one of the most pop-
ular commercial hypertext systems agreed fully or parnally with the state-
menl I wosoftenconfusedaboutwhereI was" (298).Nielsen believesthat "true
hypertext should also make usersfeelthat they can move freely through the
information accordingto their own needs" (298).
Second,as Conklin and others wdting in this field statethe problem of
disorientation, it obviously concernsthe design of the information technol-
ogy alone. In other words, the related conceptsofdisorientation and confu-
sion appear,in their terms, to havenothing to do with the materials,the con-
tent, on the hlpertext system. Nonetheless,we all know that readers often
experienceconfusion and disorientation simply becausethey fail to graspthe
logic or even meaning of a particular argument. Even if the works of Kant,
Einstein, and Heideggerwere to appearon the finest hypertextand informa-
tion retrieval system in the world, they would still disorient many readers.
Although Conklin and other studentsof hypertexthavenot naivelyor incom-
pletely defined what they mean by disorientation, their restriction of this
term to system-generated
disorientationin practicedoesnot takeinto account
a large portion of the actual reading experience-and its implications for
hypertext authors. The issue has a bearing on a third point about the notion
of disorientation.
Third, disorientation, as these comments make clear, is conceivedby
these authors as crippling and disenabling, as something, in other words,
145
HYPERTEXT
3.0 that blockscompletionofa task one has set for oneselfor that has been set
for one by others. Disorientation, furthermore, is presentedas such a mas-
sive, monolithic problem that these authors pay little or no attention to
how people actuallycopewith this experience.Is it, in fact, crippling, and do
users of hypertext systemssimply give up or fail in whatevertasks they have
engagedthemselveswhen they meet disorientation) As we shall see,expert
users ofhypertext do not alwaysfind the experienceofdisorientation to be
particularly stressful, much less p ar alyzing.
The role of disorientation in literature suggestssome reasonswhy this
might be the case.Readersof literature in fact often describethe experience
here presented as disorientation as pleasurable,even exciting, and some
forms of literature, particularly those that emphasize either allegory or sty,
listic and narrative experimentation, rely on disorienting the readeras a pri
mary effect.Although the kind of pleasurabledisorientation that one finds in
Dante's Divine Comedy,Browning's Ring ond the Book,and Eliotk Wasteland
derivesfrom what we havetermed the content and not from the information
technologythat presentsit, this effect has one important parallel to that en-
countered in some forms of hypertext: in each casethe neophyte or inexpe-
rienced readerfinds unpleasantlyconfusing materials that more expert ones
find a sourceofpleasure.
Art is rehearsal
forthoserealsituations
in whichit is vitalfor oursurvival
to endure
cognitivetension,to refusethe comfortsof validationby affective
congruence
whensuchvalidation
is inappropriate
because areat stake;art is
too vitalinterests
thereinforcement
ofthecapacity
to enduredisorientation
sothata realandsignifi-
cantproblemcanemerge. to the tensionsandproblems
Art is the exposure of a
falseworldsothatmancanendure
exposing
himselfto andproblems
thetensions of
a realworld.(314)
getting
themto consider or i nnovative
tryingoutalternative thantalk-
formsisharder
ingthemintochastityasa life-style.
Butsuddenly, they
with hyperspace,
confronted
haveno choice:
allthecomforting havebeenerased.
structures or go
lt'simprovise
home.Somefranticallyrebuild somejustgetlostanddriftout
thoseoldstructures,
of sight,mostleapin fearlessly
withoutevenaskinghowdeepit is (infnitelydeep),
't48
HYPERTEXT
3.0 admitting, to paddle
evenastheycontinue fordearlife,thatthisnewarenais indeed
anexciting,
provocative,
iffrequently
frustrating
mediumforthecreation
ofnewnar-
ratives,
a potentially
revolutionary
space,empowered,
exactly
asadvertised,
to trans-
formtheveryartoffiction.("Endof Books,"
24)
RECONFIGURING retrieval tasks than did comparative neophytes. It would appearthat their
WRITING expectationsof systems and retrieval mechanisms servedto hinder rather
than to assisttheir explorations.Accustomedto using full-text searchmech-
anisms in other kinds of computer systems,one of these students spent
some fifteen minutes searchingfor one in Intermedia-the version used
did not havethe system'slater searchtools-and then gaveup on the assign-
ment, assuming that no other methods of locating the information existed.
In contrast,a relatively unsophisticateduser solvedthe first problem of
locating works by one scholar in a matter of moments. As he explained: "I
found these referencesby opening the Critics Quoted Document in the Bib-
liographical Folder in the Dickens Folder . . . Total Time: 6 minl' Another
similarly responded,"I answeredthe first question of the assignment using
fthe Intermedia folder system].Sincethe folders were labeledwell, I found it
quick and easyto first find the 'Bibliography' folder, and then open the 'Crit-
ics Quoted' document. There I found the names of the three authors in the
question. Sincethe web was alreadyengaged,I could activatethe link mark-
ers and seeall the destination documents connectedto a particular author
(if in fact the web was well linked). Thus, I approachedthe web from an odd
angle,from the actualdocument folders, but it was the one which I felt to be
the easiestand quickest for this question. This same information could be
found in the Bibliography Overview. . . If I had never come acrossthe Victo-
rianism Overview,for whateverreason, I might never have come acrossthe
sought after bibliographic information. But I did find the information, out-
sidethe system's(few)attemptsat organization. I felt so comfortablewith the
sight of the Macintosh document icon that I felt there was no 'violation,' as
Intermedia depictsno structure to be violated-documents seemto be either
autonomous or within the web" (MF).
This student's narrative forcefully restatesthe truism that people who
want to find information will find it as much by what they know about that
information as by systemfeaturesalone. In other words, odentation by con-
tent seems able to solvepotential problems of disorientation causedby the
system design consideredin isolation. In this case,some experiencedusers
of computer tended to conceivethis task as a means of testing systemcapac-
ities whereasthose who were content experts,or who took the approochof a
contentexpert,conceivedthe task in terms that made the desiredinformation
the center of the task.
One important lessonfor both designersof hypertext softwareand those
who teach or write with hypertext appearsin the problems encounteredby
the students with more computer skills. In relying too heavily on system
150
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 features,they implicitly made the assumption that the system, rather than
the author, does most of the work. In doing so, they tended to ignore the
stylistic and other author-createddevicesthat made the searchquick and easy
for a majority of users.
We should also note that a preferencefor browsing up to and including
the senseof "disorientation" can createdisconcerting results for hypertext
designers,despitethe fact that hypertert theorists often praisethis approach
to wandering through a database.For example,one user criticized one of the
systemspreciselybecauseit proved "more difficult to becomedisoriented in
the good way that Intermedia and Storyspacetend to facilitate. I found that
links continually brought me back to crossroadsor overviews,rather than to
other documents. For this reason I felt less like an activereader.Orientation
devicessuch as these explained and categorizedlinks rather than allowing
me to make my own connections and categories"(AM). To those who find
disorientation a negativequality, these comments might seem puzzling,
becauseapparentlynegativequalities here come in for praise.In fact,this stu-
dent specificallymentions "the good way" Intermedia and Storyspacecreate
a senseof disorientation, which she takes to be a condition that empowers
hypertextusers becauseit placesthem in an activerole-one particularly ap-
propriate to this new information medium.
The reactionsofthese student-evaluatorssuggestsix points about reader
disorientation. First, although it representsa potentially significant problem
in some systems,a priori concernsabout it may well arise from lack of expe-
rience with hypertext systems, specifically from attempting to apply read-
ing and information-retrieval protocolsappropriateto booktechnologyto this
newmedium.
Second,what one readerexperiencesas disorientation, another may find
pleasurable.
Third, disorientation has quite different connotations in the writings of
those basedin technologicalas opposedto literary disciplines. The techno-
logically basedconceptionofdisorientation relatesto a conceptionofeduca-
tion essentially limited to factual information. Literary or humanistic as-
sumptions about disorientation seem relatedto a conceptionof educationin
which studentslearn to deal with complex matters of interpretation.
Fourth, disorientation-let me emphasize this point yet again-arises
both in the normal act of reading difficult material and in pooily designed
systems.Knowledgeof content, as some of our evaluatorsdemonstrate,has
to be consideredas part of any solution to issuesof system-generated
or
system-permitteddisorientation.
't51
RECONFIGURING Fifth, since for the foreseeablefuture, book and electronic technologies
WRITING will exist together,in some applicationssupplementing,in others competing
with, eachother, designersof hypertext systemswill continue to find them-
selvesin a terribly difficult situation. Systemsthey design will almost cer-
tainly encounter a heterogeneouspool of users, some still trying to read
accordingto the rules of books,others,increasinglysophisticatedin electronic
media, who find the specific qualities of hypertext reading and exploration,
including occasional"disorientation,"as pleasurable,desirablequalities.
Sixth-and most important-writing, asmuch assystemdesign,asmuch
assoftware,preventsthe lesspleasantforms of disorientation.We must there-
fore developa rhetoric and stylistics ofhypertert writing.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 and in earlier chapterswe have observedmany examplesof such difference
from chirographic and print textuality.Whether or not it is true that the digi
tal word producesa secondaryor new kind of orality, many of the devices
required by hypertext appearin oral speech,just as they do in its written ver-
sions or dialects.Many of thesedevicesto which I wish to direct our attention
fall into a single category:they announcea changeof direction and often also
provide some indication of what that new direction will be. For example,
and on the other hand give
words and phrases like in contrast,nevertheless,
advancenotice to listeners and readers of something, say,an instance or
asserLion,is coming contraryto what has comebefore. Forexampleannounces
a categoryshift asthe discourseswitches,most likely, from generalor abstract
statementto proposedinstancesof it. Causalor temporal terms, such as
or afi.er,similarly readylisteners for changesof intellectual direction.
because
In both print and oral communication, they are means, in other words, of
preparing us for breaksin a linear stream of language.One must take carein
using this termlinear since, as we have alreadyseenwhen looking at hyper-
text narrative, all experienceof listening or reading in whatever medium is
in an important senselinear, unidirectional. Thus, although readers-or, to
be precise, readings-take different paths through afiemoon,PatchworkGirI,
or Quibbling,each path-each experienceof reading-takes the form of a
sequence.It is the tert that is multisequential, not a particular reading path
through it. I emphasizethis obvious point becausethe problem of preparing
for change of direction (and openings and closings are also such changes)
has been with us since the beginnings of human language.
Sincehypertextand hypermedia are chiefly defined by the link, a writing
devicethat offers potential changesofdirection, the rhetoric and stylisticsof
this new information technology generally involve such change-potential
or actual change of place, relation, or direction. Before determining which
techniques best accommodatesuch change,we must realize that, together,
they attempt to answer severalrelated questions: First, what must one do to
orient readersand help them readefficiently and with pleasurel Second,how
can one help readersretracethe stepsin their reading pathl Third, how can
one inform thosereading a document where the links in that document leadl
Finally,how can one assistreaderswho havejust entereda new document to
feel at home therel
Drawing on the analogyof travel, we can say that the first problem con-
cerns oientationinformatron necessaryfor finding one'splacewithin a body
of interlinked texts. The secondconcerns navigationinformation necessary
for making one's way through the materials. The third concerns exit or
'r
53
RECONFIGURING departureinformationand the fourth aftivolor entranceinformation.In each
WRITING case, creators of hypermedia materials must decide what readers need to
know at either end of a hypermedia link in order to make use of what they
find there. The generalissue here is one of interpretation. More specifically,
to enablevisitors to this new kind of text to read it pleasurably,comfortably,
and efficiently how much interpretation must the designer-authorattachto
the systemasa whole, to link pathways,and to documentsat the end of linksl
Unfortunately, no analogymaps reality with complete accuracy.Naviga-
tion, the art ofcontrolling the courseofa plane or ship, presupposesa spatial
world, but one does not entirelyexperiencehypertext as such. In navigation,
we remember, one must determine one'sspatialposition in relation to land-
marks or astrallocationsand then decideon a means of moving toward one's
goal,which lies out of sight at some spatial distance.Becauseit takestime to
move acrossthe separatingdistance, one also experiencesthat distance as
time: one's ship lies so many nautical miles and therefore so many daysand
hours from oneb goal.The reader,however,doesnot experiencehypertextin
this way.The readerof ParadiseLost,forexample,experiencesas equallyclose
the linked parts of Homer and Vergil to which the poem's opening section
allude and linked lines on the next pageor in the next book (seeFigwe 72).
Becausehypertert linking takes relatively the same amount of time to tra-
verse,all linked terts are experiencedaslying at the same "distance"from the
point of deparhrre. Thus, whereas navigation presupposesthat one finds
oneself at the center of a spatial world in which desired items lie at varying
distancesfrom one'sown location,hypertext (andother forms of addressable,
digital textuality) presupposesan experiential world in which the goal is
alwayspotentially but one jump or link away.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 When users follow links and encounter materials that do not appearto pos-
sessa significant relation to the document from which the link pathwayorig-
inated,they feel confusedand resentful. In reading materialson the Web,the
delays encountered by users tend to exaggeratethis effect, thus providing
anotherreasonfor avoidingtime-consuming graphicor other elementswhen-
everpossibleif one wishes to include an audiencewithout high-speedaccess
to the Internet.
Figure13. A View of lhe VictorianWeb.Thismap was createdby DynamicDiagramsMAPAfrom the vantagepoint ofthis web's
homepage(main sitemapor overview).In this screenshot, a user has activateda pop-upwindow displayingthe URLand title of
uTheArts in Victorian Britain," a second-level
overview.By using a computer mouse to move the cursor farther awayfrom the top
level,userscan also learnthe titles of lexiaslinkedto this and other overviews.Doubleclickingon the icon for any lexiaopens it.
(Copyright'1996
DynamicDiagrams.Used by permission.)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 to any one. Web browsersalso havemeans of providing current reading his-
tory: mousing down on the "Go" or "History" menu at the top of the screen
produces a chronologically ordered list oflexias one has opened.2Current
versionsofwebviewers,induding Internet Explorerand Safari,solvethis prob-
lem by retaining lists of the web documentsone hasvisited; Explorerpermits
the user to specifyhow many sites should be retained.
Another valuable orientation tool takes the form of permanent bookmarks
in World Wide Web browsers,a feature anticipatedby HyperCard-basedsys-
tems like Voyager ExpandedBook, Keyboard,and Toolbook. Such a book-
mark function permits readersto record placesto which they might like to re-
turn at some future time, and when designing large websites,most of whose
Iinks remain internal, authors can advisereaderswho contemplatefollowing
links to materials offsite that they might first wish to use their viewerk book-
mark facility, thus making return easier,particularly in a complex session.
One activatesa bookmark simply by choosingit from a list availableat the top
of the screen.Although thesedevicesplay an important role in allowing read-
ers to customize their own experiencesof the webs they read, they do not
compensatefor the absenceof long-term readinghistories in very large,com-
plex corpora,such as one finds on the Web.
Critical Theofy
When designereof compuier soflware examine lhe pagesof Glaar L7t
5 HypertextualDerrida, Cftmmatolottlhsy encounter a di8italized, hypertertual Derida; and when
P5dtstructuralist Iitenry theorists examine lilenty A'facltlnes they encounter a deconsiruclionisl
Nelson?
or postslruclunlist Nelson, Thce shqks of recognition can occurbecauseover
I B The Definition of the past sevenl decadeslitenrylheory and computer h;lperlext,apparently
Hypertext and Its unconnecled areasofinquiry, have increasingly converged.Stalementsby
Flisloryasa Concept
theorirls concemdwith litenture, Iike those by theoristr concemedwilh
ttEl Other Convergencesi computin& show a remarkable convergence.Working often, but nol alwalp, in
Intertextualitv] ignonnce of each other, writeF in these areasofferevidence ihal prcvides us a
Multivocality, and
way inlo lhe conlemponry episteman the midst of major changes.A pandign
De-centeredhess
shift, I suggest,hasbegun to take placein the wrilin8s oflacques Derida and
El Vannevar Bushand
the Memex
1G) Virtual Text, Virtual
Authors, and Uterary B The Johns Hopkins
and Misunderstanding
Understanding JacquesDerrida
a^--"+i-- Guideto Literary
Theory and Criticism Rebate
Jean-Michel
3El The Nonlinear Model
of the Networkin Gl M. M. Bakhtin The difficulty of intrcducing a major contemponry philosopher such as
Current Critical |acquesDerida @.1930)in a referencework pre*nlinE centnl issuesof
Theory
El RolandBarthes
litenry criticism is double, and this dan8er,this heritation on ihe
1l El Causeor
CDDeconstruction threshold, has alreadybeenslFtematicallythematized in the writing of
Convergence, E Tacques
Derrida the philosopher himself. FiFt, there is ihe dan8erof ovenimplifying of
InfluencEor pigeonholinp of reducing of defining artificialboundaries, when facing
Confluence? a movemenl of thoutloi that ronstantly evolves so as delibentely to
Analoguesto the defeatand baffle all preordained categories,Then, therc iE lhe danger of
GutenbergRevo Contextualizing being merely mimetir, of just rpeatint slnteties and Besturesthat
1Gl ftedictions uerrloa have been identified with a sitnature, wilh an author (and may well
El Discourse have been ahticipatedby other writer), snd that tend lobe singular,
leEf Rec0nfiguring
the unrepealable,yetendowed with univesal validity. However, the
E Poststructuralist
Text Feminisms possibility ofbypassingsuch an initial aporia exists,and it consistsin
considering the fundamentallyrffimative nature of Drida's thoutbl
iE ReconfiUuring
the El Materialist Feminisms and writintntherthan in rtressintthe "playhrl" or "negative" element
tD Michel Foucault ofhis texlual Fn(lices.
El Claude L5vi-Strauss
down on the plus signs to the left of items in the table ofcontents immediatelydisplaystitles ofsubsections.Clickingon the sub-
sectiontitle immediatelybrings up the relevantsectionin the right-handpanel.The table of contentsalso reinforcedDynaText,s
full-text retrievalfunctions: in this case,after a reader has typed in "derrida" (the searchtool is not case-sensitive),DynaTextboth
highfightsall occurrencesofthe word throughoutthe text (iop cente4 and lists the number ofoccurrencesnext to eachchapter
RECONFIGURING document in which icons representing each document in the web were
WRITING joined by lines representingall links betweendocuments.This GlobalTrack-
ing Map, which functioned only during early stagesof Intermedia'sdevelop-
ment, immediately demonstratedthat such a devicewas virtr-rallyuselessfor
all but the smallest document sets or webs. (Although pictures of it have
appearedin articles on hypertext, the Global Tracking Map was never used
educationallyand was never part of any releasedversion of Intermedia.) It is
worth noting this failed approachbecause,accordingto the computer science
literature, it seemsto reappearagain and again as a solution to orientation
problems for the Web.
I RI Snext developedthe LocalTiacking Map, a dynamic hypergraph whose
icons representedthe destinations of all the links in the current document.
Upon opening a newlexia or activatinga previouslyopenedone, this graphic
navigational tool morphed, informing readerswhere links in the new lexia
would bring them. This dynamic hypergraph, which did much to prevent dis-
orientation, becameeven more useful in its third and final version, the Web
View with the addition of two more features:a graphic representationof the
reader'shistory and transformation of the icons into links. Double clicking
on any icon in the Web View opened the document it represented,thereby
adding anotherway of making one'sway through webs. (For illustrations, see
Utting and Yankelovich.;
Although this feature succeededwell in orienting the reader, it worked
evenbetter when combined with author-generatedconceptmaps, such asthe
overviews(sitemaps)I have employed on systemsincluding Intermedia,
Interleaf World View, Storyspace,Microcosm, MacWeb,and the World Wide
Web. One basic form of these overviewssurrounds a single concept (Vic-
torianism, Darwinism, Gender Matters) or entity (Gaskell'sNorth ond South,
Dickens) by a series of others (literary relations, cultural context, economic
background),to eachof which many documentslink. Whereasthe Web View
presentedall documents attachedto the entire overview,the overviewhas a
hierarchical organization but doesnot revealthe nature or number of docu-
ments linked to eachblock. Intermedia provided two ways of obtaining ttris
information-a menu that following links from a particular link marker
activatedthe Web View (seeFigure 8). Clicking on a particular link and thus
activating it darkened all the links attachedto that block in the Web View.
Thus, working together,individual documentsand the Web View continually
informed the readerwhat information was one jump awayfrom the current
text. This combination of materials generatedby authors and system fea-
tures well exemplifies the way hypertext authors employ what are essentially
160
HYPERTEXT
3.0 stylistic and rhetorical devicesto supplement systemdesign and work syner-
gistically with it.
These features ofthis no-longer availablesystem solvedthe basic prob-
lem of orienting readers.Unforfunately, current World Wide Web browsers
are very disorienting becausethey provide no overall view of materials and
neither do they indicate to readerswhere links will take them. The use of site-
maps, HTML documentsthat list or graphicallydisplay destinationsof links,
have greatly contributed to web usability, and many sites now include them
(seeKahn and Krzysztof, MappingWebsites\.
Various research and commercially available systems have had partial
analoguesto the Intermedia Web View. One researchversion of the Univer-
sity of SouthamptonMicrocosmsystem,for example,had somethingverylike
the local tracking map, but it was not implemented in the releasedversion,
and Storyspace,a commercially available system, has its Roadmap,which
has many of the Web View's functions (Figure 15). Like the Web View the
Roadmaprecords one's reading path, shows linked lexias, and permits one
to open them; unlike the Web View, the Storyspacedevicealso lists all links
coming into the current lexia. Unfotunately, the Roadmap, which takes the
form of a menu containing scrollable lists, lacks the Web View's dynamic
quality, for it does not run continuously and has to be opened from a menu
or by means of a key combination for eachindividual document.
Intermedia's dynamic hypergraph proved so valuable as a means of ori-
entation and navigation that I hope someonewill developan equivalent
application either as part of widely used World Wide Web viewers or as an
add-onthat will function with them. Certain stepshavealreadybeen taken in
that direction. The University of Heidelburg'sHyper-Tree,for example,offers
graphic representationsofthe file structure ofindividual servers,but, unfor-
tunately,like the first Intermedia attempt to graph links, it providestoo much
information, thus rendering it of litde practicaluse.The TouchgraphGoogle
Browser (Figure 16),whichis more selective,draws on search results from
Googleto map what it takesto be the most popular connectionsbetweenthe
lexia (or entire website)whose URL the user providesand other lexiaswithin
and without the site, producing results quite different than a sitemapor over-
view The Touchgraph for TheVictoianWeb's"Religion in England" sitemap
(Figure 16)has only a few of the dozensof the documents on religion, such
as "High Church: Tractarianism" and "The BroadChurch Party,"but it omits
perhapsthe most important, heavilylinked document on religion in The Vic-
toian Web,the essayon the Church of England. Interestingly, it revealsa
close connection between religion and British art and, rather unexpectedly,
';::;i:it;i;t:::i
;:":".:
stic *elatians
Section7 Yi,r*latts
rffiffil
rlEl:!:tt!
,ffiT:
t!:rE:tEt
]6e!d tdqlsBd
'f
Figure 5. The StoryspaceRoadmap Feature.The Roadmap (upper lefil representsa static analogueto the Intermedia Web View.
At the top center ofthe Roadmapappearsone's reading history and, immediately below it, the first few lines ofthe currently active
lexia. Like the Web View, the Roadmapinforms readersof possible destination lexias and permits readersto oPen them directly'
but unlike the Intermediatool, which displayedonly destinationlexias,the Roadmapdisplaysall links in and out of the current
lexia. Unfortunately,whereasthe Web View always remaind in sight and automatically reconfigureditselfas each new document
Lewis Carroll has a major presence.This diagram also contains oflsite lex-
essayon D. G. Rossettimight be expected,
ias,and whereas the Artcycloped.io
since the Pre-Raphaelitesappear repeatedly,I'm intrigued by the outlying
"Virtual Tour of BrasenoseCollegel' A similar Touchgraph for Charlotte
Bront, which is much denser, includes a substantial number of obvious
externalsiteson the Bront6s,Derbyshire,and other women writers, but I am
mystified by the presence (occupyingthe diagram's entire upper-left quad'
rant) of a concentrationof materials on the Harlem Renaissance,including
the RedHot I azz Archive.The Touchgraphfor TheVicToia'nWeb,whicbistoo
denseto reproduceeffectively,makes many obvious connectionsto extemal
sites and quite a few unexpectedones,too. The very fact that so many unex-
pectedconnectionsappearin these diagrams makes them quite fascinating,
':
"tnrfdts l4t@*t
,ter:(|3t$.1..
""t''",,,,.-.'"tt,r...
Figure'16.The TouchgraphGoogleBrowser.This softwaredraws upon searchresultsfrom Googleto map the most popular
con-
nectionsbetweenan individuallexiaor entirewebsitewhose URLthe user providesand other lexiaswithin and without
the site.lts
results,which differ markedlyfrom an author-creatd sitemapor overvieq often revealunexpectedrelationshipsamong
websites.
and I can see a value in either including a few screenshotsto show readers
some interesting connectionsor linking to the Touchgraphsite, so they can
explorefor themselves.The Touchgraphapproachshows,however,the short-
comings for our pu{poses of mapping a website according to popularity
(most visited and linked-to lexias): the resulting diagram omits one of the
most valuable characteristicsof hypermedia-its capacityto support indi-
vidual, evenidiosyncratic,approachesto information.
and conceptualoverviews.Clickingon any one ofthem halts sound and animationand opens an interviewfor the subiectit rep-
resents.(Usedby permissionofGyldendalPublishers.)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 A. S. ByattOveryiewas an example,we find the topic of the document above
three rows of five squareicons each(seeFigure 17).This arrangement,which
also avoidsthe linearity of a table of contents,has the advantageof permit-
ting one to employ some of the same icons both in overviewsand at the foot
ofeach screen.
Chronologiesrepresentanother form of sitemap or overview,which one
can easily createusing two-column tables in HTML. They offer a means of
clearlyorganizing materialsor evenentire coursesthat havea strong chrono-
logical orientation. Any timeline with links in fact servesas an overviewfor
the materials it joins. Although timelines provide a means of organization
particularly convenientto authors,rememberthat they may simplify complex
relationships and do little to compel the interest of a reader unacquainted
with the subject.
Images of natural objects,like the photograph of a cell or maps, provide
a kind of naturally occurring concept map that authors can easily apply.
Attaching links to labels in technical diagrams similarly provides an obvi-
ous way of enriching conventional information technology.These kinds of
overviews,incidentally, exemplify a perfect use for World Wide Web image
maps. Perhapsmy favorite is a map of Italy showing major Italian websites:
click on the tiny squarerepresentinga particular city, and a link takesyou to
its website.
If hypermedia is characterizedby connectivity,to realize its potential one
must employ devicesthat emphasizethat quality.Lists,tablesof contents,and
indices,though still of significantuse,do notworkinthis manner,butone may
wish to use them in addition to other kinds of graphic organizingdevices,as
does the elegant Kon-Tiki Interac-tiveCD-ROM, which parallels its circular
overviewwith an interactive outline. Mousing down on its individual elements,
say,that for the Kon-Tiki itself, producesa list of elevenitems (Figures19-20).
When converting text documents originally createdfor book technology
for presentationon hypermedia,one may occasionallyuse the document
itself as its own overview.Any document in a hypermedia systemwith more
than a fewlinks in essenceseryesasa sitemapsince,onceopened,itprovides
the immediate center and referencepoint for the reader'snext act of explo-
ration. The author of educationalmaterials,particularly those involving liter-
ary texts or those that place primary emphasis on the details of a text, may
therefore wish to take advantageof this quality of hypermedia. Section7 of
In Memoiam (seeFigure 9) exemplifies a brief tert document that functions
as its own overview or sitemap in a Storyspaceweb, and each section of
the heavily annotated HTML version of "Hudson's Statue" by Carlyle func-
ll::::l,i
Figure'19.The Help Functionin the Kon-TikiCD-ROM.Movingthe mousenearthe raystoneshieldhaltsall sound and videowhile
tions in the same manner. One must take care not to overdo this kind of
heavily linked text document on the Web, which has few orienting devices,
sincelinked text alone doesnot alwaysprovidevery clearindications of where
its links take the reader.In a scholarlyor critical presentationof a text, such
as the Pepys'sDiary Weblog or "Hudson's Statue,"in which the links clearly
take one to annotations and commentary these heavily linked lexias can
function in this way,in large part becausethe nature of the document indi-
catesthe kind of links that will attach to it. In contrast,some heavily linked
opening screensof personal siteson the Web,though occasionallyamusing,
often appearcompletelychaotic.
r58
_,:.
.I :r:I
i:.r:
,:,,i;;::t
:':j:i!:::l:s
Figure 20. Kon-TikiOverview.Selectingany item in this interactive overview produces a sublist of items. (Used by permission of
GyldendalPublishers.)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 of such difficulty will becomeclearwhen I report that the multiple links that
required twenty to thirty minutes to createfor an Intermedia or Storyspace
overview-and less than half that time for Microcosm, using its more so-
phisticatedgeneralizedlink-options-can take severaldayswhen translating
such materials for the Web: one must go through the subset of documents
that will link to the overview and manually createseparateones for literary
relations,themes, biographicalmaterials, and so on. Evenif one alreadyhas
an earlier version of one's materials in another software environment to
remind one of possiblelinks, it still takeshours of repetitivework-with the
result that authors inevitably tend to avoid as much of it as possible and
thereby produce a relativelyflattenedhypertext.
Sohere'smy first two gleamwareproposals,the first of which may already
exist as a proprietary researchtool in some large corporations in *re com-
puter industry. Imagine combining Macintosh OS 10.43Spotlight feature
or a commercially availablesearchtool, such as On Location,with some
C-programming, and a set of templates that would permit one to generate
with minimum expenditure of time and effort a subovewiew entitled, say,
"Political Themes in Dickens" simply by calling up a menu and typing "Dick-
ens,""themes,"and "politics."An evenbetterversion-one that I havespoken
about longingly since the last few yearsof the Intermedia project-involves
automatically generatedgraphic representationsof literary and other com-
plex relations. In this exampleof gleamware,one would simply choosefrom
a menu a literary relations (or similar) option, and one'sauthoring (readingl)
system would combine a graphics engine, search tools, resulting indices,
glossaries,chronologies, and synonym lists to produce automatically the
kind of conceptmaps Paul Kahn createdin the early DickensWeb:usingsyn-
onym lists and chronologies,this Relations Map Generator-let's give it a
properly stuffy name-places the chronologically earlier authors or texts
toward one end of a chosenaxis;earlier onescould appear,for example,at the
left, at the top, or, in a three-dimensional representation,farther away.Au-
thors or texts that I consideredmore important-either for reasonsof some
relation to the author in question (Hallam
cultural standard (Shakespeare),
to Tennyson,the Brownings to eachother), or quantity of availablecommen-
tary could be made to appearlarger or in brighter colors. You get the idea.
Let'stake the gleam one step further: if one could produce such documents
quickly enough-something that probably assumed preexistent indices-
such documentscould exist only dynamically,createdeachtime one followed
a link from an overview,and hence alwayscurrent, alwaysup-to-date.
'171
RECONFIGURING Author-Created
OrientationDevices:Markingthe Edges.In the absenceof
WRITING such tools, what kinds of techniquescan one use to assist readersl One
deviceespeciallyimportant to those creatingmaterials in HTML involves
using visual indications of a lexia'sidentity, location, and relation to others.
Thesesignals can take the form ofheader icons, color schemes,background
texhrres,linked icons that appearat the foot of lexias, or all in combination.
Such devicesplay a crucial role on the Web, where readersmay arrive at any
document via a search engine, entering at what could be the middle of a
planned sequenceor setof documents.Without some such deviceevenread-
ers who find that a particular arrival lexia meetstheir needsand tastebecome
frustrated becausethey cannot convenientlydetermine whether it forms part
of a larger structure.
One of the most commonly used such devicesis the header icon, which
immediately informs the reader that a lexia belongs to a particular web or
subweb.For example,lnTheVictoianWeb a blue-and-whiteheaderelement
appearsimmediately following the lines providing title and author.At the left
of this icon, which is a third of an inch high and 7 inches wide, appearsa
black-and-whiteimage of Queen Victoria followed by the words "The Victo-
rian Web" and a white line extending the remaining length of the header.
Using an editor, such as Dreamweaveror BBEdit, which permits easilymak-
ing global changes-that is, changing all occurrencesof a word or phrasein
an entire set of documents rather than having to do them one at a time-
makes inserting such elements exkemely easyto do. Whereas The Victoian
Web empToysa single header icon, some of the other websites I maintain,
such as that on recent postcolonial literature, uses a different one for each
major division or subweb.This secondweb has separatesectionsfor anglo-
phone literature of Great Britain, the Indian subcontinent, Afica, and Aus-
tralia and New Zealand, and therefore employs different headersas well as
other devicesfor eachsection.Similarly,Adam Kenney'sMuseum,a Web ver-
sion of anthology-fictionlike TheDecameron,organizesitself around a series
of individual narrators and uses an image at the top center of each lexia to
identify different narrative arcs.
Other devicesinclude color schemesaswell as backgroundtexhrres,and
combined with footer icons they make an efFectivemeans of simultaneously
orienting the readerwhile indicating the permeableborders of both the lexia
and the larger units to which it belongs. For example,an essayfrom The Vic-
torian Webthat comparesthe railway swindlers in Trollope'sThe WayWeLive
Now and Carlyle's"Hudson's Statue"has five footer icons, one for the main
172
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Victorian overviewfollowed by one eachfor Trollope,his novel, Carlyle,and
his text (Figure 21).The first three icons denoteincreasingspecificity,thus in-
dicating that the document contributes to the web as a whole, to those mate-
rials concerningTrollope,and to thoseaboutthis particular novel.In contrast,
the five icons, taken together, indicate that the lexia in question simulta-
neouslyparticipatesin two subwebsor directories.Theseicons thus serveto
orient readersby clearly stating how the lexia in which they find themselves
relatesto one or more large categories-in this example,five separateones.
Furthermore,becauselinks attachto eachof theseicons,clicking on them
brings readersto a sitemap for theselarger categories.Attaching links to the
icons, in other words, makes them devicesof navigation as well as orienta-
tion. In one sensethesedevicesmark the edgesof one or more groups or cat-
egoriesto which the lexia belongs or with which it associates,but the most
important function involvesnot so much delimiting an edge or border of a
document as indicating its relation to, or membership in, one or more sub-
webs. The effect ofthis congeriesofdevices, therefore, is to orient readers
who find themselvesin a particular lexia by clearly indicating its relation to
others, its (intellectual)placewithin a web.
This combination of headers, color schemes, and linked footer icons
works particularly well in large or parricularly complex collectionsof inter-
linked lexias, such as those created by participants in courses or depart-
ments. The Cyberspaceand Citic al Theoryw eb,for example,containsnot only
course materials and links to many websitesedernal to Brown but also to a
collection of elaborateindividual student projects, some consisting of more
than one hundred lexiasand graphic elements.In this situation such identi
fication and bordering schemesproveparticularlyuseful becausethey inform
readersthat they have arrived at a discrete document set. Following a link
from the print sectionof the information technologyoverviewbrings one to
Amanda Griscom's Trendsof Anarchy and Hierarchy:Comparingthe Cultural
Repercussions
of Print and Digital Media,herWorld Wide Web translation of a
substantialhonors thesis comparing the seventeenth-centurypamphlet wars
in England and the periodical press that succeededthem with the situation
on the Internet today.In contrastto the black background and white and yel-
low text of the Infotech overview,Trend.s
of Anarchyconfronts the readerwith
a pale yellow background, black text, and a light pastel header announcing
the title and author of the entire piece.Like many studentcontributions to the
cyberspace,this one contains a link to the web overviewonly on its contents
page;the other lexiascontain only footer icons to the contents,next page,and
works cited. Sincethe readercan enter portions of this subwebfrom various
1. Firstthreeiconsindicate
increasing As one
specificity:
movesfrom left to right, one
movesdowndirectory
structure.
aboutCarlyte's
Materiats
"Hudson'sStatue"
Figure 2I. Footer lcons in World Wide Web Documents, This example from The Victorian Web shows how linked icons at the bot-
tom of a lexiacan indicateits simultaneousparticipationin severalsubwebsor documentsets,therebyorientingthe reader.
174
3.0
HYPERTEXT overview headings that indicate discussions of Mcluhan, scribal culture,
media in the seventeenthcentury and so on, the reader needs to know the
separateness-as well as the entire scope-of this subweb.
In concluding this section, I have to emphasizethat on the World Wide
Web the borders and limits of these hypertext documents, their edges,as it
were, clearlyhaveto be understood only as fictions, as agreed-onconvention,
sinceboth links and searchengineseasilycrosstheseproposedmargins. The
header graphic, for example,announcesboth the existenceof a web (or ma-
jor sectionof one) and implicitly proclaims its boundaries-only documents
containing that headerbelong to this web-but on the Internet these claims
are at best provisional, at worst an obvious fiction, since links to or from the
lexiason any site make any assertionof boundaries into a gestureor wish or
hope, particularly when, as in any large and complex web (site),the docu-
ments do not possessthe kinship endowedby author function, for they have
been producedby more than one author or entity. In setsof lexiascreatedby
a single author one can posit limits-that is, pretend they exist-more eas-
ily than one can for webs that both draw extensivelyon quoted passagesand
images createdby others and also link to other sitesas well. Nonetheless,we
need such classificationsin order to read. But the crossing of such textual
(non)bordersis one of the characteristicsof hypertexfuality,one completely
analogousto the way links both permit one to employ a folder structure and
yet not be confined by it.
This Text ls Hot. Readersof hypermedia need some indication of where they
can find links and then, after they havefound them, where those links lead;
finally, after they havearrived at a new lexia, they need some justification why
they havebeen led there. All these issuesraise the question ofthe degreeto
which specific systems,authors, or both working together require an active,
even aggressivereader.In examining a range of solutions to the first prob-
lem-how to indicate the presenceof hot (or linked) text-l shall follow my
usual procedure and begin by surveying the means thus far employedto do
so and then suggestways authors can write with and againsttheir systems.
As always,a ma;'ortheme will be to suggesthow World Wide Web authorscan
benefit from lessonsprovided by other forms of hypermedia.
In examining some ways existing hypertext systemssignal the presence
of linked text or images,I shall begin with least successfirlexamplesand pro-
ceedto better ones. Let us begin with Intermedia, though this time because
its solution, though clearand unambiguous, provedtoo visually intrusive. All
versions of this system employed a link marker in the form of a small hori-
175
RECONFIGURING zontal rectangle within which appears an arrow. This icon appeared auto-
WRITING matically aboveand to the left of any section of linked text and could not be
moved;in graphicsdocuments,however,the authors could placeit wherever
they wished. Like many elementsin Intermedia, the link marker worked syn-
ergisticallywith other systemfeatures.Clicking onceon it, for example,high-
lighted the icons representing destination lexiasin the Web View and by go-
ing to the main menu, readerscould learn both anchor extent (the extent of
linked tert) and anchor description (the label the author attachedto it). Un-
fortunately,placing the icon abovelinked text proved too intrusive, for it dis-
torted the documentk leading-the spacingbetweenlines-a parti cttlarly an-
noying effectwhen one placedlinks in a print text, say,a poem by Tennyson.
World Wide Web browsersoffer a slightly better solution to the problem
of how to inform readers about the location of links. As is well known,
browsersconventionallyindicate the presenceof links with color and under-
scoredtext: Mosiac and Netscapeestablishedthe convention that unlinked
text appearsin black against a light gray background, blue underlined text
indicates the presence of a link, and magenta underlined text indicates a
link that one has previously followed. I am of course describing the default
version-that, in other words, which one receivesif neither rcader nor au-
thor customizesthese elements; authors can chooseentirely different color
schemesor chooseto make regular and linked text the same color, thus
employingonly underlining to indicate link presence.
Although the conventionalHTML approachseemslessvisually intrusive
than Intermedia's annoying link marker, its manner of signaling link pres-
ence,like that of the earlier system,producesa visual hodgepodgein alpha-
numeric text. The simple fact is that the links and the colors are alwayspres-
ent, and for certain purposestheir presencebecomestoo annoying.Although
annoyng in written text, such permanently displayedlink markings some-
times work well with graphicelements,since a coloredoutline doesnt always
intrude on an icon the way a combination of color and underlining do on text.
Many intenselygraphicsites,however,employ HTML options that permit au-
thors to turn offsuch color variation, providing no visual cuesto the location of
links at all, becausethey know that in current browsers,when a mouse moves
over a link, it turns into the image of a hand. As thosewho use the Web have
becomemore sophisticated,designersincreasinglyassumethat when users
encounter a screenwithout any obvious links, they will move their cursors over
imagesand other screenelementsthat they havelearnedare likely to serveas
link anchors.In contrast,earlierwebsitesoften usedlinked icons and, unsure
whether readerswould know what to do, they addedlinked text,usually in very
176
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 small type,immediately below them. An increasinglysophisticatedaudience,
in other words, no longer finds the absenceof obvious clues disorienting.
In contrastto basic HTML and Intermedia, Microcosm,like severalother
hypertext systems,doesnot permanently display indications of links. As we
havealreadyobservedwhen examining Microcosm'srich assortmentof link
types,this systeminvites active,even aggressivereaderswho interrogatethe
text they encounter (see"Forms of Linking," chapter1).This approach,whi&
removes any possibility of visually marring the appearanceof literary texts,
appearsin the way it provides information about the presenceand extent of
linked material. In keeping with Microcosmk encouragementof the active
reader,userswho come upon a word or phrasethat they believelikely to serve
as an a link anchor have severalchoices:they can double click on it, perform
the equivalentaction by choosing "Follow Link" from a menu, ask about link
extent from a menu, or create their own links with the "Compute Links"
function. For many applications,particularly educationaland informational
ones, the Microcosm approachstrikes me as wonderfully appropriateto the
medium. My only suggestionwould be to follow Hypercard and Storyspace
and make a simple key combination show both the presenceand extent of
author-created links. Storyspace'suse of frames that surround hot text
when readers hold down Option and Apple (or Command) keys simulta-
neouslyprovesa particularly valuablefeature and one that I would like to see
both Microcosm and HTML viewers emulate. Changing the cursor from an
arrow to a hand to indicate that readershaveencounteredhot areasin a doc-
ument has many advantages,yet it still requires in many casesthat readers
grope blindly around the screen,and in large text documents omitting any
signs of existing links createsconfusion; transient indications of links that
readerscould activateby simple operations,such as a key combination,would
be usefirl as an additional feature.
Airlocks,PreviewFunctions,
andthe Rhetoricof Departure.
All thesesystem-
based devicesthat we have just observedconstitute the first, and simplest,
part of any rhetoric of departure, for they inform readersthat they can leave
a text stream for somewhereor something else.Not surprisingly, most read-
ers do not feel comfortablejumping offinto limbo. Although much hypertext
fiction and poetry playswith surprise and disorientation as desiredaesthetic
effects,other kinds of hypertext writing require some way of giving readers
an idea of what links will do.
Such preview functions-what Mark Bernsteinhas calledan "airlock"-
serveto both inform and reassurereaders,and when systemsdo not provide
177
RECONFIGURING adequateinformation, authors must find their own ways to obtain it. The
WRITING just-discussedHTML conventionof changing the color of anchorsindicating
links that havealreadybeen followed exemplifiesone kind of valuablesystem
support.When one mousesoverhot text (an anchor),most web browsersalso
show the destination URL, though unfortunately not the title aswell, in a panel
at the bottom of the viewer window-though this feature does not seem to
workwith documentsusing frames.3
The point is that readersneed a generalidea ofwhat to expectbefore they
launch themselvesinto e-space.Help them, therefore, by making text serve
as its own preview: phrasestatementsor posequestionsthat provide obvious
occasionsfor following links. For example,when an essayon Graham Swift or
SalmanRushdieaddslinks to phraseslike "World War I" or "selireflexive nar-
rators,"readerswho follow them should encountermaterial on thesesubjects.
In addition, wheneverpossibleprovide specificinformation about a link
destination by directly drawing attention to it, such as one does by creating
text- or icon-basedfooter links. Another preciseuse of text to specify a link
destination takes the form of specific directions. For example,in The Victo-
ian Webto which student-authors contributed differing interpretations of the
sametopic, say,labor unreslin Northand Southor genderissuesin GreatEx-
peclations,functioning as an editor, I have added notifications of that fact.
Thus, at the close of essaysquoting and summarizing different contempo-
rary opinions about strikes and labor unrest, I haveadded"Follow for another
contemporary view," a devicethat should be used sparingly, and lists of re-
lated materials,which are particularly useful when indicating bibliographical
information and documents on the same sub;'ect.
Such careful linking becomesespeciallyimportant in writing hypertext
for the World Wide Web, since current browsers lack one-to-many-linking
(seeFigure 3), and it doesnot seemlikely after more than a decadethat they
will ever incorporate it. This apparently minor lack has devastatingconse-
quencesfor authors, who haveto createmanually the link menus that other
systemsgenerateautomatically.\iVithoutone-to-manylinks,readersandwrit-
ers lose the crucial preview function they provide. I find that the effect of
being reminded of branching possibilities producesa different way of think-
ing about text and reading than does encountering a series of one-to-one
links sprinkled through a text.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 with a marqueeor moving dottedline that traverseda rectangularpath around
the intended point of arrival; a single mouse click turned offthe marquee.
Storyspace,in contrast,employs a rectangular block of reversevideo around
arrival anchors. Unfortunately, thus far, although World Wide Web authors
can use the <A NAME> anchor feature to bring the readerto a particular por-
tion of a document, no browser showsthe exactextent of the arrival anchor.
Instead,HTML just opensthe arrival lexia at the line in which the anchor ap-
pears,somethingextremelyuseful for bibliographicalcitationsand other lists.
The difficulty in the World Wide Web is exacerbatedby the fact one often
links to documents over which one has no control, and hence cannot insert
an anchor.One way of accommodatingthose who link from outside involves
using the identifying color schemesand headersdescribedearlier. If one can
obtain permission from the document'sauthor or owner, one could placean
anchor there. Similarly,if one can obtain permission to do so,one could copy
and incorporate the arrival lexia within one's own web. Although such an
approach,which I haveusedinTheVictoianWeb, occasionally provesuseful,
it strikes me as basically inefficient and contrary to the spirit of the World
Wide Web'sdispersedtextuality.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 goal. In contrast,the secondapproachattemptswith varying degreesof suc-
cessto translateworks createdfor print into hypertext,thereby exploring the
possible modes of scholarly publication in a digital world. By far the most
common approachthus far is the Web version that preservessome format-
ting from the original print version but ignores many characteristicadvan-
tagesof the new medium. The many PDF versionsof scholarlyand scientific
articles downloadablefrom the Web exemplify this approach,as doesProject
Gutenberg,which tries to provide as many digitized versions of printed
texts as is possible.ProjectGutenbergembracesboth primary and secondary
texts,but its mission doesnt allow distinguishing betweenthem. More schol-
arly textbases,like the Women Writers Project,necessarilyhave as their
chief goalthe preservationof as much information as is practicableabout the
physical form of often rare and usually inaccessibleprinted books; text
encoding, rather than hypertextualization, understandably has the highest
priority. Other projects,like Mitsuharu Matsuoka'sVictoian Literary Studies
Archiveat NagoyaUniversity take texts by 150 British and American authors
of the nineteenth century-it includes, for example, two dozen books by
Dickens and another half dozen about him-and join them to Masahiro
Komatsu'sHyper-Concordance;although the Archivedoes not createhyper-
text translationsof theseworks, it takes advantageof their digitization to
createon-demand corpus-widesearches.
As valuable as these print preservationprojects are, they do not help us
answer the question, What will happen, and what has alreadyhappened,to
the scholarlyor critical book on the Webl Phil Gyford'stranslation of Samuel
Pepys'sDiary into a Weblog, at which we looked in chapter 3, exemplifies a
new scholarly genre that took form outside the academy.Siteslike Slashdot
and many smaller oneson technicalsubjects,such as softwarefor Weblogsor
digital photography,are understandable,given the nature ofearly adopters:
Slashdot'smotto is "News for Nerds. Stuffthat Matters."One doesnot expect
scholarshipin the humanities, with its long-establishedhostility to collabora-
tive publication,to comeonline in sucha radicallycollaborativeform, and,yes,
it turns out it that did not take placewith any support from academicinstitu-
tions, most of the membersof which, I'm sure,do not know it exists.In con-
trast, new media studies (not surprisingly) has embracedthe blog as a schol-
arly genre, attaching them to interviews and book reviewspublished online.
TheseWeblogsproducea kind of scholarshipand criticism, perfectlyvalid,
which centerson short forms-the essayand review What about the schol-
arly book or monographl In an attempt to answer this question, which has
181
RECONFIGURINC been nagging at me for a decade,I decidedto carry out an experiment, test-
WRITINC ing my proposition that hypermediaprovidesliterary scholarswith the equiv-
alent of a scientific laboratory.Therefore, as some of my own books on Vic-
torian art, literature, and religion havegone out ofprint, I retrievedcopyright
from my publishers, translated them into HTML, and placed them on The
Victoian Web; since the appearanceof Hypertert 2.0 more than a dozen
scholarshavecontributed one or more of their works to this enterprise.As I
did so, I began to take advantageofcharacteristics ofhypertext that justify
translating a book into a web, the most basic of which is the synergythat
derivesfrom linking materials together. Reasonsof economy and scalehad
prevented including illustrations of the many paintings mentioned in the
original print version of my edition of the letters of fohn Ruskin and the Vic-
torian artist, W. Holman Hunt, but once I had createdweb versions of this
correspondence,my book on that artist, and articles from Art Bulletin and
other iournals, I found that these texts all worked together better than they
had alone.A footnote providing the sourceof a letter could now, for example,
lead to the text of the letter itself. Evenmore important, if an illustration was
availableanywherein the text, itbecame availableeverywhere.Textsneeding
illustrations particularly benefit from electronic presentation,since a digital
image,which is a matter of codesrather than physicalmarks on physicalsur-
faces,multiplies while taking up no additional space.Using an image fifty
times within one text or set of texts requires no more storagespaceor other
resourcesthan doesusing it once. Digitization thus permits the reuse of the
image at severalfixed placesin a text; hypertexfualizationpermits the image
to be calledup from numerous points as the readerfinds its presenceof use.
In World Wide Web viewers, which temporarily store images downloaded
from a network in a cache,reusing the sameimage takesmuch lesstime than
it did obtaining it in the first place.
A final reason for translating a book into an electronic environment
involvesadding capacitiesnot possible in print. Hypermedia translations of
print texts in mathematics,sciences,music, history and the arts havealready
appeared,employing sound, animation, video,and simulation environments.
Let us look at someinstancesofthese when proposing some generalrules for
employing sound and motion within alphanumeric text.
Assuming that you have a text that demands hypertextualization,how
should you go about carrying it out? Since I have thus far convertedseveral
dozen books into various hypermedia systems,I believe the best way to
answer that question would be to summarize my experienceand use it to
182
HYPERTEXT
3.0 draw some general guidelines. Furthermore, since some of these electroni
fied books exist in two or more different hypertext environments, we can
observe the degree to which minor differences in hardware and software
influence hypertextuali zation.
First, one has to obtain an accuratedigital version ofthe text to be con-
verted. For my earlier books and articles,written before I beganto work with
computing, I used OminPage Professional,software for scanning text and
then interpreting the resultant image into alphabeticcharacters-an often
time-consuming process.Since I had written the first version of this book in
Microsoft Word, working with it proved to be fairly easy.Converting the text
for Intermedia required only saving it in a particular format (RTF)and then
creating links within Intermedia. Working in Storyspaceproved even easier
because this system imports Word documents, automatically translating
footnotes into linked lexias; the one chapter translated in HTML used the
Storyspaceexport function to create a basic linked working text to which I
then addedheader and footer icons. The DynaTextversion required adding
SGML tags and manually adding coding for links.
In adapting the printed text for all four kinds of hlpertext systems, I
found I had to make decisionsabout the appropriatelength of lexias.In each
case,I took chaptersalreadydivided into sectionsand createdadditional sub-
divisions. Whereasprint technology emphasizesthe capacityof languageto
form a linear stream of text that moves unrelentingly forward, hlpermedia
encouragesbranching and creatingmultiple routesto the samepoint. Hyper-
texhralizing a document therefore involves producing a text composed of
individual segmentsjoined to others in multiple waysand by multiple routes.
Hypermedia encouragesconceiving documents in terms of separatebrief
readingunits. Whereasorganizingone'sdataand interpretation for presenta-
tion in a print medium necessarilyleadsto a linear arrangement,hypermedia,
which permits linear linking, nonethelessencouragesparallel, rather than
linear, arguments. Such structures necessarilyrequire a more activereader.
Sincea major sourceof all these characteristicsof hypermedia derivesfrom
these linked reading units, one has to createhypermedia with that fact in
mind. Therefore,when creatingwebs,conceivethe text units asbrief passages
in order to take maximum advantageof the linking capacitiesof hypermedia.
Whateverits ultimate effecton scholarlyand creativewriting, hypermedia
todayfrequently contains so-calledlegacyte)ct-texts, like the 1992version of
Hyperturt,originally createdfor deliveryto the readerin the form of a printed
book. Such materials combine the two technologiesof writing by attaching
linked documents,which may contain images,to a fixed steam of text. Any-
'r83
RECONFIGURING one preparing such materials confronts the problem of how bestto preserve
WRITING the integrity of the older text, which may be a literary, philosophical, or other
work whose overall structure plays an important role in its effect. The basic
question that someonepresenting text createdfor print technologyin hyper-
media must answeris, Can one divide the original into reading units shorter
than those in which it appearedin a book, or does such presentationviolate
its integrityl Someliterary works, such as sonnet sequencesor Pascal'sPen'
sdes,seemeasilyadaptedto hypermedia sincethey originally havethe form of
brief sections,but other works do not seemadaptablewithout doing violence
to the original. Therefore, when adapting documents createdfor book tech-
nology, do not violate the original organization, though one should take
advantageof the presenceof discrete subsectionsand other elements that
tend to benefit from hypertextualization.However,when the text natura$ di
vides into sections,these provide the basis of text blocks. The hypermedia
version must contain linkagesbetweenprevious and following sectionsto re-
tain a senseofthe original organization.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 return link to the main text, or rely on knowledgeablereaders to use the
browser's"Back" button. In addition, one can leavethe body of the document
on screenby using the "target: -blank' ' option in the link (A HREF),which
makes the note open in a new window; authors who take this route, opening
annotationsin a separatewindow often include instructions to closethe win-
dow to return. Unfortunately, both ofthese convenient approachesproduce
an unattractivedocument in which a sentenceor two appearsat the very top
of a large, otherwise empty window A third approachuses HTML frames to
bring up the text of the note in a column next to the main text, and yet a fourth
usesHTML tablesto placethe text in the margin, therebyrecreatingthe effect
of some eighteenth-centurybooks; tables are, however,very difficult to use
when one of the columns has large blank areas.Perhapsthe most elegant
solution employs fava scripts to createsmall pop-up windows for eachnote.
The problem here involvesthe nature ofone's audience:fava scripts notori-
ously do not work in all browsers or even in all versions of the same one. If
you createyour materials for the widest possible audience,which includes
many userswith old versionsof Netscapeand Internet Explorer,you will have
to forgo using this elegant,if time-consuming, solution, but if you direct your
materialsat a singleeducationalor commercialinstitution that has announced
standards for supported hardware and software,you can use anything that
works there, though you may lose peopleworking at home.
Whateveroption you choose(and all haveadvantagesand disadvantages),
try not to use superscriptnumbers to indicate the presenceof links. Not only
doesit prove difficult to mouse down on the small target provided by a single
tiny character,but, more important, numbered notes only make sensewhen
readersconsult them in a list, and placing notes in separatelexias destroys
this list. I find that one can almost alwaysuse a relevantphraseas an anchor
for a note to a link. When the note contains bibliographical information, one
can link to a relevant phrase, such as "(source)"or "(bibliographical materi-
als),"placedat the end of the sentence.
Whereverpossible,the best and most obvious solution to the problem of
representing annotations in Web documents involves converting all biblio-
graphicalnotesto the current Modern LanguageAssociation(MtA) in-text
citation form, whether one links all such citations to a list of referencesor
just includes the relevantbibliographicalitems in eachlexia; I prefer the
latter approach.
In addition to dividing a print text into sections,adapting notes and bib-
liography,and adding headerand footer icons, creatinga hypermediaversion
'r85
HYPERTEXT
3.0 includes animation and sound (animal cries,human speech,or music),raises
additional problems becauseit imposes a linear experienceon the reader.
This strong element of linearity itself presentsno fundamental difficulty, or
evennovelty,since as Nelson pointed out long ago,individual blocks oftext,
particularly those with few links, offer a linear reading path.
The differencebetweendynamic and static datalies in the fact that it is so
importantly time-bound. Speechor visual movement potentially immerses
readersin a linear processor progressionoverwhich they haverelativelyless
control than they do when encountering a staticdocument, such as a passage
of writing. One can stop and start one's reading at any point-when the
phone rings, a child cries, or a thought strikes one. Turning one's attention
awayfrom time-bound, linear media, in contrast,throws one out of one's
position within a linear stream, and this place cannot be recovered,as it can
with writing, simply by turning attention back to the tert, since one'spoint,
or location, or place within the text has moved on. Therefore,when one fol-
lows a link from a text discussing, say,mitosis to digitized animation of
a cell dividing or from a work ofcriticism to a scenefrom Shakespeare,one
cuesthe beginning of a process.Such dynamic dataplacethe readerin a rel-
ativelypassiverole and turns hypermediainto a broadcast,rather than an
interactive,medium.
Many websitesand CD-ROMs employ Quicktime movies accompanied
by sound to present materials often more efficiently and more enjoyably
encountered as text. Using the talking heads approach in which someone
filmed from the chest or neck upward looks out of the screenand talks to us
can occasionallyprove an effectivestrategy,particularly when establishing a
person'sappearanceand characterseemsimportant, but it expendstwo kinds
of valuable resources: storage capacity and, becauseit occupies time, the
reader'spatience, or at least forbearance.Too many creatorsof HTML and
CD-ROM materials seem grossly unaware of the fact that one of the key
advantagesofwritten languagelies preciselyin abstractnessand indirection
that permit communicating important information with great economy.
Systemsdesignersand hypermedia authors haveto empower readersin
at leasttwo ways.First, they must permit readersto stop the processand exit
the environment easily.Second,they must indicate that particular links lead
to dynamic data. One may use labels or icons for this purpose, and one may
also connectthe link-indicator to an additional document, such as a menu or
command box, that gives users precisely the kind of process-information
they can activate.Such documents in the form of a control panel, which per-
't87
RECONFIGURINC mits the readerto manipulate the processto the extentof replaying all or part
WRITING of a sequence,make the readermore active.If one employs talking headsor
voiceovers,one must, of course,allow readersto stop them in midsequence.
(Voyager'sFreakShowCD-ROM makes a witty play on these featuresby hav-
ing its Master of Ceremoniesor Ringmaster respond with different expres-
sions of annoyanceeachtime we cut him offin midsentence.)
The one digital form that doesnot createproblems for hypermedia is the
fundamentally controllablemultimedia document createdby Apple'sQuick-
time VR (Virtual Reality) or rival software like lpix and Live Picture. These
kinds of software, whose creations are easily inserted into HTML, pro-
duce two different kinds of manipulatable three-dimensional images, the
so-calledspherical and cylinder panoramas. In the first, one finds oneself
placedin a three-dimensionalspacewithin which one can rotate 360 degrees
by using the mouse to stop, start, and control the speedof rotation or, using
a zoormfunction, move closer or farther away.The World BookEncyclopedia's
two CD-ROMs, for example, include dozens of Ipix scenesin the format
they call "bubble views," including St. Mark's Square,Venice; Stonehenge;
the Maya ruins at Palenque;the Coliseum in Rome; and the Zojoi Temple
in fapan. Or if one wants a Web example, go to NASA's Mars Pathfinder
site for a panorama of the SaganMemorial Station,or A Wrinklein Time:
q collaborativesynchronizedtfort by QTVR producersqround the globeIo
createa hundred panoramic views at the same time on December 21, 7997
(seebibliography).
The other kind of Quicktime VR (the cylinder panorama)takesthe form
of a virtual objectthat users can turn 360 degrees,examining it as they wish,
as well as zooming in and out. This kind of image, possible only with com-
puting, has greatvalue when representingthree-dimensionalobjectsonline.
The Victoian Web,for example,contains a Quicktime VR image of an unat-
tributed bronze statueof a young woman that I believewas createdby Alfred
Drury (1856-1944).While carrying out researchthat might lead to an attri-
bution, I visited various English photo-archivesand collectionsof sculpture
without finding any particularly convincing evidence. Severalyears later,
after I had createda rotatableQuicktime VR image of the statue,I cameupon
a photograph of Drury's 1896 bronze, Griseldq,in a 1980 catalogue from
Christopher Wood Gallery in London. Observingthe way in which the sculp-
ture depicted the pleats and folds around the shoulder of the Giseldo, I
openedthe Quicktime VR image of the unatlributed statue,using my mouse
to rotate it until I positioned the statue as seenfrom the samevantagepoint
'r88
HYPERTEXT
3.0 as the photograph of Giseldo. At that point, it became obvious that both
sculptureshad been executedby the same person. Obviously,anyone inter-
estedin Victorian and Edwardiansculpture would prefer to haveboth works
in the same physical spaceand be able to move them about until one could
look at them from the same vantage point; anyone who has ever studied
sculpture of this period immediately realizeshow unlikely would be the
opporfunity to make such a comparison. Instead,the researcherusually has
to use published photographs,each ofwhich ofnecessity is taken from one
position, and even if one visits major museums, one often finds that sculp-
tures are displayedin such a way (often in a corner or againsta wall) that one
cannot obtain the view one wants. With Quicktime VR, one can. Anyone in-
terestedin sculpture clearly caresabout the materiality, the sheer mass and
surfaceofthe object in question, and so one really wants accessto the origi
nal objectswith the ability to move and touch them and gazeat them for a
long time under different kinds of light conditions. If one cannot have the
actual object,then Quicktime VR is the next best thing; it is certainly su-
perior to my 35 mm slides,which make TheGhentAltorpieceandanny wood-
engravingappearto be on the same scale.
RECONFIGURING spaceweb and then linked them together.Along the way, I createdthe fol'
WRITING lowing opening screen(or analogueto a book'stitle page):
COLLACB
E E T W E EW ANDPAINTINC
NRITING
Pierre
Joris
GeorgeP.Landow
b e i n ga n a s s e m b l a gset a r r i n g
Kurt Schwitters
& Tristanf zara
guestappearances
withspecial by
Ceorges &
Braque
PabloPicasso
andalsofeaturing
dedicated
to. . .
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 definitions of hypertextand a list of qualities that it shareswith collage.Next,
I added severaldozen screenshots,or pictures of how the screen appears
while reading, of various hypertextwebs;these came from a since-published
web that servedas an introduction to the hypertext anthology,Witing at the
Ed.ge.Then,Iaddeda dozenphotographs,eachinvolving issuesof represen-
tation, illusion, simulation, or subjectand ground. Finally, I addeda newtitle
pagefor Hyperturtand Collage:beinginpart,an appropiotion of "collagebetween
writing and pointing."
After using this web to deliver my contribution to the August 1995Digital
Dialecticconferenceat the Art Center Collegeof Design, I discoveredI would
haveto transform it into a more or lesstraditional essayif it were to be part of
the plannedvolume. Thesepagesthus representa translationof the Hypefiert
and CollogeWeb.When I write "translation," I cannot help thinking of the
Italian maxim "traddutore= traditore"or "translator: traitor." Converfingthe
essayfrom one information technologyto another,I continually encountered
the kind of reduction that one encounters translating-or representing-
somethingin three (or more) dimensions within a two-dimensionalmedium.
An examinationof the differencesbetweenthe two versionswill takeus a way
into understanding the reasonsfor describing hypertext as collagewriting.
The online version of the OxfordEnglishDictionary definescollage,which
it tracesto the French words for pasting and gluing, as an "abstractform of
art in which photographs,pieces of paper, newspapercuttings, string, etc.,
are placedin juxtaposition and glued to the pictorial surface;such a work of
art." The Bitannica Online more amply describesit as the
artistictechnique
of applying
manufactured,
printed,
or "found"materials,
suchas
bitsof newspaper,fabric,wallpaper,
etc.,to a panelor canvas,
frequently
in combrna-
tionwith painting.Inthe lgth century,
papierscolldswerecreatedfrompaperscutout
andputtogether
to formdecorative
compositions.
In aboutI 912-l 3 PabloPicasso
andCeorgesBraque extended
thistechnique,
combiningfragments of paper,
wood,
linoleum, andnewspapers
withoil painton canvas
to formsubtleandinteresting
ab-
stractor semiabstract
compositions. Thedevelopment of thecollage
byPicasso
and
Braque
contributed
largely
to thetransition
fromAnalytical
to Synthetic
Cubism.
This referencework, which addsthat the term was first used to refer to dada
and surrealistworks, lists Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters,Henri Matisse,foseph
Cornell, and RobertRauschenbergasarListswho haveemployedthe medium.
ln The History of WorldArt, H. W. fanson, who explains the imporrance
of collageby locating it within the history of cubism, begins by describing
Picasso'sStill Life of 19I1-t2: "Beneaththe still life emergesa piece of imita-
l9'l
RECONFIGURING tion chair caning, which has been pastedonto the canvas,and the picture is
WRITING
'framed' by a piece of rope. This intrusion of alien materials has a most
remarkable effect the abstractstill life appearsto rest on a real surface (the
chair caning) as on a tray, and the substantiality of this tray is further em-
phasizedby the rope.'According to )anson,Picassoand Braqueturned from
brush and paint to "contents of the wastepaperbasket" becausecollageper-
mitted them to explorerepresentationand signification by contrasting what
we in the digital agewould call the real and virtual. They did so becausethey
discoveredthat the items that make up a collage,"'outsiders' in the world of
art," work in two manners, or produce two contrary effects.First, "they have
been shapedand combined, then drawn or painted upon to give them a rep-
resentationalmeaning, but they do not lose their original identity as scraps
'outsiders'in the world of art. Thus their function is both to rep-
of material,
resent (to be part of an image) and to present (to be themselves)"(522-23).
Hypertext writing shares many key characteristicswith these works of
Picasso,Braque,and other cubists,particularly their qualities of juxtaposition
and appropriation. Some of these qualities appearwhen one comparesthe
hypertextand print versionsof my discussion.First of all, despitemy division
of this essayinto severalsectionsand the use of figures that a reader might
inspect in different orders, this essayreally only allows one efficient way of
proceeding through it. In contrast, the original hypertext version permits
different readersto traverseit accordingto their needs and interests' Thus,
someonewell versed in twentieth-century art history might wish to glance
only briefly at the materials on collagebefore concentratingfirst on the ma-
terials about hypertext. Someoneelsemore acquaintedwith hypertext could
concentrateon the materials about collage.Others might wish to begin with
one portion of the discussion,and then, using availablelinks, return repeat-
edly to the sameexamples,which often gathermeaning accordingto the con-
texts in which they appear.
Another differencebetweenthe two forms of "my" discussionof this sub-
ject involvesthe length of quoted material and the way the surrounding texts
relate it to the argument as a whole. Thke,for example,the passageI quoted
abovefrom fanson'sHistoryofWorld Art.In the Storyspaceversionthe passage
is severaltimes longer than in the print one, and it appearswithout any intro-
duction. The object here is to let the quoted, appropriatedauthor speakfor
himself,, or, rather, to permit his text to speakfor itself without being sum-
marized,translated,distorted by an intermediary voice.To write in this man-
ner-that is to say,to copy,to appropriate-seems suited to an electronic
environment, an environment in which text can be reproduced,reconfigured,
192
HYPERTEXT
3.0 and moved with very little expenditure of effort. In this environment, fur-
thermore, such a manner of proceedingalso seemsmore honest: the text of
the Other may butt up againstthat by someoneelse;it may evencrashagainst
it. But it does seem to retain more of its own voice. In print, on the other
hand, one feels constrained to summarize large portions of another's text,
if only to demonstrate one's command (understanding) of it and to avoid
giving the appearancethat one has infringed copyright.
These two differences suggest some of the ways in which even a rudi-
mentary form of hypertextrevealsthe qualities of collage.By permitting one
to make connections between texts and text and images so easily,the elec-
tronic link encouragesone thus to think in terms of connections.To statethe
obvious: one cannot make connections without having things to connect.
Thoselinkable items must not only havesome qualities that make the writer
want to connect them, they must also exist in separation,apart, divided. As
Terence Harpold has pointed out in "Threnody,"most writers on hypertext
concentrateon the link, but all links simultaneously both bridge and main-
tain separation(I74). This double effect of linking appearsin the way it
inevitably producesjuxtaposition, concatenation,and assemblage.If part of
the pleasureof linking arisesin the act of joining two different things, then
this aestheticof juxtaposition inevitably tends toward catachresisand differ-
ence for their own end, for the effect of surprise, and sometimes surprised
pleasure,they produce.
On this level, then, all hypertext webs, no matter how simple, how lim-
ited, inevitably take the form of textual collage,for they inevitably work by
juxtaposingdifferent textsand often appropriatingthem aswell. Sucheffects
appearfrequently in hypertextfiction. foshua Rappaport's"The Hero's Face"
(one of the webs included in Witing at the Edge)uses links, for example,to
replacewhat in earlier literary writing would have been an element internal
to the text; that is, the link establishesa symbolic as well as a literal relation-
ship betweentwo elements in a document. In "The Hero's Face,"after mak-
ing onek way through a seriesof lexias about the members of a rock band,
their experienceson tour, and their musical rivalry-all of which might seem
Iittle more than matters of contemporarybanality-the readerfollows a link
from a discussionof the narrator'sseizing the lead during one performance
and finds herself or himself in what at first appearsto be a different literary
world, that of the Finnish epic, the Kalelava.
Following Rappaport'slink has severaleffects. First, readersfind them-
selvesin a different, more heroic ageof gods and myth, and then, as they re-
alize that the gods are engagedin a musical contest that parallels the rock
193
._ 5 r' ..
.:.;..
: lt was starting"
I r i# * * briv*$ir
" l , t ^ I . l : t - - l - - . . , : , t
i ri rr
Figure22. Digital Collagein Hypertext Narrative: Nathan Marsh's Breoth ofsighs and FallingForever.Marsh has arrangedthe texts
that makeup his web so that some lexiasshow in their entirety,othersonly in part. In makingtheir way through this fiction, read.
ers encountermultiple narrativelines.The web continuallychangesthe juxtapositionoftexts as the narratornavigatesin the text.
In the courseofreading,one is repeatedlyreturnedto the lexia"Clang!'which openswith the sound ofan explosion,butthe mean-
ing ofthe word changesaccording to the lexia that one has read immediately before encountering it.
Figure 11).In addition to employing the set placementof the windows, read-
ers can also move windows to compare two, three, or more poems that refer
back and forth among themselvesin this protohypertextualpoem.
Turning now to anotherwork of hypertextfiction, one seesthat in Nathan
Marsh's Breathof Sighsand Folling Foreverlexias
placethemselvesaround the
surfaceof the computer monitor, making the screenlayout support the nar-
rative as one crossesand recrossesthe tale at severalpoints (Figure22).ln
TheIn Memoiam Webthe collage-effectof tiling, separatewindows, and jux-
taposedtext arisesin an attempt to use hypertexttechnologyto shedlight on
qualities of a work createdfor the world of print (seeFigure 9.) Here this story
arisesout of the medium itself. In making their way through this fiction read-
195
RECONFIGURING ers encounter multiple narative lines and corollary narrative worlds both
points
WRITING ioined and separatedby ambiguous eventsor phenomena.At certain
readerscannot tell, for example,if one of the charactershas experiencedan
earthquaketremor, a dmg reaction,or a powerful illumination. Has the floor
actuallyfallen, or are we supposedto take a character'sexperienceas figura-
tivel Certainly,one ofthe first lexiasreadersencountercould suggestany and
'Andy pausedfor a secondand let his sensesadjust
all of these possibilities:
to the shock.The floor had been dropping all week now. As he satby the open
window and the frozen night air embraced the room, he realized that it
was all part of the long slide down." Clicking on this brief lexia leads one to
"Clangl," which opens with a loud sound and displaysits single word in 80-
point type. As one readsone'sway through "Breath of Sighs" one repeatedly
returns to "Clang!" but finds that it changesits meaning according to the
lexia that one has read immediately before encountering it.
Marsh has arrangedeach of the texts that make up his web so some lex-
ias show in their entirety,others only in part. As one readsthrough this web,
one encounters a continually changing collage of juxtaposed texts' Two
points about hypertext writing appearin Marsh's web. First, we realize that
such collage writingproduces a new kind of readingin which we must take
into account not only the main text but also those that surround it. Second,
this emphasis on the increasing importance of the spatial arrangement of
individual lerias leads to the recognition that writing has become visual as
well as alphanumeric; or since visual layout has alwayshad a major impact
on the way we read printed texts, perhaps it would be more accurateto say
that in hypertert (where the author controls more of the layout) hypertext
writing requires visual as well as alphanumeric writing. Marsh'sweb exem'
plifies a form of hlpertext fiction that draws on the collagequalities of a multi'
window systemto generatemuch of its effect.
Despiteinteresting, evencompelling, similarities, hypertextcollageobvi'
ously differs crucially from that createdby Picassoand Braque.Hypertext and
hypermedia alwaysexist as virhral, rather than physical, texts. Until digital
computing, all writing consistedof making physical marks on physical sur'
faces.Digital words and images,in contrast,take the form of semiotic codes,
and that fundamental fact about them leads to the characteristic,defining
qualities ofdigital infotech: virtuality, fluidity, adaptability,openness(or ex-
isting without borders),processability,infinite duplicability, capacityfor be-
ing moved about rapidly,and finally, networkability. Digital text is virtual be-
causewe alwaysencounter a virhtal image, the simulacrum, of something
stored in memory rather than encounter any so-calledtext itself or physical
'r96
HYPERTEXT
3.0 instantiation of it. Digital text is fluid because,taking the form of codes,it can
alwaysbe reconfigured,reformatted,rewritten. Digital text is henceinfinitely
adaptableto different needsand uses,and since it consistsofcodes that other
codescan search,rearrange,and otherwisemanipulate,digital text is also
always open, unbordered, unfinished and unfinishable, capableofinfinite
extension. Furthermore, since it takes the form of digital coding, it can be
easilyreplicatedwithout in any way disturbing the original codeor otherwise
affecting it. Such replicability in turn permits it to be moved rapidly across
great spacesand in so doing createsboth other versions of old communica-
tion, such as the bulletin board, and entirely new forms of communication.
Finally-at leastfor now-all theseother qualities of digital textuality enable
different terts (or lexias)to 1'ointogether by means of electroniclinking. Dig-
itality, in other words, permits hypertextuality.
The connection of the fundamental virnrality of hypertextto the issue of
collagebecomesimmediately clear as soon as one recalls the history of col-
lage and the reasonsfor its importance to picasso,Braque, Schwitters,and
other painters.As |anson explains,collagearosewithin the contextof cubism
and had powerful effectsbecauseit offered a new approachto picture space.
Facetcubism, its first form, still retained ,,acertain kind of depth,,,and hence
continued Renaissanceperspectivalpicture space."In collage cubism, on
the contrary the picture spacelies in front of the plane of the 'tray'; spaceis
not createdby illusionistic devices,such as modeling and foreshortening,but
by the actualoverlappingof layersof pastedmaterials" (522-23).Theeffectof
collagecubism comes from the way it denies much of the recent history
of western painting, particularly that concernedwith creating the effect of
three-dimensionalspaceon a two-dimensional surface.It does so by insert-
ing some physicallyexisting object,such as picasso,schair-caningand news_
papercuttings, onto and into a painted surface.Although that actof inclusion
certainly redefines the function and effect of the three-dimensional object,
the object nonetheless resists becoming a purely semiotic code and abra-
sively insists on its own physicality.
The collageofcollage cubism therefore dependsfor its effect on a kind of
juxtaposition not possible (or relevant) in the digital world-that between
physical and semiotic. Both hypertext and painterly collagemake use of
appropriation and jurtaposition, but for better or worse one cannot directly
invoke the physical within the digital information regime, for everything is
mediated,represented,coded.
The final lexia in this grouping, however, moves this more traditional
form of virtuality to that found in the world of digital information technology,
197
RECONFIGURING for it both repeatssectionsof all the images one may have seen (in whatever
WRITING order), blending them with multiply repeatedportions of a photograph of a
Donegal,Ireland, sunset,and it alsoinsists on the absenceofany solid, phys-
ical ground: not only do different-sizedversionsof the sameimage appearto
overlayone another but in the upper center a squarepanel has moved aside,
thus revealing what the eye reads as colored background or empty space.
In this photographiccollageor montage,appropriationand juxtapositionrule,
but, sinceall the elementsand imagesconsistof virnral images,this lexia,like
the entire web to which it contributes, does not permit us to distinguish
(in the manner of cubist collage)betweenvirtual and real,illusion and reality.
This last-mentioned lexia bears the title "sunset Montage," drawing on
the secondarymeaning of montageas photographicassemblage,pastiche,or,
as the OED puts it, "the act or processof producing a composite picture by
combining severaldifferent pictures or pictorial elements so that they blend
with or into one another; a picture so produced."I titled this lexia "Sunset
Montage" to distinguish the effect of photographicjuxtaposition and assem-
blage from the painterly one, for in photography,as in computing, *re con-
trast of physicalsurfaceand overlayingimage doesnot appear.Upon hearing
my assertion that hypertext should be thought of as collage writing, Lars
Hubrich, a student in my hypertext and literary theory course,remarked that
he thought rnontagemight be a better term than collage.He had in mind
sometlring like the first OED definition of montage as the "selection and
afiangement of separatecinematographicshots as a consecutivewhole; the
blending (by superimposition) of separateshotsto form a single picture; the
sequenceor picture resultingfrom such a process."Hubrich is correctin that
whereas collageemphasizesthe stage effect of a multiwindowed hypertext
systemon a computer screenat any particular moment, montage, at least in
its original cinematic meaning, placesimportant emphasison sequence,and
in hypertext one has to take into account the fact that one reads-one con-
structs-one's reading of a hypertextin time. Eventhough one can backtrack,
take different routes through a web, and come upon the samelexia multiple
times and in different orders,one nonethelessalwaysexperiencesa hypertext
as a changeablemontage.
Hypertext writing, of course,doesnot coincidefirlly with either montage
or collage. I draw upon them chiefly not to extend their history to digital
realms, and, similarly, I am not much concernedto allay potential fears of
this new form of writing by deriving it from earlier avant-gardework, though
in another time and place either goal might provide the axis for a potentially
interesting essay.Here I am more interested in helping us understand this
l9E
HYPERTEXT
3.0 new kind of hypertext writing as a mode that both emphasizesand bridges
gaps and that thereby inevitably becomesan art of assemblagein which
appropriation and catachresisrule. This is a new writing that brings with it
implications for our conceptionsof tert as well as reader and author. It is a
text in which a new kind of connectionhas becomepossible.
RECONFIGURING lem-a lack of linking precisely in those places one would erpect it to ap-
WRITING pear-characterizes much recent World Wide Web hypertext. Part of the
problem here may come directly from the World Wide Web'suse of unsuitable
terminology derived from print technology,such as homepoge, which locks
neophyte users into an inappropriate paradigm. Brusilovsky and Rizzo cor-
rectly note that much hlpertext today takesthe form of passagesof unlinked
text surrounded by navigation links. Encountering these kinds oflexia, one
receivesthe impression that the authors, who have dropped digitized ver-
sions of printed pagesinto an electronic environment, dont seem to gnsp
the defining qualities of hypermedia and use HTML chiefly as a text format-
ting system.They are still working, in other words, with and within the par-
adigm ofthe printed page and book.
The Victoriqn Web(victorianweb.org),an academicsite I managethat re-
ceivesas many as fifteen million hits a month, contains four basic kinds of
documents: (1) overviews(sitemaps),(2) link lists, (3) simple two'column
tablesused primarily for chronologiesaswell as art works and text describing
them, and, (4)lexiascontaining primarily text,though somemay alsoinclude
thumbnail images linked to larger plates. Most text documents on this site
contain two to four navigationlinks in the form oflinked icons that appearat
the bottom of each lexia plus multiple text links that weavethe lexia into a
miniature hypertext network. Although I find myself unable to formulate any
rule as to proper number of text links, I have observedtwo things: (1) lexias
approximatelyone to two screensin length tend to have at least three text
links, and (2) as new documents arrive, older lexias receiveadditional links.
The comparativelack of text links observedin much web-basedhyper-
media alsoappearsin much hyperfiction, as many authorsseemuninterested
in using more than singlelinks, which createan essentiallylinear flow Caitlin
Fisher'sWavesof Girls, aweb narrativethatwon the 2001ElectronicLiterature
Organization (ELO)prize for electronicfiction, exemplifiesthe comparatively
rare literary hypertextthat includes both framing navigationallinks and oth-
ers in the body of the text. Thus, in the following brief example,the phrases"I
was so sad,""our principali' "grade5 boys . . . ," "making out really meant . . ."
all leadto-that is, produce-new text (Figure 23). In addition to the naviga-
tion links that appearat the left of the screen,the main text also contains fre-
quent opportunities to follow links, which lead to other narrative arcs.
Linking ininfot-
Followingthe Link Should Providea SatisfringExperience.
mational hypermedia obviouslyhas to work in a clear,coherentmanner, but
In other words, what should appear
what producesthis requisite coherence?a
talked about nr*king oul nn the senior
pl*ygrcund equipment -- ddiceted h)
thc memory of trro ela*smatesrun
over by a chickenJieken delivery
truck k was s0 gld, I remember lhe
day rhey dedicatedthe playground
equipment:"Now children, this
$quipmfi1t shnuld rEmind us all of Ben
and Th*rese who ars now angel*. fu-
pri,ol]pal wondered wby nr: one {q
wante{, r0 play therc mucb.
Figure23. A Link-intensiveHyperfiction:CaitlinFisher'sWovesof Girls.In additionto the navigationlinks that appearat the left of
at the end of a link to satisfy the intellectual and aesthetic needs of the
reader?sLet'stake as an examplewhat happenswhen one comesupon linked
text in the midst of the following sentencein a lexia from The Victoiqn Web
about the prose fantasiesof William Morris: "Like fohn Ruskin, Morris cre-
ates prose fantasies perneated by his beliefs about political economics."
What should one find atthe endof the link attachedto thenameJohn Ruskin?
For the reader of the present lexia, which discussesfantastic literature by
Morris, the most useful link would produce a discussionof fantastic fiction
by Ruskin, and in fact TheVictorianWebhassuch a relevantdocument, "fohn
Ruskin and the Literary Fairy Tale,"one section of which explains the rela-
tions of his early fantasyto his later political writings. One might evenhope
that such a link would bring one to a comparison of the distinctive qualities
of each author's writings in this mode, which this existing document does
20'l
RECONFICURING not. All these desired link-destinations, one notes, are implied by the word-
WRITING ing of the sentencein which the linked text appears.
What happens,however,when such discussionsare unavailable?What
usually happensboth in the websites I've examined and those I manage is
that the link of the compared author-here Ruskin-goes to very basic or
general information about that figure. Notice that such a link to general
information, which may provide a kind of basic identification of the figure
for neophytes in the field, is not necessarily a bad link. In fact, for cer-
tain users, particularly those new to a certain field or subject, such a link
destination might prove very useful. Still, most users of documents about
quite specific topics require information that directly illuminates the main
subjectat hand (in this case,Ruskin'sfairy tale).The fact is, though, that such
specificlink destinations are far more rare than the more general,glossary-
type ones.
Obviously,one would prefer to give readersa choice of information, in this
caseproviding both general and very specific information, in part because
such a choice offers a richer, more user-centeredembodiment of hyper-
textuality. Unfortunately, the World Wide Web, which at present allows only
links from a word or phraseto a single destination,doesnot offer one of the
most useful kinds of linking-the one-to-manyor branching link that offers
the reader a choiceof destinationsat the point of departure.One solution is
to link the anchor-here "lohn Ruskin"-to another document, which has
to be manually created,that offers multiple choices.Depending on the sub-
ject of the lexia in which this name appears,the link list or areasitemapat the
end of such a link can take the form of lists of links to biographical informa-
tion about "fohn Ruskin," those leading to his influence on various authors,
and so on. Another approachto handling links to severaldestinations, not
always possible to implement, requires adding phrases that might proride
multiple anchors in the deparfure sentence.Thus, one could link general
information to the figurek name (fohn Ruskin) and specificinformation only
to phrases,such as "permeatedby his beliefs,"that leadthe readerto expecta
very specificdiscussionat the destination lexia.
hax( ) ( (polfernaturs
( ) { powered down
D))))) to powcrhuman (
t
{ber( ) ))) (persistent
power sprouts {powerlern})
) (
D )(tuck (powerfirck) porer (lurt live
forevar (the cancer(the infinite cell
) as the fountain (
Figure24. Two StagesofReading and lan M. Lyons's (box(ing)).At the left appearsthe screenone encounters early in one's read-
ing; at right, the screenafterthe readerhas broughtfo*h words and phrasesby clickinghis or her mouse.
fiction and poetry the question must be, not does following the link chiefly
satisfyan intellectual need but doesfollowing the link produce surprise and
delightl Instances of such pleasing results of following links appear in
StephanieStrickland'sVniverse(seeFigure 11)and Ian M. Lyons's(box(ing)),
both of which produce text ex nihilo. When one moves one's mouse over a
predetermined area (near a parenthesisin (box(ing)) and within the night
sl<yin Vniverse)and then clicks, text appears.6Thus, when the reader opens
(box(ing)),little appearson the screenother than multiple gray parentheses
scatteredacrossa white background (Figure 24). Lyons explains, "The plac-
ing of the parentheses"was intended to "conveynested levelsof associative
meaning . . . arrangedhierarchically;that is, if I opened one parenthetic set
and then opened a second,this secondset I alwaysmade to closebefore the
first. For example:(, ... (, ... )r...)rl'Lyons explainsthat "the piece'sparen-
thetically obsessivesyntax closely resemblesthat used in the entirely out-
moded programming language,LisP (more recently reincarnatedunder the
name Scheme)l'Clicking on the screenwithin someparenthesesand outside
203
HYPERTEXT
3.0 shows, in other words, that we can make senseof-that is, perceiveas
coherent-a group of lexias even when we encounter them in varying
order. This inherent human ability to constructmeanings out of the kind
ofdiscrete blocks oftext found in an assemblageoflinked lexiasdoesnot
imply either that text can (or should) be entirely random, or that coherence,
relevance,and multiplicity do not contribute to the pleasuresof hypertext
reading. Movement rn af.emoonfrom a lexia containing, say,the conversa-
tion of two men to one containing that of one of their wives may at first
appearabrupt (and hence random or without any relevance),but continued
reading establishes the essential coherence of the link between the two
lexias:the movement betweenthe one containing the men speakingand the
secondcontaining the women can be repeated,thus establishing a pattern
like cinematic cross-cutting.Similarly,the next lexia one encounterscan
revealthat the words ofone pair ofspeakers serveas the context,the back-
story,for the others.
RECONFIGURING analogy,for following this link brings one to the world of the Finnish epic,
WRITING the Kalelava:
T h eo l dV a i n a m o i nseann g :
thelakesrippled,
theearthshook
thecoppermountains
trembled
thesturdyboulders
rumbled
thecliffsflewin two
therockscracked uoontheshores.
H es a n gy o u n gJ o u k a h a i n e n -
s a p l i n gosn h i sc o l l a r - b o w
a w i l l o ws h r u bo n h i sh a m e s
goatwillowson histrace-tip
sanghisgold-trimmed
sleigh
sangit to treetrunks
in pools
sanghiswhipknottedwith beads
to reedson a shore
HYPERTEXT
3.0 invocationsor catalogues).Hypertext,which permits authorsto use traditional
methods,alsopermits them to createtheseeffectssimply by connectingtexts.
When successfirl,suchlinking-as-allusioncreatesa pleasurableshockof recog-
nition as the reader'sunderstanding of the fictional world suddenlyshifts.
Formof MetaphoricOrgani-
or Necessary
DoesHypertextHavea Characteristic
zationl The creationof coherencein linking via implied analogycan character-
ize not justthe relation betweentwo lexiasbut also an entire hypertext.The kind
of textuality createdby linking encouragescertain forms of metaphor and anal-
ogythat help organizethe reader'sexperiencein a pleasurableway.Someof the
most successfirlhyperfictions, such as Shelley)acksonsPatchworkGirl, employ
powerful organizing motifs, in this casescarsand stitching togetherthat func-
tion as commentaries on gender, identity, and hypertexfuality.Stitchesand
scars,which haveobvious relevancein a tale involving Dr. Frankensteinand
one of his monsters, become metaphorical and createunity and coherence
for the entire assemblageof lexias.At an early crux in the narrative ("Sight"),
facksoncreatesa branching point at which the readermust choosebetween
two lexias,both ofwhich emphasizethe analogousrelationshipsamong writ-
ing, reading a hypertext, and sewing up a monster ("written," "sewn"). Jack-
son'switfy plays on thesetopics all have a role in a hyperfiction that exposes
the way we createand experiencetexts,hlpertexts, gender,and identity.
One can also createunifying metaphors or analogiesthat do not refer to
hypertext,the medium itself. David Yunls SubwayStoryis a work of hyperfic-
tion that employs metaphors that inform the narrative in "nonreflexive" modes.
SubwaySlory employs the organizational metaphor of the map for the New
York subwaysystem:it includes both a map of that systemand a lexia for each
ofits stations.Yun has createda lexia for everystop on the subway,and he has
used the paths ofthe individual trains as link paths that createnarrativearcs.
As StefaniePankepointed out to me when I askedher why she thought it an
example of good hlpertext fi ctton, " SubwayStoryis an extraordinary hypertext
becauseof the application of a spatial metaphor that allows a navigation that
is somehow'linked' to the story itself. It is a beautifi.rlexamplefor a metaphor
that works becauseit is a part of (and not apart from) the storytelling."
RECONFIGURING selves.N. Katherine Hayles has more recently explained that "analogy as a
WRITING figure draws its force from the boundaries it leapfrogs across. Without
boundaries,the links createdby analogywould ceaseto have revolutionary
impact" (93),and the same is true of the hypertext link. Without good-by
which I mean effectiveand appropriate-separations one cannot have good
links. Like the epic hero who requires an adequateantagonistto demonstrate
his superiority,linking requires a suitable gapthat must be bridged. We have
all readhypertextsin which foilowing a link producesa text that seemsto fol-
lowwhat camebefore in such obvious sequence,the readerwonderswhythe
author simply didnt join the two. We've all encountered relatively poor or
ineffectualgapsby which I mean thosebreaksin an apparentlylinear text that
appeararbitrary:the gap,the division betweentwo texts,appearsunnecessary
when the link does nothing more than put back together two passagesthat
belong together when no other paths are possible.
Hyperfiction and poetry can have two very different kinds of gaps,the
first being thosebridged or surmounted by links, the secondbeing thosethat
remain, well, gaps becausenothing in the software environment joins the
two texts or lexias. Whereasthe first kind of gap,that joined by links, seems
obvious becausewe encounter it everytime we follow a link, the other is not.
As an exampleof the secondI am thinking of entire sectionsor narrativearcs
in works like PatchworkGirl that remain separateand separatedin the reader's
experienceand yet may be joined by allusion or thematic parallels.Thus, in
PqtchworkGirl gatheringsof lexias about the stitched-togethernature of the
female Frankenstein monster reside in a different folder or directory than
those comprising Shelley Jackson'scollage of lexias composed of various
textsfrom facquesDerrida, L. Frank Baum, and Mary Shelley.Thesediscrete
sectionsjoin in variations on the themes of text, stitched-together-ness,
coherence,ofigins, and identity. As this example of gaps unjoined by links
makes clear,not all connectionsin effectivehypertextrequire electroniccon-
nections-like nonhypertextualprose and poetry,hypertext also makes use
of allusions, metaphors,and implicit parallels.The real question turns out to
be, then, How doesone decidewhen to make the potential connection,rela-
tion, or parallel explicit by means of an electroniclink and when to leavecon-
nections,relations, or parallels implicitl
HYPERTEXT
3.0 solely on the link. To an important extent, the text that surrounds the link
matters, too, becausethe quality of writing and images within an individual
lexia relate to one key hypertextual quality-its ability to make the reader
simultaneously satisfied enough with the contents of a particular lexia to
want to follow a link from that lexia to another.The problem that any writer
faces-whether the writer of hyperfiction or of stories intended for print-
can be defined simply as how to keep the reader reading. Making readers
want to continue reading seemsmuch easierin print text for a variety of rea-
sons: knowing the genre signals, readers know what to expec| looking at
their place in a physical text, they know how much more they have to read;
without choicesdemandedby linking, readershave essentiallyone choice-
to continue reading or to put down the story novel, or poem.
Particularly in these early days of the history of these new technologies
and associatedmedia, readershavea more difficult time deciding whether to
keep reading. The text they read must persuadethem to go on by the essen-
tial, traditional, conventionalmeans-that is, by intriguing, tantalizing, sat-
isfying, and aboveall entertaining them. In a hypertextlexia the readermust
encounter tert that is simultaneously,perhapsparadoxically,both satisfying
and just unsatisfying enough: in other words, the current lexia readersen-
counter has to have enough interest, like any text, to convincethem to keep
reading, and yet at the sametime it must also leaveenough questionsunan-
sweredthat the reader feels driven to follow links in order to continue read-
ing. In the terms of Roland Barthes,the lexia must include sufficient plot
enigmas or hermeneutic codesto drive the reader forward. This demand
explains why the opening lexia of Michael foyce'sclassicafi.emoon,perhaps
the first and still one of the most interesting hyperfictions, takes the form of
such ornate metaphoricalprose. Here, for example,is the secondparagraph
in aftemoonisopening lexia ("begin"):
octopiandpalmsof ice-riversandcontinents
besetbyfear,andwewalkoutto the
car,thesnowmoaning
beneath
ourbootsandtheoaksexploding
in a series
alongthe
fenceline
on thehorizon,
theshrapnel likerelics,
settling theechoing
thundering
off
farice.Thiswastheessence
ofwood,thesefragments
say.Andthisdarkness
is air.By
fivethesunsetsandtheafternoon
meltfreezes intocrystal
againacrossthe blacktop
The rich, sensualmetaphoric style of this lexia promises readersa lush read-
ing experienceand therefore makes them want to keep reading, but this sec-
tion is also self-containedenough to cohere as a separatelexia. As anyone
who has read afiemoor,r
knows, not all its lexias havethis richness-some
r fsb* on a face ts n tek
ffi"-'d " T
t*
1j i ?lmi'f;ri it*"i! .r4i.jiJ}"Jf;f:, l*rrvhilitr lkrs lt$ rilrr* Sntlrffy fs lsxxs i;s grtp*
,:1i:;l;i;ag .!ir$*ii;r:.{ *.q{' Jl*{ #jr}*i$,- ff**rt onyo*c,s*rssrytrdf * &ctwrto frna eowr
are quite bare and brief-but foyce does employ this style elsewhere, for
example,in "Staghorn and starthistle."
The Hyperdocument
ShouldFullyEngagethe Hypertextual of the
Capacities
ParticularSoftwareEnvironmentEmployed.In askingif an individualhyper-
media project pushesthe limits of the softwareit employs,one entersa mine-
field. In the first place,such a question implicitly assumesthat the new the
experimental,has major value in itself, and evenif one acceptsthis hypothe-
sis, it might havevalidity only in the early stagesof a genre or media form. Of
course,at the present moment, all writing in hypertextis experimental since
the medium is taking form as we read and write. Electronic linking, one of
the defining features of this technology,can reconfigure notions of author,
text, reader,writer, intellectual property,and other matters of immediate con-
cern to thosewho design hypertext systemsor author documents with them.
Becausehypertext fiction-writing at and over the edge-sets out to probe
the limits of the medium itself, it acts as a laboratory to test our paradigms
and our fundamental assumptions.A sample of hypertextsshows the ways
they illuminate issuesranging from readerdisorientationand authorial prop-
erty to the nature of hypertext genresand the rules of electronicwriting.
Within this project of writing-as-discovery,all elements in a hypertext
2't2
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 systemthat can be manipulated can function as signifying elements.To pro-
vide an exampleof the creativeuse of systemfeatures,letus turn to a fewvery
early examplesfrom Writing at the Edge(199a),all of which were createdin
EastgateSystems'Storyspace,a stand-alonehypertextenvironment available
for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
In addition to containing traditional elements such as fonts, graphics,
sound, and color, Storyspacealso supportsthe creativeutilization of "screen
real estate"-the tiling of windows and the order in which they appearand
arrangethemselves.Nathan Marsh'slexiasin Breathof Sighsplacethemseives
around the screen, making the screen layout support the narrative as one
crossesand recrossesthe tale at severalpoints (seeFigure 22). Marsh'swork,
which datesfrom 1993,provided an early demonstration that writing had be-
come visual aswell as alphanumeric. It also revealsthat a single softwarefea-
ture, such as the ability to control window size and location, leadsdirectly to
a particular mode of writing-here writing as collageand montage in which
the multiple-window format permits readersto move back and forth among
overlappinglexias.This feature alsoencouragesactivereaders,sincethey can
easilymove about among lexias,thus creating a kind of spatial hypertext.
Severalother hypertexts from Witing at the Edgeshow the imaginative
deployment of another systemfeature of the software-the Storyspaceview,
a dynamic graphic presentation of the arrangement of document organiza-
tion. Storyspace,a hypertext environment that also functions as a conceptual
organizer,permits authors to nest individual spaces(lexias)inside others, or
to rearrangethe hypertext'sorganization by moving lexiaswithout breaking
links. Someworks, like ShelleyJackson'sPatchworkGirl (seeFigure 28),take
advantageofthis graphic organizational feature to structure hyperfiction by
means of separatefolders or directories. Others, like Ho Lins NicelyDone,
arrange all lexias on a single level and indicate discretenarrative lines. This
hypertext novel, which links a murder story and the eventsof a professional
football championship game,suggestsits organizationby arranging its lexias,
all of which appearon the top level, in four parallel lines. Timothy Taylor's
LBJ-Lazarus + Barabbas+ fudas-takes graphicindicationsof narrativeand
conceptualorganizationfarther than Ho Lin's NicelyDone,arranging its lexias
in the form of three crosses,the central one of which has a circle (halo)) over
it. Here, rather than indicating the narrative structure, Taylor implies graph-
ically something about the subjectand theme of his fiction. Like similar proj-
ects that Michael foyce reproduces in O/Two Minds (38), Adam Wenger's
AdamisBookstore, which I discussin the following chapter,usesa circular de-
ployment of the graphic elements representing lexias in Storyspaceview to
213
RECONFIGURING indicate that his document can be entered-and left-at any point (seeFig-
WRITING ure 32). One of the most bravura examples of arranging lexia-iconsin the
Storyspaceview appearsin Marc A. Zbysznskit playfi.rluse of hundreds of
them to createan image of a human face beneath a recyding symbol. Even
the naming of lexias can provide opporrunities for unexpectedsignification.
Andrew Durden'splayful arrangement of lexias in SatynconRandomlyGen-
eratedforms a grammatical sentence.Reading the titles of the upper-level
folders reveals the following playful comment: "l / think this / lexia / is a
good / start place."Stuart Moulthrop famously carried this playful use of sys-
tem featuresmuch farther, creating sonnetswithin a menu of links!
As the previous examples suggest,hypertext environments have, if not
preciselyMcluhan's messagein the medium, at leastcertain tendenciesthat
derive from specificfeaturesofthe software.The capacityto conffol size and
location of multiple windows encouragescollage-likewriting that employs
these features, just as the presenceof one-to-manylinking and menus of
links that have a preview function encouragecertain forms of branching.
Both features and the limitations or constraints of these featuresencourage
certain ways of writing, just as the fourteen-line sonnet encouragescertain
kinds ofpoetry
Turning from Storyspaceto HTML and the World Wide Web, by far the
most widespreadform of hypermedia today,one wonders if it, like other hyper-
media environments, encouragescertain modes of writing. HTML, which is
basically an extremely simple text-formatting language that works on the
Internet, has two defining features-first, the ability to insert links between
lexiasand, second,the ability to insefi other media into individual lexias,orig-
inally just imagesbut soon after sound, video, and animation createdby fava
scripts or Flash.The rapid spreadof accessto broadbandconnectionsto the
Intemet has transformed the World Wide Webfrom a simple systemfor link-
ing text-representationsinto a multimedia platform. The implications of this
changefor anyonetrying to determine the messagein the medium are obvi-
ous: whereas earlier proprietary systems,such as Intermedia, Microcosm,
HyperCard, Storyspace,Guide,and so on, had built-in, clearlydefined charac-
teristics, some of which provided clearlimitations, the World Wide Web does
not. Anyone working with basic HTML encounterscertain obviousfeatures,
which may act as imitations. Theseinclude the absenceof one-to-manylink-
ing, preview features,and preview functions, as well as the inability to place
and control the size of windows. Anyone using Flash or favain HTML docu-
ments,however,doesnot necessarilyconfront any ofthese limitations, though
they may confront others, such as incompatibility with particular versionsof
214
HYPERTEXT
3.0 browsers.Suchfreedom,suchabsenceof limitations,brings with it the rela-
tive absenceof those restraints that often both limit and inspire creativiW.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 hypertext. As Michael foyce, our first major author of hypertext fiction, has ex-
plained, the desire to create multiple stories out of a relatively small amount
of alphanumeric text provided a major force driving in writing afiemoon:
From one point of view then, such an approach merely intensifies the agenda
of high modernism, using linking to grant the author even more power.
Other authors take a self-consciously postmodern approach, using the
multiplicity offered by branching links to create a combinatorial fiction that in
some ways seems the electronic fulfillment of the French group, Oulipo. For
example, in its forty-nine fictional lexias Tom McHarg's The Late-Nite Maneu-
vers ofthe Utramundane, one of the hypertexts included in Witingatthe Edge,
attempt to "veer toward a narrative . . . not entirely dependent upon linearity,
causality, and probable characterization" ("On Ultramundane"). McHarg cre-
ates seven lexias for each day of the week, each a variation or tansformation
of the other. Choosing the first Monday, for example, the reader encounters
the following narrative (which represents the first half of the lexia):
HYPERTEXT
3.0 spectra,or axesalong which one can array the phenomena I discuss rather
than in terms of diametric oppositions,such asmale/female or alphanumeric
versusmultimedia text. I avoidsuchpolaritiesbecause,particularlyin the case
of hypertext fiction and poetry',they hinder analysisby exaggeratingdiffer-
ence,overratinguniformity, and suppressingour abilities to perceivecomplex
mixtures of qualities or tendencies.Another reasonfor emphasizing a spec-
trum of possibilitieswhen discussinghypertextliesin the factthat neither end
of any particular spectrum is necessarilysuperior to the other. For example,
hyperfiction that demands intewention by readers,or otherwise empowers
them, will not on those grounds alone turn out to surpasshyperfiction that
employs links to solidify-indeed amplify-the power of the author.
RECONFIGURING fiction, therefore, one can expectindividual forms, such as plot, characteri-
NARRATIVE zation, and setting, to change, as will genres or literary kinds produced by
congeriesof thesetechniques.
When I first discussedhyperfiction in the earlier versions of this book,
the novelty,the radicalnewness,of the subjectappearedin the fact that almost
all the sourcescited were unpublished, in the processofbeing published, or
published in nontraditional electronic forms: these sourcesinclude unpub-
lished notes on the subject of hypertext and fiction by a leading American
novelist, chaptersin forthcoming books,and prereleaseversionsofhypertext
fictions. Now, a few years later, substantial numbers of examples of both
hypertext fiction and critical discussionsofthe subject have appeared.Fol-
lowing the strategyused in previous chapters,I shall thereforetake almost all
of my examplesfrom widely availablework, using whenever possiblemate-
rial published on the World Wide Web.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 convincing, but I realize that ifhypertext has the kind and degreeofpower
that previous chaptershaveindicated, it doesthreaten literature and its insti-
tutions as we know them. One should feel threatened by hypertext, just as
writers of romances and epics should have felt threatenedby the novel and
Venetian writers of Latin tragedy should have felt threatened by the Divine
Comedyand its Italian text. Descendants,after all, offer continuity with the
past but only at the cost ofreplacing it.
One interesting approachto discussing hypertextual narrative involves
deducing its qualities from the defining characteristicsof hypertext-its
non- or multilinearity, its multivocality, and its inevitable blending of media
and modes,particularly its tendenry to marry the visual and the verbal.Most
who havespeculatedon the relation betweenhypertextualityand fiction con-
centrate,however,on the effects it will have on linear narrative. In order ro
comprehend the combined promise and peril with which hypertextuality
confronts narrative, we should first recall that narratology generally urges
that narration is intrinsically linear and alsothat such linearity playsa central
role in all thought.l As BarbaraHerrnstein Smith argues,"there are very few
instancesin which we can sustain the notion of a set and sequenceof events
altogetherprior to and independent ofthe discoursethrough which they are
narrated" ("NarrativeVersions,"225).
Hayden White statesonly a particularly emphatic version of a common
assumption when he assertsthat "to raise the question of the nature of nar-
rative is to invite reflection on the very nature ofculture and, possibly,even
on the nature of humanity itself . . . Far from being one code among many
that a culture may utilize for endowing experiencewith meaning, narrative
is a metacode,a human universal on the basis of which transcultural mes-
sagesabout the nature of a shared reality can be transmitted" (1-2). What
kind of a culture would have or could havehypertexfualnarration, which so
emphasizesnon- or multilinearity, and what happensto a culture that chooses
such narration, when, as fean-FranEoisLyotard claims, in agreement with
many other writers on the subject, "narration is the quintessential form of
customary knowledge" (PostmodemCondition,18)l Lyotard'sown definition
of postmodernism as "incredulity toward metanarratives" (rxiv) suggests
one answer:any author and any culture that chooseshypertextualfiction will
either alreadyhaverejectedthe solaceand reassuranceoflinear narrativeor
will soon find their attachment to it loosening. Lyotard claims that "lament-
ing the 'loss of meaning'in postmodernity boils down to mourning the fact
that knowledge is no longer principally narrative" (26), and for this loss of
faith in narrativehe offers severalpossibletechnologicaland political expla-
221
RECONFIGURING nations, the most important of which is that science,which "has alwaysbeen
NARRATIVE in conflict with narratives."uses other means "to lesitimate the rules of its
own game" (xiii).'z
Evenwithout raising such broaderor more fundamental issuesaboutthe
relation of narrativeto culture, one realizesthat hypertext opensmajor ques-
tions about story and plot by apparentlydoing awaywith linear organization.
Conventional definitions and descriptions of plot suggest some of them.
Aristotle long ago pointed out that successfirlplots require a "probable or
necessarysequenceof events" lPoetics,1465). This observationoccursin the
midst of his discussion of peipeteia (or in Bywater'stranslation, peripety),
and in the immediately precedingdiscussionof episodicplots, which Aristo-
tle considers"the worst," he explainsthat he calls "a Plot episodicwhen there
is neither probability nor necessityin the sequenceofits episodes"(1464).
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 Coover,a freer spirit, mentions "the allure of the blank spacesof these fabu-
lous networks,thesegreen-limned gardensof multiply forking paths,to nar-
rative artists" who havethe opportunity to "replacelogic with characteror meta-
phor, say,scholarshipwith collageand verbalwit, and tum the story loosein a
spacewhere whateveris possibleis necessary."
Coover offers a vision of possibilities, and now that many instances of
hyperfiction have seenpublication, one can make some first guesseswhich
of its suggestionsseem most likely to be realized and which least.Although
true that readersin certain systems-those with searchtools or something
like Microcosm's compute links functions-can follow "some particular
character,for example,or an image, an action, and so on," the hlpertext soft-
ware used for writing most hyperfiction thus far doesnot make such reading
easyor, in some cases,evenpossible.Similarly, Intermedia permitted reader-
authors to enter the text freely,and students at Brown createdworks, such as
Hotel, oneversion of which has since appearedin the web and recreatedas a
MOO (seeMeyer,Blair, Hader, "WAXweb").Hotelpermilted any readerto add
a new room to the fictional structure aswell as changeor evendeletethe work
of others. Speakingwith Cooverin the Spring of 2004,1learned that he con-
sidered the experiment a failure becausetoo many visitors vandalized the
work of others. fust as the Internet later showed, cyber-utopian techno-
anarchy did not fulfill the hopes ofthose who first envisagedit. I consider
Hotelnol so much a failure as an experiment using digital literature to test a
theory. It was worth the effort.
The way readersfollow links presentsan even more fundamental issue
in hyperfiction. In contrast to informational hypertext,which must employ
rhetorics oforientation, navigation, and departure to orient the reader,suc-
cessful fictional hypertext and poetry does not alwaysdo so with the result
that its readerscannot make particularly informed or empowered choices.
Webscreatedin systemslike Storyspacethat permit one-to-manylinks, link
menus, and path names all provide authors with the power to empower the
reader;that is, authors can write in such a way to provide the readerwith
informed choices.Taro lkai's ElectronicZen,whichwe shall later examine in
more detail (chapter7), exemplifies a web that choosesto do so. Using Story-
space'slink menus (rather than its richer ability to name links and create
paths),Ikai named, aswe havealreadyobserved,the first destinations"water"
and "chef."After reading evena few ofhis brieflexias, readersrealizethat he
has createdtwo paths, one characterizedbyZenmeditations and the other by
details of the speaker'smundane existence.With that information, readers
can now choosewhich path thev wish to follow.
223
in thisshifting space,
electronic willneeda newconcept
writers In place
of structure.
oftheirtextasa struc-
theymustlearnto conceive
ofa closedandunitarystructure,
tureof possible
structures.ThewritermustPractice writing,
a kindof second-order
creatingcoherentlinesforthereader withoutclosingoffthe
to discover possibilities
prematurely Thiswritingof thesecond
or arbitrarily. orderwillbethespecial
contri-
butionof theelectronicmediumto the historyof literature. 144)
(WritingSpace,
HYPERTEXT
3.0 dislocation or omission of any element will tend to make the sequenceas a
whole incomprehensible,or will radicallychangeits effect.In paratacticstruc-
ture, however (wherethe principle ofgeneration doesnot causeany one ele-
ment to 'follow' from another),thematic units can be added,omitted, or
exchangedwithout destroyingthe coherenceor effect of the poem'sthematic
structure." According to Smith, "'variations on a theme' is one of the two
most obvious forms that paratacticstructure may take. The other one is the
'list."'The
main problem with which parataxis,like hypertext,confronts nar-
rative is that any "generating principle that produces a paratactic structure
cannot in itself determine a conduding point" (PoeticClosure,gg-100).
Since some narratologistsclaim that morality ultimately dependson the
unity and coherenceofa fixed linear text, one wondersifhypertext can convey
morality in any significant form or if it is condemnedto an essentialtriviality.
White believesthe unity of successfulnarrative to be a matter of ideology:
"Narrativity, certainly in facnral storytelling and probably in fictional storytelling
aswell, is intimately relatedto, if not a function of, the impulse to moralize re-
ality,that is, to identify it with the socialsystemthat is the sourceof any moral-
ity that we can imagine" (14).Writing asa historian and historiographer,White
arguesthat such ideologicalpressureappearswith particular darity in the "value
attachedto narrativityin the representationofreal events,"sincethat valuedis-
closesa desireto endow "real events"with a necessarilyimaginary "coherence,
integrity, fullness, and closure" possibleonly in fiction. The very "notion that
sequencesof real eventspossessthe formal athibutes of storieswe tell about
imaginary events,"insists White, "could only have its origin in wishes, day-
dreams,reveries"(20,23).Doesthis signify or suggestthat contemporarycul-
ture, at least its avant-gardetechnologicalphalarx, rejects such wishes, day-
dreams,and reveries)White'sconnectionof plot and morality suggestsseveral
lines of inquiry. One could inquire if it is good or bad that linear narrativesin-
evitably embody some morality or ideology,but first one should determine if re-
jecting linearity necessarilyinvolves rejecting morality. After all, anyonetaking
seriouslythefictional possibilitiesofhypertextwants to know if itwillproduce
yet another form of postmodernist fiction that critics like john Gardner,Ger-
ald Graff, and CharlesNewman will attackas morally cormpt and corrupting
(McHale,219).If onewantedliberationfiom ideology,weresucha goalpossible,
nonideologicalstorytellingmight be fine. But beforeconduding that hypertext
produceseither ideology-freemiraclesor ideology-freehorrors,one shouldlook
at the availableevidence.In particular, one should examine prehypertextat-
tempts to createnonlinear or multilinear literary forms and evaluatethe results.
A glanceat previous experiments in avoiding the linearity of the printed
225
Like Proust'sMarcel, she finds that a simple sensationbrings the past back
flush upon the present, making a mockery of separationand sequence.
226
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Returning to Cairo in her late sixties, Claudia finds it both changedand un-
changed."The place,"she explains,"didn't look the samebut it felt the same;
sensationsclutched and transformed me." Standing near a modern concrete
and plate-glassbuilding, she picks a "handful of eucalyptusleavesfrom a
branch, crushed them in my hand, smelt, and tears came to my eyes.Sixry-
seven-year-oldClaudia . . . crying not in grief but in wonder that nothing is
everlost, that everything can be retrieved,that a lifetime is not linear but in-
stant."Her lessonfor narratologyis that "inside the head,everythinghappens
at once" (68).Like Claudia,Tom Crick takeshistorical, autobiographicalnar-
rativeswhose essenceis sequenceand spreadsthem out or weavesthem in a
nonsequentialway.
The differencebetweenquasihypertexfualfictions and thosein electronic
form chiefly involvesthe greaterfreedom and power ofthe hypertext reader.
Swift decideswhen Tom Crick's narrativebranchesand Lively decideswhen
Claudia Hampton's does, but in Stuart Moulthrop's hlpertert version of
Borges's"Forking Paths"and in Leni Zumas's Semio-Surfor Carolyn Guyer's
Quibbling,the reader makes this decision. Important prehypertextualnarra-
tive has,however,alsorequired such readerdecision.One of the most famous
examplesof an author's ceding power to the readeris found in "The Babysit-
ter," in which Robert Coover,like an author of electronic hypertext,presents
the readerwith multiple possibilities,reallymultiple endings,with two effects.
First, the reader,who takes over some of the writer's role and function, must
choosewhich possibility, if any,to accept,and second,by encountering that
need to decide,the readerrealizesboth that no true single narrative existsas
the main or "right" one and that readingtraditional narrativehasbrainwashed
him or her into expectingand demanding a single right answer and a single
correctstoryline. Coover'sstory not only makes a fundamentally moral point
about the nature of fiction but also placesmore responsibility on the reader.
One may say of Coover'stext, in other words, what Bolter saysof Joyce'sin-
teractivehypertext-that "there is no single story of which eachreading rs a
version, becauseeach reading determines the story as it goes.We could say
that there is no story at all; there are only readings" (Writing Space,I24).
HYPERTEXT
3.0 an 'end point,' which, in tum, furnishes the point ofview from which the story
can be perceivedasforming a whole."In other words,to understanda story re-
quires first comprehending "how and why the successiveepisodesled to this
conclusion,which, far from being foreseeable,must finally be acceptable,as
congruent with the episodesbrought together by the story" (1: 66-671.
In her classicstudy of how poems produce satisfyingendings, Smith pro-
vides evidencethat might prompt students of hypertext to conclude that it
either createsfundamental problems in narrativeand other kinds of literary
texts or else that it opens them to an entirely new form oftextuality. She
explainsthat since "a poem cannot continue indefinitely" (poeticClosure,33l,
it must employ devicesthat prepare the reader for ending rather than con-
tinuing. Thesedevicesproduce in the reader "the senseofstable conclusive-
ness,finality, or 'clinch' . . . referred to here as closure . . . Whether spatially
or temporally perceived,a structure appears'closed'when it is experiencedas
integral: coherent,complete,and stable" (2)-qualities that producea ,.sense
of ultimate composurewe apparentlyvalue in our experienceof a work of art"
and that we label "stability, resolution, or equilibrium" (34). Unlike texts in
manuscript or print, those in hypertext apparently can continue indefinitely,
perhapsinfinitely, so one wonders if they can provide satisfying closure.3Or
to direct this inquiry in ways suggestedby Smith's analysisof closure, one
should ask what techniques might provide something analogousto that
desirable"senseof stableconclusiveness,finality, or 'clinch."'
Taking another clue from fiction createdfor print publication, one per-
ceivesthat many prehypertext narratives provide instances of multiple clo-
sure and also a combination of closure with new beginnings. Both charles
Dickens'snovelswritten specificallyfor publication in periodicalsat monthly
intervals and those by other nineteenth-century novelists intended for first
publication in the conventional triple-decker form make use of partial clo-
sure followed by continuation. Furthermore, Trollope'spalliser series,Law-
rence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet,Faulkner'sworks, and countlesstrilogies
and tetralogiesin both fantastic and realistic modes suggestthat writers of
fiction havelong encounteredproblems very similar to thosefacedby writers
of hypertext fiction and have developed an a.o:ayof formal and thematic
solutions to them. In fact, the tendency of many twentieth-century works to
leavereaderswith little senseof closure-either becausethey do not learn of
the "final" outcome of a particular narrative or becausethey leavethe story
before any outcome s66u1s-5hews us that as readersand writers we have
long learned to live (and read) with more open-endednessthan discussions
of narrative form might lead us to expect.
229
RECONFIGURING Coover proclaims that endings will and must occur even in infinitely
NARRATIVE expandable,changeable,combinable docuverses:
noz -> no By five lhe sun setsffid the afternoon melt freezes atain mross the blrcklop into
crystal octopi md palms of ice- rivers md continents best by futr, md we walk oul to
octopi-> octopi
the c*, the snow moming beneath our boots ild the oaks exFlodint in 3eri.esalonE th
ues -) ues f, fenceline on the horizon, lhe shrapnel 3ettlint like relica, the echoint thundering off
ruinter -> rxinter fur ice. This wtr theessenceofwood, thBe fra8ments say. And th$ dtrkness ir air.
poetrg -> poetru
essence-> lhe e$senceofru... < Poetry> she saJF,withoul emotion, one way or mother.
shrapnel -> shrapnel
m o n n i n gn e u - > m o a n i n g Do vou wffil lo heil about it?
can print individuallexiasby using the icon at far right. (courtesyof Eastgatesystems.)
a fragmented,
elliptical,
repetitive,
yetinfinite, text,no partof
or at leastindefinite,
which,however,
maybe separated fromthewhole.!(hoeverpullsa singlethread
musttakethewholecloth,withitsholesandlackof edges. Toreadstendhal isto read
thewholeof Stendhal,
butto readallof Stendhal
is impossible,
fortheverygoodrea-
son,amongothers,thatthewholeofStendhal hasnotyetbeenpublished or decr-
phered,
or discovered,
or evenwritten:I repeat,
alltheStendhalian
text,because
tne
231
RECONFIGURING arenotmereabsences,
gaps,theinterruptions a Purenon'text:theyarea lack,active
NARRATIVE andperceptible
aslack,as non-writing, texI.(Figures,
asnon-written 165)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 accident as an event in the recent present; the emotional charge it carries
servesto organize other reported thoughts and events, inevitably turning
some of them into flashbacks,others into erposition. Conversely,one could
take that event as something in the past, a particularly significant moment,
and then use it as a point of origin either that leadsto other eventsor whose
importance endows events it has not causedwith a significance createdby
explanationor contrastor analogy.Our assistancein the storytelling or story-
making is not entirely or evenparticularly random since foyceprovidesmany
hooks that can catch at our thoughts, but we do become reader-authorsand
help tell the tale we read.
Nonetheless,as f . Hillis Miller points out, we cannot help ourselves:we
must createmeaning as we read. 'A story is readablebecauseit can be or-
ganizedinto a causalchain . . . A causalsequenceis alwaysan implicit nar-
rative organized around the assumption that what comes later is causedby
what comesbefore, 'post hoc, propter hoc.' If any seriesof random and dis-
connectedevents is presentedto me, I tend to see it as a causal chain. Or
rather, if Kant and Kleist are right, I must seeit as a causal chain" (Versions,
727,130).Miller, who silently exchangesa linear model of explanationfor one
more appropriateto hypertextualnarrative,later adds:"We cannot avoid im-
posing some set of connections,like a phantasmal spiderweb, over events
that just happenas they happen" (139).
Miller's idea of reading printed text, which seemsto owe a great deal
to gestaltpsychology'stheories of constructionist perception,well describes
the reader-authordemandedby foyce'safiemoonandother works of hypertext
fiction. According to Miller, reading is always"a kind of writing or rewriting
that is an act of prosopopoeia,like Pygmalion giving life to the statue" (186).s
This construction of an evanescententity or wholenessalwaysoccursin read-
ing, but in readinghypertextit takesthe additionalform ofconstructing, how-
everprovisionally,one'sown tefi out of fragments,out of separatelexias.It is a
case,in other words, of L6vistraus s'sbricolage,for everyhypertext reader is
inevitably a bricoleur.
Suchbricolage,I suggest,providesa new kind of unity, one appropriateto
hypertexfuality.As long as one grants that plot is a phenomenon createdby
the readerwith materialsthe lexiasoffers,rather than a phenomenonbelong-
ing solely to the text, then one can acceptthat reading afiemoonand other
hypertext fictions produces an experiencevery similar to that provided by
reading the unified plot describedby narratologistsfrom Aristotle to white
and Ricoeur.White, for example,definesplot as "a structure of relationships
by which the eventscontainedin the accountare endowedwith a meanins bv
233
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 reminds us that fabricating folk tales, spoken discourses,and interpretative
readingsof print nanatives follow an essentiallysimilar processthat entails
the immediate, in-processconstruction of meaning and text. Miller's obser-
vations allow us to understand that one must apply the same notions to the
activities of the reader of hypertext fiction. In brief hypertert demands that
one applythis structuralist understanding of speakerand writer to the reader
as well, since in hypertext the readeris in this limited sensea reader-author.
From this theory ofthe readerand from the experienceofreading hypertext
narratives,I draw the following, perhapsobviousbut nonethelessimportant,
conclusions.In a hypertext environment a lack of linearity does not destroy
narrative. In fact, since readersalways,but particularly in this environment,
fabricatetheir own structures, sequences,and meanings, they have surpris-
ingly little trouble reading a story or reading for a story.TObviously,some
parts ofthe reading experienceseem very different from reading a printed
novel or a short story, and reading hypertext fiction provides some ofthat
experienceof a new orality that both Mcluhan and Ong have predicted.
Although the reader of hypertext fiction sharessome experiences,one sup-
poses,with the audienceof listeners who heard oral poetry,this activereader
inevitablyhas more in common with the bard, who constructedmeaning and
narrativefrom fragments provided by someoneelse,by another author or by
many other authors.
Like Coover,who emphasizesthe inevitable connectionof deathand nar-
rative, foyce seems to intertwine the two. In part it is a matter, as Brian
McHale points out, of avant-gardeauthors using highly charged subjects
(sexuality,death) to retain readers'interest that might straywithin puzzling
and unfamiliar narrative modes. In part it is also a matter of endings: when
the reader decidesto stop reading afi.emoon,he or she ends, kills, the story,
becausewhen the active reader,the reader-author,stops reading, the story
stops,it dies, it has reachedan ending. As parl of that cessation,that willing-
ness to stop creating and interpreting the story,certain acts or eventsin the
story becomedeathsbecausethey make most sensethat way;and by stopping
reading the readerpreventsother alternativesfrom coming into being.
P a t c h u r o r k6 i r l
| 8 m l i k e U o ui n m o s tw a u s .N gi n t r o d u c t o r g p 8 r o g r pcho m e s
a t t h e b e g i n n i nagn dI b s v ea g 0 0 dh e s do n m g s h o u l d e r sI .
h a v em u s c l ef,a t , a n d6 s k e l e t o nt h 8 t k e e p sm e f r o m
c o l l E p s i n ign t o s u e t .E u t m g r e 8 l s k e l e t o ni s m 8 d eo f s c E r s :
s w e b t h 6 t t r o v e r s e sm e i n t h r e e - d i m e n s i o nW s .h E th o l d sm e
t o g e t h e ri s w h 6 t m 8 r k sm Ud i s p e r s s lI. a m m o s t m g s e l fi n
t h e g 8 p sb e t w e e nm g p s r t s ,t h o u g hi f t h e gs d i l e d6 ! y E U in 6ll
d i r e c t i o n si n s g r i s l g r e g s t t 8t h e r ew o u l db e n 0 t h i n gl e f t
h e r e! n m Up l c e .
F o rt h a t r e a s o nt,h o u g hI, E mh 8 r dt 0 d o i n .T h el i n k s c E n
stretch veru tar beforetheu breEk,6ndif I Emthe queenof
d i s p e r s atlh e nh o v i e v efra r U o ut 8 k em Us e p a r E t p e8rts
(wrapped i n b u r l a pa n dg r e E s gf i s h - w r s p p e r si ,n w o o d e n
c r t s a n dw h e r r i e s b , u r g i n gm e a n db u r n i n gm e 6 n dr e t u r n i n g
m e t o t h e f 8 m i l i e sf r o m w h i c h I s p r u n gu n l 0 v e dE n db a s t a r d )
U o uo n l Uc o n f l r mm Ur e i g n .
option and t (or the command key in Windows)to discoverlinkedtext and then doubleclickingon it, 121by mousingdown on the
double-headedarrow on the moveablepalette (for default links), or (3) by exploring the Storyspaceview, which consists of a fold-
erlikearrangementofthe web that authorscan arrangeas they wish. Unlikethe PageReader,which derivesfrom the tiny sizeof
original Macintosh screens,this form of Storyspacedoes not restrict documents to a cardlike format and permits scrollable text
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 Maria Stafford's Body Citicism: Imogining the Unseenin EnlightenmentArt
ond Medicine:
Youmayemphasize
thepresence
of textlinksbyusinga special
style,colorortype-
face.Or,if youprefer,
youcanleaveneedles
sticking
in thewounds-inthemanner
of tailors-withthreadwrapped
aroundthem.Beingseam'dwithscarswasbotha
factofeighteenth
century
lifeanda metaphor
fordissonant
interferences
ruiningany
finelyadjusted
composition."Thecharmyouneedis a needle
andthread,"saidthe
S h a g gM
yan.
As Raz points out, "Stitches,or links connect one patch to another, one text
to another.fackson seemsparticularly interestedin examining the points of
union betweentexts,such that'being seam'dwith scars'becomesa fact not
only of eighteenth-centurylife but of hypertext writing, and indeed of any
sort of creativeprocess."
Fittingly,my discussionof fackson'sweb has alreadytaken on much of the
appearanceof collageitself. I first wrote a good portion of what follows for the
ElectronicBookRwiew,one of an increasing number of critical and scholarly
World Wide Web periodical publications, but after studentsin my courseon
cyberspaceand critical theory supplementedit with an HTM L web in the form
of sometwo dozencommentaries,I decidedto fi nd somewayhereto drawupon
their work in a manner appropriateto print. In the Cyberspace,
Virtual Reality,
and Citical ThcoryWeb, our lexias appearwoven together,and I could odd to rny
single lexia simply by using links. Here, following the conventionsof print,
I shall sum up and introduce these additional comments (which are now, of
course,part of the "main" text, and henceno longer "additional"),citing some
longer passagesin the endnotes.Backto PatchworkGirl andhypertextcollage.
Most of Patchwork Girl's collage effects occur, not within individual
patchesor lexiasbut acrossthem aswe readerspatch togethera characterand
a narrative.Opening fackson'sweb, we first encounter a black-and-white
image of the stitched-togetherprotagonist that she cuts and recombinesinto
the imageswe come upon at various points throughout our reading.The first
link takesus to her title page,a rich crossroadsdocument,to which we return
repeatedly,that offers six paths out: "a graveyardi'"a journali "a quilt," "a
story," "broken accents,"and a list of sources.The graveyard,for example,
takes us first to a patchwork image createdby cutting and rearranging the
title screen,after which we receivesome directions and then reach the head-
stone, another overview or crossroadslexia that provides multiple patns;
these paths take us to the lives of each of the beings, largely women, whose
parts contributed to the PatchworkGirl.
237
belonged
to Jane,
a nannywhoharbored greydresses
underherdurable andsensible
undergarments time:a tattooof a shipandtheleg-
of a lesssensible
a remembrance
end,ComeBackTo Me.Nannyknewsomestories hercharges,
thatastonished and
thoughthe shipon herthighblurredandgrewfaintandbluewithdistance,untilit
seemed thatthecurrentsmusthavelongagofinished its planks
theirwork,undoing
patience,
onebyonewith unfailing shealways
tookthechildren
to thewharfwhen
wordcamethata shipwasdocking,
andmanya sailorgreeted
herbyname.
Mylegisalways jumping,
twitching, joggling.
ltwantsto goplaces.
lt hashadenough
of waiting.
me,butonlypiecemeal.
I am buriedhere.Youcanresurrect lf youwantto seethe
whole,youwillhaveto sewmetogether (ln timeyoumayfindappended
yourself. a
patternandinstructions-fornow,youwill haveto put it togetheranywhichway,as
thescientist
Frankenstein
wasforced to do.)Likehim,youwillmakeuseof a machine
of mysterious theseparts.
to animate
complexity
238
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 In emphasizing the way we as her readershaveto start out without a map or
plan and then do a lot of the assemblingourselves,facksonplalul prepares
us for the gapsand jumps we shall haveto make.
In making us all readersin the mode of Dr. Frankenstein,she also strikes
a Baudrillardian note. As David Goldberg argues,"Hypertext representsthe
fulfillment of the fantasythat Shelleyproposesand facksonrevitalizes.A pre-
vailing theme throughout the history of modern scienceand technologyhas
been the simulation of life by artificial means. Frankensteinand his real-life
predecessors
. . . sought. . . to createnew life, a copywithout an original-
Baudrillard's simulacrum," and reading PotchworkGirl offers "the opportu-
nity to createa unique conformation of the text, of creating a copywithout an
original," something, one may add,characteristicof the collageform.8
Another source of such collagepatchwork appearsin the different link
structures-what fason Williams terms the link topologies-that charac-
terize each section of the web. As Williams points out, that portion which
tells the story of the Patchwork Girl herself relies on unified setting and
chronologicalchange."Becausethis sectionemphasizestemporal dynam-
ics, its link structure correspondinglyparallels our normal linear perception
of time, regularly progressing from past lexias forward. Mary Shelly'sen-
counter outdoors with the monster and the more ambiguous bedroom
scenebehavesimilarly but take the peculiar cast of ancillary narratives,like
apocryphalstories or appendedmyths-complete units that draw upon and
support material from other units" ("Texture,Topology,Collage,and Biology
in PatchworkGirl").
In contrast,that portion of the web containing the nonfictional compo-
nents takes a more characteristicallyhypertext form of "paths that intersect
at lexias containing similar subl'ectmatter. This arrangement permits a
digressivetextual interrogation in which the reader pursues atlractiveideas
down branching paths. This mode feels appropriateto nonfiction becauseit
mirrors the normal scholarlyprocessof following referencesbetweentexts."
Although the "Crazy Quilt" sectionfollows a stricter,more limited sequence,
"its cleargrid layout [in the Storyspaceview],the arrow keys,and the chunked
arrangement of its content allow a grazingapproachto reading."
According to Williams, each of these linking topologiespatterns the se-
quence in which a reader experiences,constructs, or reconstructsthe text:
"Each correspondsto a temporal texfure" createdby the reader'sperception
of transitions betweenlexias"as smooth and determined,chaotic,or ornately
interlocking." PqtchworkGirlthen combinesthese "linking texruresand their
composition into a meta-collagewith a meta-texture":
239
RECONFICURING Thematic,word-based
linksact as singulariumps betweensections,but, ironically,
a
NARRATIVE wovenmassofthem forms a canvason whichthe authormountsscrapsofstructure.
Linksdestabilize-or, more positively-stretch the textto flexibility,by pointingaway
from themselves,by suggestingthe readermight readbetterelsewhere.
But again
this pullingapartlendsthe text its unity,becauseit permitsmeaningsfrom
ironically,
to bleedinto one anotherthroughthe cracksbetweenthem,
separatesubsections
permittingthe text'scoloringsto mix throughoutit.e
to hypertextual
scarsareanalogous links.Themonster's
scarsareintimate,
integral,
the essence
of her identity.
Similarly, of hypertext
the essence is the linking,the
privatewaysthatthe authorchooses to arrange herpiece,andthe readerusesto
meander throughit. Justas the monsterfindspleasure
andidentityin herscars,lo
goodhypertext by their uniquelinkingstruc-
worksaredefinedand distinguished
tures.WhenShelley
andthemonster intimate,
become thesig-
shefirstunderstands
nificance
ofthemonster's "l seethatyourscarsnotonlymarka cut,theyalso
scars:
commemorate a joining."
Duringthissexualencounter,
Shelley
genuinely identifies
withthescars.
"Herscarslaylikelivingthings
between
us,inscribingthemselves
in
myskin.Whatdivided
her,divided
me."Justasthestitchings
of skinuniteShelley
and
themonster,
hypertext
linksuniteauthorandreader.
("TheHypertextuality
ofScars")
HYPERTEXT
3.0 things, a 'mark left on the skin or other tissue after a wound, burn, ulcer, pus-
hrle, lesion, etc.hashealed,'a 'marring or disfiguring mark on anything,' and
'the lasting
mental or emotional effects of suffering or anguish."' The first
meaning, Packexplains,defines the scar "as a joining, that is, a visual signal
that two piecesof skin that were not contiguous at one time now are. In this
sense,a scaris the biological version of the seam,where Mother Nature (or,
in *re caseof Frankensteinand PatchworkGirl, a human creator) sews flesh
together in the sameway a seamstressstitchestogether a quilt or the creator
of a hypertextlinks terts together."
According to Pa&, the next definition "presentsthe scaras a mark of dis-
figurement. Scarsare ugly (in modern Western society,at least).They're jar-
ring breaks in the otherwise even epidermis," and links similarly "disrupt,
scar,an otherwise linear texti' (Packwrote his critique in HTML to be read
with a World lTide Web yiewer, and he thus addedthat the appearanceof the
Iink "is evensimilar; most graphicalbrowserswill display a 'scar'beneaththe
links on this page,though a user can play the role of cosmetic surgeon and
opt to concealthis disfigurement of the text if they so choose.")
The last definition
givesthescara moreabstract
meaning;it is nowa signof trauma.In orderfora scar
to exist,thefleshmusthavebeentorn.Theformation of a scaris a kludge:
its ap-
pearance istheresultofhaphazardregeneration
ratherthanorderly
growth.
Thelink
is similarly
a textual
trauma;
thetransitions
between
sentencesandparagraphs
give
wayto (presumably)
intuitiveleapsbetween (as
textsandideas.Thereplacement
opposed
to theappending)
of textcaused
byfollowing
an HTMLlinkis disorienting
to saytheleast;eventhesuddenappearance (inanenvironment
ofanotherwindow
such as Storyspace)
interfereswith the reader'spracticeddown-and-to-the-right
movement
acrossa "page"oftext.
My introductory
paragraph
comesat the beginningand I havea goodheadon my
shoulders.
I havemuscle,
fat,anda skeleton
thatkeepsmefromcollapsing
intosuet.
Butmyrealskeleton
is madeof scars:
a webthattraverses
mein three-dimensions.
Whatholdsmetogether
iswhatmarksmydispersal.
I ammostmyself
inthegapsbe-
tweenmy parts,thoughif theysailedawayin all directions
in a grislyregatta
there
wouldbenothingleftherein myplace.
Forthatreason,
though,I am hardto do in.Thelinkscanstretch
veryfarbefore
theybreak,
andif I amthequeenofdispersal faryoutakemyseparate
thenhowever
parts(wrapped
in burlapandgreasy
fish-wrappers,
in woodencartsandwherries,
buryingand burningme and returningme to the familiesfrom whichI sprung
unloved youonlyconfirmmyreign.
andbastard)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 quotidian stream. In this sense,then, Quibblingis a work that tries not to be
literaryi' Wending our ways through it, we encounter lexias that take the form
of messagesreceivedvia electronic mail, brief notes, and poetry as well as
more usual narrative, description, and exposition. The links that join these
lexias do not produce straight-ahead,or even eddying,narrativesbut instead
generate an open montage-textuality, like that of In Mewloisvn, in which lex-
ias echo one another, gathering meaning to themselvesand sharing it with
other, apparentlyunrelated patching of writing.
Guyer'sbasic approach appearsin the way individual lexias follow one
another and hence come to associatewith each other. If, after reading the
lexia entitled "walking w/Willi which relatesan episodein the relationship
of Agnes and Will, one double clicks on it to follow a link out, that action
brings one to "following heri' which relateshow after their first date Priam
secretlyfollowed Hetta home to make sure she was safe; activating a link
from this lexia brings one to an event or state in the relationship of Angela
and facob.Readingalong this link path, one perceivesthe somewhatanalo-
gous situations, thus finding similarity, though not identity, in the lives of
different couples.In some cases,only by looking at the lexia'slocation in the
web'sstructure (presentedby the Storyspaceview) can readersdiscern which
couple they are reading. These stories take form, in other words, by gentle
accretion as one lexia rubs up against another. In contrast lo aftemoon,in
which our ignoranceofa crucial eventdrivesour reading,here no single core
quickly comesto prominence as the necessaryaxis or center of all lexias. No
single event endows the others with meaning. Quibbling seemsfar more a
networked narrative in which the similar situations bleed back and forth
acrossthe boundaries of individual lexias,gradually massing meanings. "It
is," as Guyer explains,
HYPERTEXT
3.0 dissonance),which appeareither as an internal stateor as a relation between
the self and environment.Whereasin both adventurenarrativesand adventure
games the conflict requires some form of physical opposition, in the story-
world that role is taken by mystery and enigma. The detectivestory becomes
the paradigm for this electronic form-something alreadypresent in mod-
ernist and postmodern fictions such as Absalom,Absalom!andWaterland.
Like the detective,readerswho find themselveswithin storyworlds must
take an aggressiveapproach,evenperforming actionssupposedlyforbidden.
In most narrativesas in real life one learns it is consideredbad form or even
criminal behavior to interrogate, trespass,investigatebehind the scenes.In
hlpertext storyworlds,one must do so or one encountersvery litde in the way
of story or world. In both Myst and FreakShowone receivesvery litde in the
way of clues or instructions and must graduallypiecetogether one'sstrategy,
which involvesrecognizing the presenceof clues and the attitude one must
take toward the environment in which one comes upon them. When Freqk
Showbegins, we find ourselvesoutside a side show tent, and using a com-
puter mouse we move inside it and encounter a ringmaster who introduces
us to what he terms "the world's most disturbing collection of human oddi-
ties"-Herman the Human Mole, Harry the Head, |elly fack, Wanda the
Worm Woman, and so on. He pausesbeforethe doorwayor curtain that leads
to each,providing a brief introduction in the manner of the carnival barker.
Finding ourselveswithin this carefullyrenderedthree-dimensionaloverview
we can pause before each of severalpossible choices,which also include a
sampling of the Residents'music and a historical archive of freaks and de-
formities, listening to the barker's description. After each introduction, we
can approachthe relevant exhibit, thus prompting its display,or we can cut
offthe barker in midsentence, causing him to cry out, "Forget it!," "Okay!
Okay,"or a number of other expressionsof irritation.
More important, this storyworld rewardsreaderswho repeatedlydisobey
his irritated pronouncements that they cannot go behind the scenes.On the
third attempt, readersdiscoverthat they can in fact enter a passagethat takes
them to the trailers inhabited by members of the sideshow.Entering each
environment similarly rewards the active, intrusive, curious reader. Finding
ourselvesprojected into the cursor (or reduced to it), we probe objectsuntil
they yield stories. Entering Herman the Human Mole's area, we find his
wagon and can get a brief glimpse of him through the portholeJike window
of his circus wagon. At this point, we can turn around, returning to the main
tent, or nosily wander around until we find a way into his wagon. Probing this
247
HYPERTEXT
3.0 everydayphysical world. He wants to create "an overlap experiencein real
time of experiencingtwo placesat once."
He explainsin his description of 34 North 118WestIhaL
voiceactorsreadallwrittennarratives
to create
anoverlap
in real-time
experience
of
twoplaces
atonce.Theonlyvisualisthemapthattracksone'smovement
andshows
h o ts p o t sa n dt h ed i s t a n cree a d i n gosn t h eC . P . Su. n i t . . . T h ek e yi s t h eu s a g e
of
sound.Walkingthecitywithsoundsfromdifferent
pointsin timeandmetaphorical
relationships
withwhatis beingseenallowstheauthortoguidea fusedexperience
of criticalanalysis
andcreative
writing.
T h o s em e n ,a l o n gt h e r a i l st,i r e d .D e a t hb yt r a i nw ec a l l e di t . . . l t w a sm yj o b t o
assist...tohelp...kindwords...orhelpclearthetracksaftertheimpact...S
249
RECONFIGURING failures.
Myfailures. Andit is notthemostdramatic:
Suchsmallhorrors. aneyeopen
NARRATIVE tomatoredwith blood,a nosewithicecovered
nostrilhairsthatlookedlikea crab
emerging
froma shell,an earlyingby a manl feetlikesomedeadwingless
biro,a
cheekpunctured
withteethexposed,
a woundopensteaming
in thesnowThoseare
sofew,so specific,
soclearly
cutfrommenwithfacesI cannothelpbutstillsee.lt is
whatnevercomesclear,notfaces,notexpressions,
notthe dignityof person,some-
thingthathada name.
Thereisa sortof mutantslotmachine,
it comesto meatnight:
anoddcollection,
evershifting,
notbellsandlemonsbuteyes,scars,
blood,mouths,
w o u n d sm
, e a t a, n e y eh a n g i n a
g l o n eg l e a m i nw
g e ta n da l i e ny e tf r o ms o m el o s t
momentin 35 years,a nostrildisconnected
a failingislandof memoryfromsome
deadman'sfacelikeanoddlittlelostcave.
ThosearetheonesI trulyfailed.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 placesbut also satisfy,in some way seeming (partially) complete when they
end or when one departsfrom them.
RECONFICURING different from saying a cow is like a frog, exceptthat, well, it's bigger, and it's
NARRATIVE a mammal, and it doesn'tlive in the water.
In contrast to tJreself-proclaimedAristotelians, who argue that literary
and cinematic studiesof narrativehavemuch to tell us about games,another
group led by EspenAarseth, Markku Eskelinen,and Raine Koskimaa argue
that computer and other gamesrequire a new discipline-ludology. Aarseth,
who introduced the concept of ergodic text, explains the fiercely contested
battle "over the relevanceof narratologyfor game aesthetics":"One side
arguesthat computer gamesare media for telling storieswhile the opposing
side claims that stories and games are different structures that are in effect
doing oppositethings" (a5)."The traditional hermeneutic paradigms of text,
narrativeand semiotics are not well suited to the problems of a simulational
hermeneutic" (54).Celia Pearcepresentsthe ludologist's casein forceful, if
measured,prose:
Because
computergametheoryis a relatively muchof whichhas
newdiscipline,
thusfar hascomefromotherdisciplines
emerged gametheoryintotheir
absorbing
purview. thattheremustalwaysbe a phasewhereestablished
lt seemsaxiomatic
mediaseekto"repurpose" for usein thenewmedium.Most
"assets"
theirexisting
notably,
film andliterary havebegunto discuss
theorists gametheorywithintheir
own idiosyncratic
frameworks. havemuchto add to the dis-
Thesedisciplines
on games,
course particularlywhen
thediscussion on narrative.
iscentered However,
a f u n d a m e n tuanl d e r s t a n d ionfgw h a tg a m e sa r ea b o u t . . . T h e
t h e ya r em i s s i n g
resultisa kindoftheoretical ("Towards
imperialism. a GameTheoryof in Finl
Game,"
Percon,
143-44)14
HYPERTEXT
3.0 prose.15Markku Eskelinen, the most aggressivelyoutspoken of the ludolo-
gists, therefore makes the crucial point in "Towards Computer Game Stud-
ies" that "a story a backstoryor a plot is not enough. A sequenceofevents en-
actedconstitutesa drama, a sequenceof eventstaking place a performance,
a sequenceofevents recounteda narrative,and perhapsa sequenceofevents
producedby manipulating equipment and following formal rules constitutes
a game" (First Person,37).Distinguishing betweengamesand narratives,Es-
kelinen further explains that "in games,the dominant temporal relation is
the one betweenuser time and eventtime and not the narrativeone between
storytime and discoursetime" (37).
Eventhose theorists who insist that gamesare a form of narrative recog-
nize that games and stories have major differences.'A story;' JanetMurray
explains,"has greateremphasison plot; a game has greateremphasison the
actions of the player" ("From Game-Storyto Cyberdrama,"in FirstPerson,9l.
Furthermore, as Eskelinen points out, "information is distributed and regu-
lated very differently in games than in narratives" (39). Pearcepoints to a
third difference,namely,that "games tend to favor abstractedpersonasover
'developed'
characterswith clear personalities and motivations" (146).De-
spite the many disagreementsbetweenthe two groups,they all accepttwo of
Murray's major points-that agencyis crucial to computer gamesand narra-
tive has at least somethingtodo with them.t6
Aarseth, the founding father of studies of nonliterary digital textuality,
makes what seemsto me to be the crucial point that computer games char-
acteristicallyinvolve simulation:
Thecomputer
gameistheafi ofsimulation.
A subgenre
of simulation,
in otherwords.
gamesaresometimes
Strategy misleadingly games,"
called"simulation butallcom-
putergamesinclude
simulation. it isthedynamic
Indeed, aspect
ofthegamethatcre-
atesa consistent
gameworld. isthehermeneutic
Simulation Otherof narratives;
the
alternative
modeof discourse,
bottomup andemergent
wherestories
aretop-down
andpreplanned.
In simulations,
knowledge
andexperience bytheplayerl
is created
actionsand strategies,
ratherthan recreated
by a writeror moviemaker.
("Cenre
Trouble"in FirstPerson,52)
RECONFIGURING they provided valuable lessons directly applicable to the use of computer
NARRATIVE animation and video. In this training system,a surgeon would sit before
a computer that was attached to a television and a video disc player and
encounter the following scenario.A sessionbegins when the surgeon,who
hasbeen assignedto a field hospital, arrivessuitcasein hand, goesto the hos-
pital tent to presenthimself to the officer in charge,expectinga warm greet-
ing as a new member of a team. Inside the tent, as he greetshis commanding
officer, who is in surgical garb, he hears the sound of approachinghelicop-
ters. His superior, all business,orders him to drop his bagsand get to work,
sincethe short-handedunit needshim to begin immediately. In the scenario
I saw two medics bearing a wounded soldier on a stretcher appear,telling
him that the patient who has no apparentwound and whom triage had there-
fore classifiedas not requiring immediate treatment has stoppedbreathing.
They ask him what to do. At this point a clock appearsat upper screenright,
and its secondhand begins to move. If the role-playingtrainee makes a mis-
take and orders an x-ray,the corpsmen respond angrily that there's no time
for that and the patient will die.17The clock keepsmoving-the physicianhas
a fixed limit, say,120 secondsbefore his patient dies. If the trainee finds the
right solution in time-the patient has a collapsedlung causedby a barely
discerniblewound-the patient lives.At this point the surgeonin charge,the
trainee's new commanding officer, appearsand, depending on his actions,
praiseshim, welcoming him to the unit, responds rather more coldly,or, if
the patient has died, bawls him out, ordering him to improve his skills.
Viewing this project demonstratedseveralpoints of value to anyonecon-
sidering the relation of narrative, simulation, and games.First, the simula-
tion did not haveto achieveanything like a completereality-effectto immerse
the user (andonlookers)in the situation. Although the acting and production
valueswere not of the highest qualrty,theselacks did not reducethe tremen-
dous emotional effect of the simulation exercise.As part of the project, the
researchersfilmed physiciansusing the systemand recordedtheir blood pres-
sure before and during each session;their pressureshot up, they perspired,
and in other ways they acted as if they were confronting an actual medical
emergency.The fundamental connection of the scenarioto the user'sprofes-
sion and selfimage as a professionalimmediately produceda reality effect,a
fact that reminds us the amount of authentic detail unconnectedto the main
enterprise-here making a correct diagnosis and saving the patient's life-
plays only a minor role in the effectivenessof the simulation.
A second point: although this simulation has important narrative ele-
ments, they obviously play only a secondaryrole, setting the stage for the
254
HYPERTEXT
3.0 defining feature of the simulation, the surgeon'schoices.Finally,this simula-
tion takesthe form of a game, although the player'sprofessionalinvestment
in the outcome produces an earnestnessonly occasionallyassociatedwith
game play.
In conclusion,although computer gameshavesomething to tell us of rel-
evanceto digital text and art, virtual reality,and educationalsimulations, they
do not seemcloselyenough relatedto hypertextto tell us much aboutit. Video
games have receivedtheir own field of study, and it is from this new disci-
pline that we can expectinsights about how they work and their socialand
political implications.
Webbrowserwhile anotherloadsat the lower right.Only one imageat a time activatesas video,and as soon as one videosegment
life and then moved to many imagesof the couple'scat,a third beganwith the
young woman walking down Chatsworth Road,London E5,going into a cafii,
returning home, and discussingher cat'sreaction to her deparhrrewhile her
young man, who remains offscreen, tells her about Freud's theory of the
Oedipus complex, after which a seriesof scenesin a pub appeared.Later,in
one window the young woman touches up her lipstick before Hagia Sophia
in Instanbul while others show the building alone,peopleputting their shoes
on apparentlyafter visiting it, shoesawaiting their owners, and a juxtaposed
scenein the couple's London flat. Next followed scenesin Istanbul, and it
endedwith a screencontaining four imagesof the young woman plus a street
scenein Turkey.After seeingone version, I alreadyknew the main characters
257
RECONFIGURING and settingsin others. Nonetheless,I'm not sure that differing versions sug-
NARRATIVE gestthe same chronologicalendpoint, since I thought in one that the young
woman traveledalone and in another she was with her companion. Accord-
ing to Flitman'sdirections,viewerscan changewindows by hitting a key com-
bination, but I seemedunable to activatespecificwindows of my choice. In
this examplethe element of randomization proved far more important than
any viewer intervention. I found HackneyGirl visually very interesting, even
though I never encounteredthe usual kind ofnarrative in which a character
overcomesan antagonistand reachesa goal,and despitethe fact that certain
events,such as packing, playing with the cat, and aniving in Instanbul occur
repeatedly,they form more of a mosaic narrativethan an orthodox one. Like
af.emoonand other enigmatic hypertexts, Hacknq Girl demonstratesthat
readersor viewerscan construct a coherentnarrativefrom small chunks that
they encounter in varying orders.
Diego Bonilla'sA Spaceof Time (Figure 30) which comeson a CD-ROM,
contains two forms of digital cinema constructedout of some of the same
materials. Streamof Consciousness,like HackneyGirl, takes the form of ran-
domized or what I would prefer to call multiplied cinema, and a viewing
occupiesbetweenfofiy minutes and two hours. Limbo,the secondpart of A
Spaceof Time,exemplifiesa form of interactivecinema that has much in com-
mon with an adventure game centered on exploration rather than combat.
Using Quicktime VR, Bonilla has createdwhat he describesas "a virhral tour
of a century-old building as a narrative device to tell the story."The viewer
enters and exploresa large, multistoried empty building, using the features
of Quicktime VR to obtain 360-degreeviews of eachof its parts. Moving one's
mouse,the viewer finds hot spotsthat when clicked on move one forward, so
one can climb stairs and exploreeachroom. This portion of Limbo,therefore,
provides an example of virtual reality hypertext. The user's mode of move-
ment through its spacesfeelsvery much like that used in Mystand Riven,rhe
main differencebetweenthem being that Bonilla'swork employsdigital pho-
tographyrather than computer graphics.
tirabo beginswith three brief videosintendedto setthe scene,after which
the viewercanexplorethe building. The most interestingp artof Limboappeats
in the way it branchesto filmic segmentstaken from Strearnof Consciousness:
clicking on a photographof a young woman on a wall producesa home movie
of a young child, presumably the girl in the photograph. Entering a room
on the first floor, one discovershalf a dozen television monitors floating in
midair; clicking on any one of them activatesa video of an older woman,
apparently a real estate agent, talking about the history of the building.
Figure30. tntegratingVirtual Realityand Video.In Diego Bonilla'sLimbo sedionof A Spacein Time,theviewer
movesthrough a
Quicktime VR environment,climbing stairs, moving through corridors,and entering various rooms, alwaysable to rotate 360
degrees'Upon enteringone ofthe large rooms in the empty building,the viewer encountersone
or more floating figures,each
ofwhich functions as a link that activatessegmentsofvideo taken from the project's second part,
streom ofConsciousness.
(Courtesyof Diego Bonilla.)
Similarly, upon entering certain rooms on the upper floors, the viewer sees
one or more people floating in the air (Figure 30); clicking on them either
launchesvideosor animatedpoetry supposedlywritten by pandora(or panda).
Many of the videos present young people who have spent the night in the
building at other times and places.In one group of these videos panda and
friends confront a local talk show host and attack the way advertising dam-
agesculture. In another,a young woman rants-pandora's word-about the
existenceof websitesoffering beautiful Russianbrides to ugly American (and
other) men. Yet others depict the police interviewing a homelessman while
sitting in a diner. Throughout, asthe cD coverexplains,pandaand her friends
"attack the most wicked result of capitalism. In addition to her criticism of
advertising,Panda,her friends and colleaguesexpresstheir contempt for the
blind use of technology,the commercialization of love and sentiment, cur-
rent fanatical faith in science,and ever-increasingspeed of so-called.pro-
259
RECONFIGURING gress."'The dialogue, as one can gather from Bonilla's description, is very
NARRATIVE heavyhanded,making theseprosperousyoung peoplesometimessound like
Someof the acting is alsonotvery good,butthe maior
seventy-five-year-o1ds.
problem with this nonethelessfascinating project is that the rants remain
just that-passionate harangues-and that they seemto haveno connection
to the figures flying in the otherwise empty rooms. I found exploring the
spacesof limbo enioyableand think the clickablefloating fantastic figures a
delightful conceit.
Bonilla'stwo erperiments in digital cinema conceivetheir relation to their
audiencevery differently.Whereashypercinemalike Limbomakesthe single,
isolated active reader its model audience,multiplied cinema like Streatnof
Consciousnessisintended for a more conventional,essentiallypassive,group
audience.Sincea hypertexfualizedcinema treatspassagesof cinema like lex-
ias in verbalhypertext,linking them with or without branching, it placesma-
jor emphasison audiencechoice,but it's difficult to imagine audiencescom-
posed of more than one or two people being able to make such choices'
Murray's Frenchlanguageproject,in which the student chooseskey narrative
arcs,obviouslywas intended for a single studentin a languagelaboratory.The
secondform of digital cinema avoidsthis issue altogether,by emphasizing,
not viewer choiceand control, but narrativerichness since it defines itself by
creatingmultiple permutations of a limited setof bits of time-bound cinema.
One approachto such a single-personhlpercinema appearsinlhe Hyper'
Cafeifieracnve video project createdby Nitin Sawhney,David Balcom, and
Ian Smith at the GeorgiaInstitute of Technology(Figure 31).Their combina-
tion of digital video and hypertext,the authors explain, "placesthe user in a
virhral cafe,composedprimarily of digital video clips of actorsinvolvedin fic-
tional conversations. . . You enter the Cafe,and the voicessurround you. Pick
a table, make a choice,follow the voices.You're over their shoulderslooking
in, listening to what they say-you haveto choose,or the storywill go on with-
out you" (t). This experiment in multiple narrativewas createdin part to ex-
plore and extendthe rhetoric of hypermedia. In particular, Sawhney,Balcom,
and Smith successfullydevise a means of permitting choice-and hence
branching-in so fundamentally linear an information technologyas video.
Somework in interactivevideo concentrateson creatingbranching within
(or from) a narrativeline, often by enabling the user to switch from the posi-
tion of one characterto another. In Greg Roach'sThe Wrong Sideof Town
(1996),for example,a woman on a businesstrip-the expositionis provided
by a telephone call to her husband at home-goes to a diner for supper,
encountersa beggar,orders her meal, and leaves.The viewer can experience
Figure 31. HyperCafe'sOverview Screen.This project employs an overview suited to its interactive materials, effectively mediat.
ing between the linear drive ofvideo and the reader's desire for control. Although viewers cannot halt the videos, as they can in
the encounter with the beggar from the vantagepoint ofeither person, and
once the protagonist enters the diner, one can experienceher interaction
with a waiter and waitress from each of their positions as well as from hers.
The creators of The Wrong Sideof Townuse this oppoftunity in a clever,if
heavy-handed,way to produce a Rashomon-likedivergenceof eventscoded
accordingto classand gender positions.
Bad Doy atthe Midway,an interactiveCD-ROM createdby somemembers
of the team that produced FreakShow,takesthe ability to exchangepositions
251
Figure 32. The Structure ofNetworked Hypertext. ln creating a narrative that the reader can enter and leave at any point, Adam
Wengertook advantageofthe graphic capacitiesofStoryspace to arrangethe individual lexiasof Adam's Bookstorein the form of
a circle or large polygon. (Forthe sake oflegibility, I have increasedthe font size in three ofthe lexias in relation to the Storyspace
view; in the original, one can easily read the titles of all the lexia icons.) (Used by permission ofthe author.)
Film theory does not have much in common with hypertext theory but
the one point at which writings on cinema convergewith hypertext theory
concerns the viewer's encounter with dramatic changesof direction after a
cut. Ever since SergeiEisenstein,film theorists have discussedthe effect of
changing scenes-the cinematic equivalent to arriving at a new hypertext
lexia. At first glance,Eisenstein'swritings on film would not seemto provide
a very promising placeto begin, sinceit is Eisenstein,after all, who complains
that contemporaryfilmmakers have seemingly "forgotten . . . that role set it-
self by everywork of art, the needforconneaedand sequentialexpositionof the
theme,the material,the plot, the action,the movement within the film se-
quence and within the drama as a whole . . . The simple matter of telling a
connected
sioryhas been lost in the works of some outstanding film masters"
253
HYPERTEXT
3.0 so on) doesprove usefirl becausethese categoriesdirectly involve how audi-
encesof both media find coherenceupon encountering the filmic or alpha-
numeric text-in other words, Metz and Lancini describewhat I have else-
where termed the rhetoic of anival. Metz and other film theorists,like those
concerned with the rhetoric of hypermedia, propose techniques that con-
vince the audiencethat a newly encounteredsegment of a larger work is
coherent-that is, that it has a comprehensiblerelation to something that the
audiencepreviouslyencountered.In this one sense,both forms of virtual cin-
ema have much of importance to offer hypertext and hypermedia. Only
single-personhypercinema,however,has closeparallelswith hypertext.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 hypertext,and links are reified associations,a poetic mode or form seems
especiallysuited to hypertext.Looking at a range of digital works, we seethat
much hyperfiction actuallytakesthe form of hyperpoetry.
Cooverhimself has expressedthe ideathat hypertextmight turn out to be
more a poetic than a narrativeform, and many of the webs at which we have
alreadylooked,particularlythoseby Guyerand foyce,suggestthat such might
be the case.They reveal,as JeanClement has argued,"a shift from narration
to poetry in fiction hyperterts."According to Clement, "hl?ertexts produce-
at the levelof narrativesyntax-the same 'upheaval'aspoems produce at the
level of phrastic syntax."In other words, the way links reconfigure narrative
leadsto a defamiliarizationthat parallelsthe effectsof characteristicallypoetic
deparruresfrom word order, common usage,and the like. Clement contin-
ues: "Hypertexts free narrativesequencesfrom their subjectionto the syntax
of conventionalnarration to insert them into the multidimension[al] spaceof
a totally new and open structure, as poems free words from their linkage to
the straightnessof the syntagmaticaxisto put them in a network of thematic,
phonetic, metaphoric (and so on) connectionswhich createa multi-isotopic
configuration" (71).The explanation may be even simpler: the link, the ele-
ment that hypertext adds to writing, bridges gaps between text, bits of text,
and thereby produceseffects similar to analogy,metaphor, and other forms
of thought, other figures, that we take to define poetry and poetic thought.
Yet another ground for believing that hypertext might privilege poetry
particularly its lyric forms, appearsin ferome J. McGann'sargument that "the
object of poetry is to display the textual condition. Poetry is language that
calls attention to itself, that takes its own textual activitiesas its ground sub-
ject." He emphasizesthat such a claim does not assume "poetic texts lack
polemical, moral, or ideologicalmaterials and functions. The practiceof lan-
guagetakes placewithin those domains. But poeticaltexts operateto display
their own practices,to put them forward as the subjectof attention" (Tertual
Condition,10-11),or, as McGann explainslater,"The objectof the poeticaltext
is to thicken the medium as much as possible-literally, to put the resources
of the medium on firll display,to exhibit the processesof selireflection and
self-generationwhich texts set in motion, which they are" (I4). McGann
refers to the bibliographical and linguistic resourcesofwritten and printed
language,but hypertextaddsa new element-the link-to the mix. Sincethe
link and various associatedfunctions, such aslists ofdestination lexias,serve
as the defining resources of hypertext, one expects to find them fore-
grounded in literarywebs, and such is in fact the case.Of course,at this point
267
RECONFIGURING in the developmentof this new medium, one cannot tell whether the sheer
NARRATIVE noveltyof the medium motivatesforegrounding thesewriting resources,and
later hyperwriters will not do so, though I must admit that I find it difficult
imagining literary hypertext that does not in this poetic manner make the
most of its unique features.
Certainly,as we have alreadyseen,poetry appearsthroughout the docu-
verse,often in unexpectedplaces.That is, we encounterpoetry not only in the
form of scholarlyhypertext editions, such as Peter Robinson'sChaucerproj-
ect, or in translations into the hypertextual, such as EspenAarseth'sHyper-
Card version of Raymond Queneauk Cent Mille Milliords de Foimesor lon
Lanestedt'sand my In Memoriam Web.lt also appearsbrushing up against
other forms and modes, sometimes merely as a defining allusion within the
midst of a prose fiction (afiemoonand foshua Rappaport'sHero'sFocel and
other times as part of a prose mystory (TaroIkai's ElectronicZen).Karen Lee's
LexicalLattice demonstratesthat poetry comesbraided together with theory
and literary history. Poetry also shows up in the most unexpected places
within hypertextwebs,none more so than in Stuart Moulthrop's VictoryGar-
den,whereat least one of his link menus forms a sonnet!
You will have noticed, I suspect,that more of the examplesof both digi
tal text and hypermediatextuality and rhetoric summoned in earlier chapters
camefrom poetrythan from fiction. The dozensof poemson the Brazilianand
SpanishCD-ROMsshowpoetsthemselvesexploringthe possibilitiesof both
animatedtext and hypermedia.Almost all the works on the New Riverwebsite
takethe form of hyperpoetry:DavidHerrstrom's "City of Angelsand Anguish"
Christie Sanford's
and "To Find the White Cat,"StephanieStrickland'sVniverse,
"Light-Water:A Mosaic,"and Robert Kendall's'A Studyin Conveyance."Sim-
ilarly, much of the Eastgateoffering is hyperpoetry including works in Story-
space (Ed Falco's Ssa Island, Richard Gess's Mahasukha Halo, Kathryn
Kramer's In Small and LargePieces,and Kathy Mac's Unnaturol Habitats) and
those in other environments (fim Rosenberg'sIntergrams,Robert Kendall'sA
ForwardAnlwhere: Notes
Life Setfor Two,and ludy Malloy and Cathy MarshaTT's
on an ExchangebetweenIntersectingLivesl.The enornous amount of hyper-
poetry in the ElectronicLiteratureDirectory-twenty-nine screensof around
ten poems each-suggests the amount of it being written in hypertext.
Hypertext poetshavecreatedtheir work in a wide varietyof softwareenvi-
ronments, although HTM L and Flashhaverecentlybecomethe most popular.
A number of them haveused Storyspace,but lfilliam Dickey,one of the first
(possiblythe veryfirst) hypertextpoets,used HyperCard,somepoetsin France
Figure 33. A Spatial Hypertext that ReadersPerform: Don Bosco's FastCity. (Courtesyof EastgateSystems.)
RECONFIGURING blage of texts, and one can also createone'sown dub music by manipulating
NARRATIVE the buttons. Mousing over each of the sixty X's at the right of the PDA pro-
duces a snippet of urban sound-barking dogs, sirens, for example-and
brings up an associatedtext, eacha mini-portrait of life in the FastCify-the
out-of-work surveillanceexpert looking at the classifieds,urbanites assem-
bling a home entertainment center, kids playing video games, rush hour
traffic jams, dance-clubbersimmersing themselvesin the bangbangbangof
"guitaristic assaults,"the fashion model on the runway, and the soldier back
for R&R: lives and deaths,all permeatedby modern media:
thenewschannel
is attractive
for adultsgoingnowhere
fast
playing
outinternational
economics
withallthefuryof mtv
creating fantastic paradigms
of marketbehaviour
businesscasters
in their
oowersuits
miraculous
mouthing updates
everyminute,second,
splil
secono
insideof a nano-second.
to cascadeoffthe walls. In the original photographthe lettersappearin light blue and greenwhile the heapdirectlyin front of the
readeris white. (Usedby permissionof Noah Wardrip-Fruin.)
Using a mouse the reader flies into images of body parts taken from the fa-
mous anatomybook, and as one approachesmore closely,texts appear.
The illusion of immersing oneself in the poem leadsto Wardrip-Fruin's
later projectsin the Virrual RealityCaveat Brown University,where he worked
with Andrew McClain, Shawn Greenlee,Robert Coover,and JoshCarroll to
createpoetry in a more complete immersive environment.l8In their Screen,
the reader-viewer(immerseel) dons headtracker goggles and a VR glove,
which allows the system to track her position and movement, and then en-
ters the three-sidedspacewhose white walls three projectors coverwith text
rather than images or, rather, with texts as images (Figure 34).As the intro-
duction to the Iowa ReviewWebinterview points out, "This experiencein vir-
tual reality is very different from the Holodeck vision of total immersion in a
271
Sheuncurlsherarm,
reaches
backto layherhandacross
histhigh,to welcome
himhome,
buttouches
onlya ridgeofsheet,
sunwarmed,
empty.
After the voicehas finished reading,the words, first on one wall then another,
begin to fall. Using the VR glove,the reader can at first grab the words and
replacethem, but if more than one word is falling, words that she catchesdo
not return to their original position, so despiteher best efforts, text becomes
corrupted. Then, as the words begin to cascadeever more quickly off the
walls, she movesevenfaster but misses more and more of them until finally,
realizing that she cannot stay time, she stops moving her hand and stands
motionless. Screenthus includes text, movement, sound, and the reader's
own actions, which in one sense are ultimately uselessand in another
absolutelynecessaryto read the poem successfully.I do not know ifwe can
legitimately term Screen,which includes elements of narrative,lyric, anima-
tion, interactivity, and immersive VR, hypertext, though it does show the
poeticpossibilitiesof New Media.
In conclusion, as the example of afiemoon and Wavesof Girls demon-
strates,hypertext fiction that compels the interest ofreaders is clearly pos-
sible. We also find a number of examplesof fiction in hypermedia environ-
ments, llke PatchworkGirl, thathas a little hypertext branching in the main
narrativesand useshypertext chiefly to createa contentspage.Spatialhlper-
text has also played a role in hlperfictions, such as Adams Bookstore,Patch-
wark Girl, and Quibbling,It has also been used to generatecombinatorial fic-
tion like Tom McHarg's just as it has been used in combinatorial poetry like
Aarseth'stranslation of Queneau. Although I suspectthat poetry will prob-
ably dominate hypermedia,hypertext fiction still seemsto have great prom'
ise. If, as Didion says,we need storiesto live, authors will alwaysfind them-
selvestemoted to tell storiesin any and all media.
Reconfiguring
LiteraryEducation
RECONFIGURING appearsin descriptions of it from its earliest days. Writing of Bush, Engle-
LITERARY bart, Nelson, and other pioneers of hypertext, fohn L. Leggettand members
EDUCATION of his team at the Hypermedia Lab at the University of Texaspoint out that
"the revolutionary content oftheir ideaswas, and continues to be, the extent
to which these systemsengagethe user as an active participant in interac-
tions with information" ("Hypertext for Learning,"2.1),Studentsmaking use
of hypertext systems participate actively in two related ways: they act as
reader-authorsboth by choosing individual paths through linked primary
and secondarytexts and by adding texts and links to the docuverse.l
Now that more than a decadeand a half has passedsince I began teach-
ing with hypertext-and a decadesince I completedthe typescript of the first
version of this book-I can seethat hypertext has been used in four ways'
One cannot accuratelyterm them stagessince severalcoincided with each
other, and all continue in use today on the Web. Starting with Intermedia,
read-onlyhypermedia helped students acquire both information and habits
of thinking critically in terms of multiple approachesor causes.These first
two usesor resultsrepresentthe effectsof employing an information medium
basedon connectionsto help students developthe habit of making connec-
tions. Next, almost immediately we discoveredthat Intermedia, which pro-
vided a participatoryreading-and-writingenvironment, empoweredstudents
by placing them within-rather than outside-the world of research and
scholarlydebate.Finally,writing hypermediaenabledstudentsto exploreand
createnew modes of discourseappropriatefor the kind of reading and writ-
ing we shall do increasinglyin e-space,the writing necessaryfor the twenty-
first century. In the first version of this book, by necessityI cited materials
chiefly availableonly on Intermedia at Brown. Becausemany of these webs
havenow moved into other systems,I shall use exampleseasilyaccessibleto
readers,choosing, whenever possible, either materials published in Story-
spaceor other environments or availableon the Web.
Al1 these effects or applications encourageand even demand an active
student. The ways in which hypertext does so leadswriters on the medium
like David H. Jonassenand R. Scott Grabinger to urge that "hypermedia
learning systemswill place more responsibility on the learner for accessing,
sequencing and deriving meaning from the information." Unlike users of
"most information systems,hypermediausers must be mentally activewhile
interacting with the information" ("Problemsand Issuesi 4).
From this emphasison the activereaderfollows a conceptionof an active,
constructivist learner and an assumption that, in the words of Philippe C.
Duchastel,"hypermedia systemsshould be viewed not principally as teach-
274
HYPERTEXT
3.0 ing tools, but rather as learning tools" (139).As Terry Mayes,Mike Kibby,
and Tony Anderson from the Edinburgh Centre for the Study of Human-
Computer Interaction urge, systems of computer-assistedlearning "based
on hypertext are rightly caIledleaming systerns,
rather than teachingsystems.
Nevertheless,they do embodya theory of, at leastan approachto, instruction.
They provide an environment in which exploratoryor discoveryleamingmay
flourish. By requiring learnersto move towards nonlineal thinking, they may
also stimulate processesof integration and contextualization in a way not
achievableby linear presentationtechniques" (229).Mays and his collabora-
tors therefore claim:
RECONFIGURING nation of several conditions at once, say, asthma, gall bladder trouble, and
LITERARY high blood pressure, physicians have to learn how to connect a single symp-
EDUCATION tom to more than one explanatory system.
Spiro's explanation of his exploration-of-landscape paradigm provides an
excellent description of educational hypertext:
In such complex domains, "single (or even small numbers of) connecting
threads" do not run "continuously through large numbers of successive
cases." Instead, they are joined by "'woven interconnectedness. In this view,
strength of connection derives from partial overlapping of many different
strands of connectedness across cases rather than from any single strand
running through large numbers of the cases" (193).
HYPERTEXT
3.0 rials than has existedbefore. One of the greatestproblems in course devel-
opment lies in the fact that it takes such a long time and that the materials
developed,howeverpioneering or brilliant, rarelytransfer to anotherteacher's
coursebecausethey rarely match that other teacher'sneedsexactly.Similarly,
teachersoften expend time and energy developing materials potentially usefirl
in more than one coursethat they teachbut do not use the materialsbecause
the time necessaryfor adaptationis lacking. These two problems, which all
teachersface, derive from the classic,fundamental problem with hierarchi-
cal data structuresthat was VannevarBush'spoint of departurewhen he pro-
posedthe memex. A hypertext coqpus,which is a descendantof the memex,
allows a more efficient means of preserving the products of past endeavors
becauseit requires so much less effort to select and reorganizethem. It also
encouragesintegrating all one'steaching, so that one's efforts function syn-
ergistically.A hypermedia corpus, such as a website,has the potential to pre-
serveand make easilyavailableone'spast efforts as well as those of others.
Hypertext obviouslyprovidesus with a far more convenientand efficient
means than has previously existedof teaching coursesin a single discipline
that need the support of other disciplines. As I discoveredin my encounter
with the nuclear arms materials, which I discussedin chapter4, this educa-
tional technology permits teachersto teach in the virtual presenceof other
teachersand other subsectionsof their own discipline or other closelyrelated
disciplines. Thus, someone teaching a plant-cell biology course can draw
upon the materials createdby coursesin very closely related fields, such as
animal-cell biology, as well as slightly more distant ones, such as chemistry
and biochemistry. Similarly, someoneteaching an English course that con-
centrateson literary technique ofthe nineteenth-centurynovel can nonethe-
less draw upon relevant materials in political, social, urban, technological,
and religious history. All ofus try to allude to such aspectsofcontext, but the
limitations of time and the need to coverthe central concernsof the course
often leavestudentswith a decontextualized,distorted view.
Inevitably,the Web and other forms of hypertext give us a far more effi-
cient meansthan has previouslyexistedof teachinginterdisciplinary courses,
of doing, that is, which almost by definition "shouldn't be done."(When most
deparlmental and university administrators are not applying for funding
from externalagencies,they use the term interdisciplinaryto meanlittle more
than "that which should not be done" or "that for which there is no money."
After all, putting together biology and chemistry to study the chemistry of
organisms is not interdisciplinary; it is the subject of a separatediscipline
called biochemistry.) Interdisciplinary teaching no longer has its earlier
277
HYPERTEXT
3.0 abundanceof materials,which I've just praised,doesnot confuseand intim-
idate students.I don't believethat it does,chiefly becausestudents,like other
computer users, generally employ these kinds of electronic resourcesfor a
specifictask. Many doubters, it is clear,envisagedstudents wandering aim-
lessly about enormous information spaces,but the key here is that students,
who havelimited amounts of time to preparefor eachassignment,tend to act
rationally and first concentrateon obviouslyrelevantmaterials.
A reasonablywell-organized website will permit students to find what
they need in short order, though it may also encouragethem to explore-
something that assignments can encourage. The Victorian Web,which in-
cludes about twenty thousand documents, some of which are entire book
chapters,obviously offers a daunting amount of information, but students
dont immediately encounter all that information. Instead, upon arriving at
the site, users find an overviewthat offers twenty categories.Studentswish-
ing to read about Dickens'sGreatExpectations
seethe icon labeled'Authors,"
click on it, receiving a list of writers, and then choosethe Dickens link. Upon
opening that author'sovervieq they go to "Works" and thenceIo GreatExpec-
tations.Even here, students do not find themselvesin some inchoate infor-
mation space,since they have a local sitemap that makes it easyfor them to
locateessays,reading questions,and other materialsthat meet their needs.A
student looking for information about the novelist'srelation to Carlylecan go
to the "Literary Relations" section while one wanting discussionsof Dick-
ens'searly life chooses"BiographyJ'
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Experience of teaching with various kinds of hypertext demonstrates
that its intrinsic capacityto join varying materials createsa learning envi
ronment in which materials supporting separatecoursesexist in closerrela-
tionship to one another than is possible with conventional educational
technology.As students read through materials for one English course,they
encounterthosesupporting others and therebyperceiverelationshipsamong
coursesand disciolines.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 students anywhere potentially to benefit from materials createdat any par-
ticipating institution.
The very strengthsof hypertextthat make it work so well in conventional
educationalsettings also makes it the perfect means of informing, assisting,
and inspiring the unconventional student. Becauseit encouragesstudentsto
choosetheir own readingpaths,hypertextprovidesthe individualistic learner
with the perfect means for exploration and enrichment of particular areasof
study.By permitring one to move from relativelyfamiliar areasto less famil-
iar ones, a hypertext corpus encouragesthe autodidact,the resumed educa-
tion student,and the studentwith little accessto instructors to get in the habit
of making preciselythose kinds of connectionsthat constitute such an im-
portant part of the liberally educatedmind today so necessaryin government
and business.At the sametime the manner in which hypertextplacesthe dis-
tant learner in the virtual presenceof many instructors both dispersesthe
resourcesthey havecreatedin a particularly effectivemanner and allows the
individual accessto some of the major benefits of an institutional affiliation
without the cost to either parfy in terms of time and money.
The World Wide Webhas enabledthe rapid developmentof a widespread,
if all but unnoticed, form of distant learning. With good reason,attention has
been paid to the use of the Web for distant learning coursesoffered by both
conventionaltertiary institutions and those,such as the Open Universitiesof
the United Kingdom and Catalonia,dedicatedto distant learning. Meanwhile,
secondaryand tertiary studentshavequietly usedthe Webwith or without the
knowledgeof their instructors. I first becameawareof this phenomenon
after I beganto receivee-mail thanking me for my Victoian and Postcolonial
sitesfrom undergraduates,postgraduatestudents,instructors, and evenpro-
vosts of institutions from Europe,Asia, Australia, and the Americas. At the
same time, contributions to the sites by students as well as faculty from all
theseareascontinue to arrive.Thesedistant students-distant, that is, to the
web serversin New York and Singaporeand to the university where I am paid
to teach-came to the sites by different routes: some havebeen assignedto
use them by their instructors, others havefollowed recommendationsby the
ministries of educationin Franceand Sweden,National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH),the BBC,or groupsrepresentingindividual disciplines,
such as history art history and the sciences;yet others discoveredthem by
using popular searchengines.This kind of use of these sites,which now
receive15 million hits/month, suggestsseveralthings. First of all, while
expertsin distanceeducationhavebeenunderstandablyconcentratingthe use
283
RECONFIGURING of digital technologiesby institutions like the Open University and the U.S.
LITERARY Military students and faculty havequietly begun to use the Web to supplement
EDUCATION educationalresourcesat their own institutions.2 Second,skeptics like Vin-
cent Moscohavedenigratedas mere hlpe-contributions to the "cyberspace
myth"-predictions about the future of higher education made by cyber
enthusiasts,such as William f . Mitchell tn City of Bix (65-70). Many claims
about the effectof the Internet, however,appearto becomingtrue outsidethe
purview of the elite institutions, which thereby lose an important oppoltu-
nityto influence the courseofhigher education.Universitiesthat support im-
portant scholarlyand educationalsites,like the University of Yftginia, create
cultural influence and academicreputation far from their physicalcampuses.
Two of the most exciting and objectivelyverifiableeffectsof using educa-
tional hypertext systemsinvolve the way they change the limiting effects of
time. The modularization that ]ohn G. Blair has described as characteristic
of American (asopposedto European)higher education appearsin the con-
cepts of credit hours, implicitly equivalent courses,and transcripts.3It also
appears,one may add, in the precise,necessarilyrigid scheduling of the
syllabusfor the individual course,which embodieswhat foseph E. McGrath
describesas a naively atomistic Newtonian conceptionof time:
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 observewhen we return to this subject in discussing the political implica-
tions of such educationalmedia, this technologyof memory produceseffects
quite unusual in a university setting.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 concern
theme,a second
shouldconcern
technique,
anda thirdsomeaspect
ofthe
r e l i g i o ups h, i l o s o p h i chai sl ,t o r i c aolr,s c i e n t i fci co n t e x t . . .N o ta l lt h er e l a t i o nyso u
discover
or create
willturnout to beobvious
ones,suchas mattersof influence
or
analogous
ideasandtechniques.Somemaytaketheformofcontrasts
or oppositions
thattellussomething
interesting
abouttheauthors,
literary
forms,or timesin which
theseworksappeared.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 During the past few years,I haveused what has turned out to be a par-
ticularly effectiveassignmentinvolving student contributions to websites.
Theseweekly exercisestake the form of question sets.As the syllabi for sev-
eral of my coursesexplain, these weekly reading and discussion questions
have three pafts: "(a) a substantial passageof 1-3 paragraphsfrom the as-
signed readings (pleaseinclude page numbers and give your question set a
title); (b) a graceful and effective introduction to the passagethat suggests
why the reader wants to read iU and (c) a-5 questions, chiefly concerning
matters of technique or relations to previous readings,for which you do not
haveto haveanswers."The classusese-mail to submit theseexercises,which
provide the basis for classdiscussion,to me no later than 6:00 p.m. the day
before we begin talking about the reading or painting. In addition to the
minor goal of providing a way for students to bootstrapa new sectionof the
website, I find the assignment has severalbeneficial effectsfor both instruc-
tor and student, the first of which is that it encouragesstudents to come to
classhaving read the assignmentwith care.In addition, it encouragesactive
discussionsin which all members of the classparticipate,eventhose too shy
to do so willingly without such a prop, and becausepresentationsbegin with
referencesto specifictexts, the discussionsare much more substantialthan
they usually are.
This assignment also encouragesstudents at all levels-and I've used it
for freshmen and for graduate students-to develop important academic
skills, which include learning how to use texfual data to support an argu-
ment, choosing appropriate passages,and, a technique almost all students
need to learn, developing effective ways to introduce quoted material. The
assignment also has the major advantagefor the instructor of permitting
him or her to work with very brief but typical, passagesof a student,swriting
each week, thereby providing a convenient and yet effectiveway to correct
common mistakes and encouragenew skills. Beginning students tend to
write fairly brief question sets,and I find that I devotemost of my comments
to their writing; juniors, seniors,and graduatestudents tend to send in sub-
stantialbrief essays,eventhough the assignmentdoesnot require them to do
so, and most of my comments involve matters of rhetoric and interpretation.
(Anyone who wants to take a look at these question sets can find typical
examplesin the Victoian Web'ssectionson Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
Thomas Carlyle,J. E. Millais, and A. C. Swinburne; just click on the icon
labeled"Leading Questions" in eachauthor'soverview.)
291
RECONFIGURING Eachweek, when the question sets arrive, I respond to them by return
LITERARY e-mail, often adding interlinear comments, after which I place the reading
EDUCATION question in a previouslypreparedtemplate, and upload it to the relevantsec-
tion of the website. Starting with the secondweek of the course,I teach the
class HTML tags that create paragraphs,indented passages,and various
forms of emphasis,so after the first few weeksthe students become HTML
"experts" and I haveto do little formatting. When and if students ask, I also
teach them how to make links, becausesome of them wish to refer to dis-
cussion questions from previous weeks or other material on the site. These
question setsremain online after the courseends, and the fact that students
who come after them might read their work, like the fact the site is public,
provides student-authors with a crucial sensethat they are writing for an
audienceand that they are engagedin collaborativelearning.
Al1texts on a hypertext systempotentially support, comment on, and col-
laborate with one another. Once placedwithin a hypertext environment, a doc-
ument createdby a student no longer existsalone. It alwaysexistsin relation
to other documents in a way that a book or printed document never doesand
never can. From this follow two corollaries' First, any document placedon a
networkedsystemthat supportselectronicallylinked materialspotentiallyex-
ists in collaborationwith any and all other documentson that system.Second,
any document elechonicahlinkedto any other document collaborateswith it.s
To createa document or a link in hypertext is to collaboratewith all those
who have used it previously and will use it in the future. The essentialcon-
nectivity of the medium encouragesand demands collaboration' By making
eachdocument in the docuverseexist as part of a larger structure, hypertext
placeseach document in what one can term the virtuol presence of all previ-
ously createddocuments and their creators.This electronicallycreatedvir-
tual presencetransforms individual documents createdin an assembly-line
mode into ones that could havebeen produced by severalpeople working at
the sametime. In addition, by permitting individual documentsto contribute
to this electronicallyrelatedoverarchingstructure,hypertextalsomakeseach
contribution a matter of versioning. In so doing, it providesa model of schol-
arly work in the humanities that better recordswhat actually takes place in
such disciplines than doestraditional book technology.
The same factors-connectivity, virhral presence,and shift-
Reconceiving
Canon ing of the balancebetween writer and reader-that prompr
major, perhaps radical, shifts in teaching, learning, and the
and Curriculum
organization ofboth activitiesinevitably havethe potential to
affectthe relatednotions of canon and curriculum. For a work to enter the lit-
erary canon-or, more properly,to be entered into the canon-gains it cer-
tain obvious privileges.That the passivegrammatical construction more
accuratelydescribesthe manner in which books, paintings, and other cul-
tural texts receivethat not-so-mysteriousstamp of cultural approvalreminds
us that those in positions of power decidewhat entersthis selectinner circle.
The gatekeepersofthe fortress ofhigh culture include influentiar critics,
museum directorsand their boardsof trustees,and a far more lowly combine
of scholarsand teachers.one of the chief institutions of the literary canon is
the middlebrow anthology,that hanger-on of high culture that in the victo-
rian period took the form of pop anthologieslike GoldenTieasuryand today
existsprincipally in the form of major collegeanthologies.In America, to be
in the Norton or the oxford anthologyis to haveachieved,not greatness,but
what is more important, certainly-status. And that is why, of course,it mat-
ters that so few women havemanagedto gain entranceto such anthologies.
The notion ofa literary canon descendsfrom that ofthe biblical one,
in which, as Gerald L. Bruns explains,canonizationfunctions as ,,acate-
gory ofpower":
RECONFIGURING most important factor of which is simply that it is looked at in a certain way:
LITERARY taken as a work of art, it is contemplatedaesthetically,regardedas the occa-
EDUCATION sion for aestheticpleasure or, possibly,for aestheticoutrage. It enters, one
might say,the canon of art; and the contemporary existencein the Western
world of galleries permits it to inhabit, for a time, a physical spacethat is
taken by the acculturatedto signify, "l am a work of art. I'm not (simply) an
object for holding open a door. Look at me carefullyl' If that object is sold,
bartered,or given as qu)ork of artto one who recognizesthe game or accedes
in the demand to play her or his role in it, then it brings with it the capacity
to generatethat specialspacearound it that signals it to be an object of spe-
cial notice and a specialway of noticing.
In preciselythe sameway,calling something a work of literature invokes
a congeries of social, political, economic, and educationalpractices.If one
statesthat a particular text is a work of literature, then for one it is, and one
readsit and relatesit to other texts in certain definite ways.As Terry Eagleton
correctly observes,"anything can be literature, and anything which is re-
garded as unalterably and unquestionably literature-Shakespeare, for ex-
ample-can ceaseto be literature. Any belief that the study of literature is the
study of a stable,well-definableentity, as entomology is the study of insects,
can be abandonedas a chimera . . . Literature,in the senseof a set of works
of assuredand unalterable value, distinguished by certain shared inherent
properties, does not exist" (Literary Theory,10-11).The conceptof literature
(or literariness)therefore providesthe fundamental and most extendedform
of canonization, and classifying a text as a work of literature is a matter of
socialand politicalpractice.
I first becameawareof the implications of this fact a bit more than sev-
eral decadesago when I was reading the sermons of the EvangelicalAngli
can, Henry Melvill, in an attempt to understand Victorian hermeneutic prac-
tice. Upon encountering works by a man who was the favorite preacher of
|ohn Ruskin, Robert Browning, W. E. Gladstone,and many of their contem-
poraries, I realized that his sernons sharedliterary qualities found in writ-
ings by Ruskin, Carlyle,Arnold, and Newman. At first Melvill interestedme
solelyas an influence on Ruskin and as a means of charting the sage'schang-
ing religious beliefs. In severalstudies I drew upon his extraordinarilypopu-
lar sermons asextraliterarysourcesor asindications of standardVictorianin-
terpretativepractice.If I were to write my study of Ruskin now three decades
later,I would treat Melvill's sermonsalsoasworks of literature,in part because
contemporaries did so and in part because classifying them as literature
would foreground certain intertextual relations that might otherwise remain
294
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 invisible. At the time, however, I never considereddiscussing Melvill's ser-
mons asliterary textsrather than ashistorical sources,and when I mentioned
to colleaguesthat his works seemedin somewayssuperiorto Newman's,none
of us consideredthe implications of that remark for a conceptof literature.
Remarks by colleagues,even those who specializedin Victorian literature,
made clear that paying closeattention to such texts was in some way eccen-
tric and betokeneda capacityto endure reading large amounts of necessarily
boring "background material." When I taught a course in Anglo-American
nonfiction some fifteen yearsafter first discoveringMelvill, I assignedone of
his sermons, "The Death of Moses,"for students to read in the company of
works by Thomas Carlyle and Henry David Thoreau. Reading Melvill's ser-
mon for an official coursegiven under the auspicesof the department of En-
glish, they assumedthat it was a work of literature and treatedit as such. Con-
sidering "The Death of Moses,"which has probablynever before appearedin
an English course,as a work of "real" literature, my students,it becameclear,
assumedthat Melvill's writing possesseda certain canonicalstatus.
The varietiesof statusthat belonging to the canon confers-social, polit-
ical, economic, aesthetic-cannot easily be extricatedone from the others.
Belonging to the canon is a guaranteeof quality, and that guaranteeof high
aestheticquality sewesasa promise, a contract,that announcesto the viewer,
"Here is something to be enjoyed as an aestheticobject. Complex, difficult,
privileged,the objectbeforeyou has beenwinnowed by the sensitivefew and
the not-so-sensitivemany, and it will repa.yyout attention. You will receivea
frisson; at least you're supposedto, and if you dont, well, perhaps there's
something wrong with your apparatus."Such an announcement of statusby
the poem, painting, building, sonata,or dancethat has appearedensconced
within a canon serves,as I haveindicated, a powerful separatingpurpose: it
immediately stands forth, different, better,to be valued,loved,enjoyed. It is
the wheat winnowed from the chaff, the rare survivor, and has all the privi-
legesofsuch survival.
Anyone who has studied literature in a secondaryschoolor university in
the Western world knows what that means. It means that the works in the
canon get read,read by neophytestudentsand expertteachers.It also means
that to read these privileged works is a privilege and a sign of privilege. It is
also a sign that one has been canonized oneself-beautified by the experi-
ence of being introduced to beauty,admitted to the ranks of those of the in-
ner circle who are acquaintedwith the canon and can judge what belongsand
doesnot. Becoming acquaintedwith the canon, with those works at the cen-
295
RECONFIGURING ter, allows (indeed, forces) one to move to the center or, if not absolutelyto
LITERARY the center,at least much closerto it than one had been before.
EDUCATION This canon, it turns out, appearsfar more limited to the neophytereader
than to the instructor, for few of the former read beyond the reading list of
the course,few know that one can readbeyond, believing that what lies be-
yond is by definition dull, darkened,dreary.One can look at this power, this
territoriality of the canonized work, in two ways. Gaining entrance clearly
allows a work to be enjoyed; failing to do so thrusts it into the limbo of the
unnoticed, unread, unenjoyed, unexisting. Canonization, in other words,
permits the member of the canon to enter the gaze and to exist. Like the
painting acceptedas a painting and not, say,a mere decorativeobiect or
evenpaint spill, it receivesa conceptualframe; and although one can remark
upon the obvious fact that frames confine and separate,it is precisely such
appearancewithin the frame that guaranteesits aestheticcontemplation-
its capacityto make the viewer respectit.
The very narrownessof the frame and the very confinement within such
a small gallery of framed objectsproducesyet another effect,for the framed
object, the member of the canon, gains an intensification not only from its
segregationbut alsobecause,residing in comparativeisolation,it gains splen-
dor. Canonizationboth permits a work to be seenand, since there are so rel-
atively few objectsthus privileged, canonization intensifies the gaze;poten-
tially distracting objectsare removedfrom the spectator'sview,and thosethat
are left benefit from receiving exclusiveattention.
Within academia,however,to come under the gaze,works must be teach-
able.They must conform to whichevercurrently fashionablepedagogyallows
the teacherto discussthis painting or that poem. In narrating the formation
of the modernist canon, Hugh Kenner explainsthat "when Pound was work-
New Critics could find nothing
ing in his normal way,by lapidary steten'Lent,
'Being-able-to-say-about'
is a pedagogiccri-
whateverto sayabout him. Since
terion, he was largely absentfrom a canon pedagogueswere defining. Sowas
Williams, and wholly. What can Wit, Tension, hony enableyou so sayabout
The RedWheelbarrowl"6Verylittle, one answers,and the sameis true for the
poetry of Swinburne, which has many similarities to that of Stevensbut
which remained unteachablefor many trained in New Criticism. In painting
the situation is much the same:critics of purely formalist training and per-
suasion had nothing to say about the complex semiotics of Pre-Raphaelite
painting. To them it didni really seem to be art.
Thematic as well as formal filters render individual texts teachable.As
296
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 SandraM. Gilbert and SusanGubar,Ellen Moers,ElaineShowalter,and many
others haverepeatedlydemonstrated,peoplewho for one reasonor other do
not fi,nd interesting a particular topic-say, the works, fates, and subjectivi-
ties of women-do not seethem and havelittle to sayabout them. They re-
move them from view. If belonging to the canon brings a tert to notice,
thrusts it into view falling out of the circle of light or being absentor exiled
from it keepsa text out of view. The work is in effect excommunicated.For,
as in the Church's excommunication, one is not permitted to partake of the
divine refreshing acts of communion with the divinity, one is divorcedfrom
sacramentallife, fiom participation in the eternal,and one is alsokept from
communicating with others. One is exiledfrom community. Likewise,one of
the most savageresults of not belonging to the canon is that these works do
not communicate with one another. A work outside the canon is forgotten,
unnoticed, and ifa canonicalauthor is under discussion,any links between
the uncanonicalwork and the canonicaltend not to be noticed.
I write tend.becauseunder certain conditions, and with certain gazes,
they can be at the other end of the connections.But within the currently dom-
inant information technology,that of print, such connectionsand such link-
agesto the canonicalrequire almost heroic and certainly specializedefforts.
The averageintelligent educatedreader,in other words, is not expectedto be
able to make such connectionswith the noncanonicalwork. For him or her
they do not exist.The connectionsare made among specializedworks and by
those readers-professionalized by the profession of scholarship-whose
job it is to explorethe reader'sequivalentof darkestAfrica of the nineteenth-
and early-twentieth-century'Western imagination-the darkeststacksof the
library where residethe unimportant, unnoticed books,thoseone is supposed
not to know not evento haveseen.The situation, not so strangely,resembles
that of the unknown dark continent,which certainlywasnot dark or unknown
to itself or to its inhabitants but only to Europeans,who labeledit so because
to them, from their vantagepoint, it was out of view and perception.They did
so for obviously political-indeed, obviously colonialist-reasons, and one
may inquire if this segregation,this placement at a distance,accuratelyfig-
ures the political economyof works canonizedand uncanonized.
Like the colonial power, say,France,Germany,or England,the canonical
work actsas a center-the center of the perceptualfield, the center of values,
the center of interest, the center,in short, of a web of meaningfirl interrela-
tions. The noncanonical works act as colonies or as countries that are un-
known and out of sight and mind. That is why feminists object to the omis-
sion or excisionof female works from the canon, for by not appearingwithin
297
RECONFICURING the canon works by women do not . . . appear.One solution to this more or
LITERARY less systematicdis-appearanceof women'sworks is to expandthe canon.
EDUCATION A secondapproachto the decanonizationofworks is the creation ofan
alternate tradition, an alternate canon. Toril Moi points to the major prob-
lems implicit in the idea of a feminist canon of greatworks (though she does
not point to the possibility of reading without a canon) when she arguesthat
all ideas of a canon derive from the humanist belief that literature is "an
excellentinstrument of education"and that the student becomesa better per-
son by reading greatworks. "The great author is great becausehe (occasion-
ally even she) has managed to conveyan authentic vision of life." Further-
more, arguesMoi-and thus incriminates all canonsand all bodiesof special
'great literature' ensures
works with the samebrush-"the literary canon of
that it is this 'representativeexperience'(one selectedby male bourgeois
critics) that is transmitted to future generations,rather than those de-
viant, unrepresentative experiencesdiscoverablein much female, ethnic,
and working-class writing. Anglo-American feminist criticism has waged
war on this self-sufficientcanonizationof middle-classmale values.But they
have rarely challengedthe very notion of such a canon" (78).Arguing that
Showalteraims to createa "separatecanon of woment writing, not to abol-
ish all canons,"she points out that "a new canon would not be intrinsically
less oppressivethan the old" (78).
Unforfunately, one cannot proclaim the end of canons,or do awaywith
them since they cannot be ended by proclamation. "To teach,to prescribe a
curriculum, to assign one book for a classas opposedto another,"ReedWay
Dasenbrockpoints out, "is ineluctably to call certain texts central,to createa
canon,to createa hierarchy" ("What to TeachWhen the Canon ClosesDown,"
67). Rather,we must learn to live with them, appreciatethem, benefit from
them, but, aboveall, remain suspiciousof them. Grandioseannouncements
that one is doing awaywith The Canon fall into two categories:announce-
ments, doomed to failure, that one is no longer going to speakin prose,and
censorshipthat in totalitarian fashion tells others what they cannot read.
Doing awaywith the canon leavesone not with freedom but with hundreds
of thousandsof undiscriminated and henceunnoticeableworks, with works
we cannot see or notice or read. Better to recognize a canon, or numerous
versions of one, and argue againstit, reviseit, add to it.
Having thus far paraphrased-but I hope not parodied-now-popular
notions of the positive and negativeeffectsof a literary canon, I have to
expresssome resewations.I havelittle doubt that a canon focusesattention,
provides status,and screensnoncanonicalworks from the attention of most
298
HYPERTEXT
3.0 people. That seems fairly clear. But I do not believe the one canon about
which I know very much, that for English and American literature, has ever
been terribly rigid. The entire notion of world literature, great touchstones,
and studying English academicallyhas a comparativelybrief history. Victo-
rian literature, that areaof literature to which I devotemost of my attention,
certainly shows astonishing changes of reputations. When I first encoun-
tered the Victorians in undergraduate courses some thirty years ago, Ten-
nyson, Browning, and Arnold claimed positions as the only major poets of
the age, and Hopkins, when he was considered,appearedas a protomod-
ernist. In the following decades,Swinburne and the Pre-Raphaelites,
partic-
ularly Christina Rossettiand her brother Dante GabrielRossetti,haveseemed
more important, as has Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who had a major repu-
tation during her own lifetime. Arnold, meanwhile, has faded rather badly.
Looking at older anthologies,one realizesthat some of the poetswhose rep-
utations have oflate so taken a turn for the better had fairly strong reputa-
tions in the 1930sand 1940sbut disappearedinto a shadecastby modernism
and the New Criticism.
Such evidence,which reminds us how ideological and critical fashions
influence what we read as students and what we haveour studentsread now,
suggests,perhapssurprisingly, that the literary canon, such as it is, changes
with astonishing speed.Viewing it over a scholarlyor critical career,only the
historically myopic could claim that the academiccanonlong resiststhe pres-
sures of contemporary interests. No matter how rigid and restrictive it may
be at any one moment, it has shown itself characterizedby impermanence,
even transience, and by opennessto current academicfashion, over a uni-
versity "generation,"a far shorter spanof time, the lag seemsintolerablylong.
What good doesit do an individual student to know that studentswill be able
to study,say,a particular Nigerian writer a few yearsafter they graduale?
Nonetheless,the canon,particularly that most important part of it repre-
sented by what educational institutions offer students in secondaryschool
and collegecourses,takesa certain amount of time to respond.One factor in
such resistanceto changederivesfrom interest and conviction,though aswe
have seen,such conviction can change surprisingly quickly in the right cir-
cumstances-right for change,not necessarilyright according to any other
standard.Another factor,which everyteacherencounters,derivesfrom book
technology,in particular from *re needto capitalizea fixed number of copies
of a particular work. Revising, making additions, taking into account new
works requires substantial expenditure of time and money,and the need to
sell as many copies as possible to cover publication costs means that one
299
RECONFIGURING must pitch any particular textbook, anthology,or edition toward the largest
LITERARY possiblenumber of potential purchasers.
EDUCATION As Richard Ohmann has so chillingly demonstratedin "The Shaping of
a Canon: U.S. Fiction, L960-L975,"the constraints of the marketplacehave
even more direct control of recent fiction. both bestsellersand those few
books that make their way into the collegecurriculum. The combination of
monopoly capitalism and a centralizedcultural establishment,entrenchedin
a very few New York-based periodicals has meant that for a contemporary
novel to "lodge itselfin our culture asprecanonical-as 'literature,"'however
briefly, it had to be "selected,in turn, by an agent, an editor, a publicity de-
partment, a review editor (especiallythe one at the SundayNew YorkTimesl,
the New York metropolitan book buyers whose patronage [is] necessaryto
commercial success,critics writing for gatekeeperintellectual journals, aca-
demic critics, and collegeteachers" (381).Once published, "the single most
important boost" for a novel is a "prominent review inthe SundayNew York
Times,"which, Ohmann's statisticssuggest,heavily favorsthe largest adver-
tisers, particulariy Random House (380).
Historians of print technology have long argued that the cost of book
technologynecessitatesstandardization,and although education benefits in
many ways from such standardization,it is also inevitably harmed by it as
well. Most of the great books courses,which had so much to offer within all
their limitations, require some fixed text or set of texts.T
Although hypertext can hardly provide a universal panaceafor all the ills
of American education, it does allow one to individualize any corpus of
materials by allowing readerand writer to connectthem to other contexts.In
fact, the connectivity,virtual presence,and shifting of the balancebetween
writer and readerthat permit interdisciplinary team teachingto do awaywith
this kind of time lag at the sametime permit one to preservethe best parts of
book technologyand its associatedculture. Let me give an exampleof what I
mean. Suppose,as is the case,that I am teaching a surveycoursein English
literature, and I wish to include works by women. A few years ago, if one
turnedto the Oxford or Norton anthologies,one receivedthe impression that
someonehad quite consciouslyexdudedthe presenceofwomen from them-
and therefore from most beginning undergraduates'senseof literature. One
could of coursecomplain, and in fact many did. After a number of years,say,
seven or eight, a few suitable texts began to appear in these anthologies,
though Norton alsotook the route of publishing an anthologyof women'slit-
erature in English. This new presenceof women is certainly better than the
former nonpresenceof women, but it takes and is taking a long time. What
300
HYPERTEXT
3.0 is worse, many of the texts that appearat last in these anthologiesmay well
not be those one would havechosen.
Let us considera secondproblem I haveencounteredin introducing new
materialsinto my teaching,one lesslikely to find redressanywhereasquickly
as has the first. I refer to the difficulty of introducing authors of non-English
ethnic backgroundswho write in English. This problem, which preciselytyp-
ifies the difficulties of redefining the canon and the curriculum alike, arises
becausea good many of Britain'smajor authors during the past century have
not been English.8In England,where the inhabitants distinguish quite care-
fully among English, Welsh, Scots,and Irish, the maior figures sincethe rise
of modernism havenot necessarilybeen English: Conradwas Polish; fames,
American; Thomas,Welsh;and foyceand Yeats,Irish. Generally,anthologies
work in these figures without placing too much emphasis on their non-
Englishness,which shows a nice capacityto accommodateoneself to the re-
alities of literary production. Of course, such accommodation has taken a
rather long time to materialize.
Todaythe situation has becomefar more complex, and in Great Britain's
postcolonialera, if one wishes to suggestthe nature of writing in English-
which is how I define English literature-one must include both writers of
Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealthcountries and alsothosewith a wide
range of ethnic origins who live in the United Kingdom and write in English.
Surveying leading novelists writing in English in Britain, one comes upon
important English men and women, of course,like Graham Swift, JaneGar-
dam, and PenelopeLively;but such a survey almost immediately brings up
the matter of national origins. After all, among the novelistswho havewon
prestigious prizes of late one must include Salman Rushdie (India and Pak-
istan), Kazuo Ishiguro (fapan),and Timothy Mo (Hong Kong), and if one in-
cludes novels in English written by authors occasionallyresident in Britain,
one must include the works of Chinua Achebeand Nobel Prize winner Wole
Soyinka(Nigeria),and of Anita Desai(India).And then there are all the Cana-
dian, Australian, not to mention American novelists who play important
roles on the contemporary scene.The contemporaryEnglish novel, in other
words, is and is not particularly English. It is English in that it is written in
English, published in England, and widely read in England and the rest of
Britain; it is non-English insofar asits authors do not haveEnglish ethnic ori
gins or evenlive in England.
The canon, such as it is, has rather easily accommodateditself to such
facts,and while the academicworld churns away,attacking or defending the
supposedlyfearsome restrictions of the canon and the virtual impossibility
30r
RECONFIGURING of changing it, contemporary writers, their publishers, and readers have
LITERARY made much of the discussionmoot, if not downright comical. The problem
EDUCATION faced by the teacher of literature, then, is how in the caseof contemporary
English literature to accommodatethe curriculum to a changing canon. Of
course,one can include entire novels in a course on fiction, but that means
that the new doesnot enter the curriculum very far. In practice,the academic
version of the erpanded canon of contemporary literature will almost cer-
tainly take the form of African American literature, which now appearsin
separatecoursesand is experiencedas essentiallyunconnectedto the central,
main, defining works.
Hypertext offers one solution to the problem of accommodatingthe cur-
riculum to a changing canon. In my section of the standard survey course,
which is a prerequisitefor majoring in Englishat Brown University,I included
works by Derek Walcott (famaica)and Wole Soyinka.How can hypertext aid
in conveyingto studentsthe ongoing redefinition, or rather self-redefinition,
of English literaturel First of all, since Soyinka writes poems alluding to
[lyssesand Gulliver'sTrquels,one can easily createelectronic links from ma-
terials on foyceand Swift to Soyinka,thus effortlesslyintegrating the poems
of this Nigerian author into the literary world of these lrish writers.
Sincehypertextlinking alsoencouragesstudentsto violatethe rigid struc-
ture of the standardweek-by-weekcurriculum, it allows them to encounter
examplesof Soyinka'swork or questions about its relation to earlier writers
in the course ofreading those writers earlier in the curricular schedule.By
allowing studentsto rangethroughout the semester,hypertextpermits them
to seevarious kinds of connections,not only historical ones of positive and
negativeinfluence but equally interesting ones involving analogy.In so do-
ing, this kind of educationaltechnologyeffortlesslyinserts new work within
the total context.
Such contextualization,which is a major strength of hypermedia,has an
additional advantagefor the educator.One of the great difficulties of intro-
ducing someonelike Soyinkainto an English literature course,particularly
one that emphasizescontextualization,involvesthe time and energy-not to
mention additionaltraining required-to addthe necessarycontextualinfor-
mation. Our hypertext component, for example, alreadycontains materials
on British and continental history religion, politics, technology,philosophy,
and the like. Although Soyinkawrites in English, receivedhis undergraduate
degreefrom Leeds,and wrote some of his work in England,he combines
English and African contexts,and therefore to createfor him a contextanal-
ogousto that which one has createdfor |onathan Swift and RobertBrownin q.
302
HYPERTEXT
3.0 one has to provide materials on colonial and postcolonialAfrican history,
politics, economics, geography,and religion. Since Soyinka combines En-
glish literary forms with Yoruban myth, one must provide information about
that body of thought and encouragestudents to link it to Western and non-
Westernreligions.
Such an enterprise,which encouragesstudent participation, drawsupon
all the capacitiesofhypertext for team teaching,interdisciplinary approaches,
and collaborativework and also inevitably redefinesthe educationalprocess,
particularly the processby which teaching materials, so called, develop. In
particular, becausehypertext corpora are inevitably open-ended, they are
inevitably incomplete. They resist closure,which is one way of stating they
never die; and they also resist appearingto be authoritative:they can provide
information beyonda student'sor teacher'swildest expectations,but they can
never make that body of information appearto be the last and final word.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 the poem more easily in ways that the print version alreadyencouragesor
evendemands.Its addedinterpretativelink paths serveas readings,or rather
as recordsof readings,that, if we wish, we can make into our own.
Most student academicwebs, however,rely less on either central print
texts or on waysof writing associatedwith them. Once studentsbeganto use
Storyspace,a hypertext environment that easily imports text, I began to
notice something that I have since rcalized characterizeshlperwriting-its
tendency,alreadyobservedin the discussion ofhypertext as collage,to take
the form of appropriation and abrupt juxtaposition. For example, Tom
Meyer's Ploteausappropriatesand interlinks a broad variety of materials to
explain the relation of Deleuze and Guattari'sthought to hypertext. In addi
tion to Meyer'ssubstantial discussionlexias and material garneredfrom the
Internet, his Storyspaceweb has folders containing multiple documents
from A ThousandPlateaus,the Cabbala,Calvino'sInvisibleCities,Burrough's
NakedLunch, and The Satyricon.
In addition to this tendency to exploit electronic collagefor purposesof
interpretive juxtaposition and comparison, the student webs share other
qualities, one of which involves joining what one might consider academic
and so-calledcreativewriting; that is, poetry and fiction. Again, this tendency
appearedin some of the earliest Storyspacewebs.Adams BookstorebyAdam
Wenger developedin two stages,the first as hyperfiction and the secondas a
laboratoryfor theory.As a midterm exerciseWenger createda Borgesiantale
that readerscan enter and leaveat any point, something enforcedby the fact
he providedno title screenand arrangedhis lexiasasa circle in the Storyspace
view (seeFigure 32).For his final project, Wenger,who was highly skeptical
of Barthes'sapproachin S/ Z, appliedthe theorist'sfi ve codesto his own work,
producing a very heavilylinked web. Of the fifty-one lexiasand 354links that
constitute AdamisBookstore,
approximatelyhalf consist of the original story
and if one clicks on the hot text in a specific lexia, one receivesa list of six,
eight, or even more links, the first severalconstructing the narrative, those
that appearfarther down in the list constructing Wenger'sBartheanreading.
Although few webs thus self-consciouslyapply critical theory to the
student-author'sown terts, a large number move effortlesslybetvveentheory
and fiction or poetry.Karen Kim's LexicalLattice,Shelleyfackson'sPatchwork
Girl, and Michael DiBianco'sMemory,Inc. (crealedin HTML and now part of
Ihe CyberspaceWeb)allthus interweavesubstantiallexiascontaining text sim-
ilar to standardacademicdiscoursewith fiction or poetry.
Lars Hubrich's In Searchof theAuthor,or Standingup Godot,first created
in Storyspaceand then recreatedby him for the Web, exemplifiesthe plalul
* * k,,,J*.9,-*.;"-m",*,,t[***S
ffi
"Hlpertext hasno Atext's
autharrsin the unitylies private
conventional
sense..Jrprt*nrt n()t in its affair,the
asaxn'iting origin but artist
mdium in its prt}duce$ it
metamorphoses destina-
the authorinto an for hirnself.' bb6
editorar tion,"
developer. -Trlstan Taar*-
-RolendSarthes
Hypermedia...is a 7/w&*tltpftl,e l7*/*dd**i&*r
as/
team@uction" rtlt&al tptt
the
lro6d
-6eorss Lando!"r*
?oob*
.gpuia*r
Figure35. Lars Hubrich's KillingMe. This web, which representsanothertranslationof Storyspaceweb into HTML, playfullyex-
plores the notions ofauthorship in e-space,braiding together texts from Foucault,Barthes,and Landowwith the student-author's
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Beneaththe defining image provided by this screenshot,Hubrich places a
brief introduction that erplains severalways in which his web revealsthe
problematicnature of conventionalunderstandingsof authorship,afterwhich
the text directs readersto use an immediately following set of thirteen cryp-
tic magenta-and-yellowicons that stretchacrossthe screen.Clicking on them
brings the readerto individual statementsabout issuesof authorship, intel-
lectual properry,and our assumptions about them. Thus, in addition to the
three statementsone can read in the screenshot,one comesupon additional
passagesfrom Barthes,Emile Benvenistet definition of the self, and Michel
Foucault's "What Is an Authorl" as well as questions to the reader about
Hubrich's educational background and a humorous example of the way
peopleuse the author function in making aestheticchoiceand evaluation:
RECONFIGURING and HTML that students havecreatedtake the form of similar erperiments,
LITERARY for they use hypertefi to test the theories of Barthes, Derrida, and others.
EDUCATION Borgesoften appearsas the Vergilian guide to these electronic explorations.
Karen Kim thus createda hypertext version of Borgesk "Grains of Sand" to
the individual lexiasof which she linked analysesin the manner of Barthes's
S/2, and other students have taken similar approachesto works of Carroll,
Lorca,Maupassant,and Proust. Derrida, Bakhtin, Baudrillard, Haraway,and
theorists not mentioned in the print version of Hypefiert alsoappearwithin
such laboratory-for-theorywebs.
Many student-createdwebs exemplify that new form of discourse pro-
posed in Gregory Ulmerk Teletheory
(where, however,he presents it in the
context of video and film; he has since discoveredhypertext and become a
major innovator using it, particularly in the form of the World Wide Web, to
teachlarge classesat the University of Florida in writing and literature).This
genre, which Ulmer terms "mystory" combines autobiography,public his-
tory and popular myth and culture. As Ulmer explains, his proposed new
mode of writing "brings into relationship the three levels of sense-com-
mon, explanatory,and expert-operating in the circulation of culture from
'low' to 'high' and back againi' and thereby offers
a means of
HYPERTEXT
3.0 which useshlpertext linking to allow the readerto travel among lexias relat-
ing his experiencesas a security guard in Tokyo,work with a Zen master,and
fapanesepoetry. Following directions and clicking on the introduction, one
encounterstwo possibleroutes-"water" or "chef"-and following the first,
one encountersfour lexiasthat, taken together,produce the following:
[1]Waterflows,unceasingly.
[4]Lookwithoutyoureyes,straight-atallthathaslife,andsimplyto obeythem.
Following the link from this last lexia opens an image of the night sky from
which one can take a dozendifferent paths,some of which cyde ba& through
the sky.At first, like the lexia entitled "chef," some on this path appearto con-
trast sharplywith the tone and subjectof the Zen materials,but increasingly
as one encounters and reencountersthem, these supposedlydisparatesub-
jects begin to interpenetrateand interilluminate one another,drawing closer
together,as it were: the hard-working short-ordercook turns out to fulfill the
Nun Aoyama'sinjunction "Don't think about yourself" while the words of a
half-witted co-worker,obsessedwith the weather,blend eerilv with those of
his Zen master.
Some mystories, to be sure, may well be fictional through and through;
that is, llke Jane Eyre and Great Expectations,they imitate or simulate auto-
biographies, and however much autobiographical material may permeate
them, they nonethelesstake the form of autobiographiesof fictional charac-
ters. Helene Zumas's Semio-Surf,at which we havealreadylooked when dis-
cussing the rhetoric of writing hypermedia for the World Wide Web, exem-
plifies such a possibly fictional mystory and so do several other works
submitted as courseprojects.
In contrast,JeffreyPack'sGrowing Up Digerate,which now forms a part
or subweb of +he Cyberspace, Virtuql Reality,and Citicql TheoryWeb,com-
bines theory here chiefly relating to cyberspace,and autobiographyof some-
one who grew up "'digitally literate,' that is, having a familiarity with com-
puters."As Pack's"Introduction" points out,
Mostautobiographies
startat birth,or with a shortpreludedescribing
howonel
parents
met.Forthisweb,however,
suchthingsaren'tveryimportant. A birthdate
(February
14,1977)
mayproveusefulifyou'rethesortofpersonwholikesto do the
m a t ha n df i g u r eo u t h o wo l d I w a sw h e nv a r i o utsh i n g sh a p p e n e d
b ,u ti s n ' tv e r y
309
RECONFIGURING necessary
sinceI om thatsortof personandwill probably
do it for youif I feelit's
LITERARY important.
Wherethis storyreallybeginsis in 1983,whenourfamilypurchased
its
EDUCATION firstcomouter.
At this point one can follow links within the text from the phrases"William
Gibson's Neuromancef'or "its first computer," or one can use Pack'sfooter
Iinks to open an index that lists alphabeticallyapproximatelyforty items rang-
ing from America On-Line and Apple IIe through MS-DOS and MUD to
World Wide Web and Zork. One can read this mystory more or less linearly,
or one can go to the index or cyclethrough it by means of its many links-
the lexia entitled "MS-DOS," for example,has sevenin addition to the four
footer links-and in doing so one receivesboth a personal history of com-
puter literacy and a personalhistory.
As these few examples show hypertext is here and undergraduatestu-
dents are alreadymapping out the new forms of discoursethat this combined
information technologypromises.After giving readingsof theseand similar
webs at conferencesand workshops, I am often askedhow I go about evalu-
ating them, and I respond that I combine the requirements of the old and the
new; that is, accuracy,quality of research,writing at the level of the individ-
ual sentenceand paragraph,and rhetorical effectivenessstill count for a great
deal, but webs also have to show visual literacy, skillful linking, clear and
effective organization, and the like.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 moving webs between environments is not entirely automatic. Importing
text and images, making links betweenwords and phrases,full-text search-
ing, and organizing documents are all very easy,and although this system
doesnot haveIntermedia'sWebView the StoryspaceRoadmap(seeFigure 17),
which one can call up by pressing a simple key combination, provides a par-
tial analogueto this invaluablefeatureby furnishing a readinghistory and list
of link destinationsfor eachindividual document.
Perhapsmost important, the simple fact that Storyspaceruns on any PC
creatednovel portability for all the webs originally createdfor Intermedia.
Since studentswere able to copy any web from a serversituatedin the Com-
puting and Information Technology building but accessiblefrom various
parts of the university, including some residencehalls, they both read and
wrote webs anylvherethey had accessto a Macintosh. (SinceStoryspaceper-
mits one to copylinked setsof lexiaseasily,one can createcomments at home
and later paste them into the master or server version of any web to share
with others.)The easeand convenienceof working with what |. David Bolter
called the "poor man's Intermedia" led, particularly in my hypertext and lit-
erary theory courses,to students creating their own considerablehypertext
webs, some of them quite massive.
Storyspacehas proved itself extremely usefirl but reduced the ability of
students to read spontaneouslyas wreaders.Yes,students can add links but,
without Intermedia's UNIX-basedsystemof hierarchical privileges,they can
only do so if they meet in lab with the person having the coursepassword.In
retrospect, one can see that the convenienceof using a hypertext system
basedon the standardoperating systemmeant that we gained greatereaseof
use, particularly when importing materials, and far greater accessibility.In
return, we lost a real-time-as opposedto asynchronous-collaborative work
environment.Nonetheless,having experienceof working with Intermedia,
I could easily developstrategiesto ensure that students createdvaluable
collaborativewebs and even addedtheir own links. Collaborativeauthoring,
however,proved,and remains, a much easiermatter than doesadding links.
One of the first exercisesusing Intermedia and Storyspaceinvolved students
creating their own links in the coursewebs,but the absenceof a convenient
way of doing so meant that students did not tend to think of working in this
manner unless an assignment called for them to do so.
Using Storyspacealso affectedthe kinds of visual materials studentscre-
ated,paradoxicallyreducing the visual literacy of student work in the purely
literary courseswhile radically increasing it in those on digital culture and
critical theory. The reason for the first change lies in the fact that whereas
3't1
HYPERTEXT
3.0 find an equivalent.The laborious task of creating and then maintaining sub-
overviewsfor eachitem in an author and text overviewsolvesthe problem of
using effectiveoverviewand crossroadsdocuments on the Web,but the com-
mon Intermedia, Storyspace,and Microcosm practice of attaching several
links to a word or phrase in a text document-particularly useful because
multiple links produce a valuablepreview function in the form of automati-
cally generatedmenus-simply disappears.
RECONFIGURING easilyimagine the objectionsto the new technology and its associatedprac-
LITERARY tice, sincethoseobjectionshavenot changedverymuch in the past sevencen-
EDUCATION turies: "Students,ifleftto their own devices,will construethe textsincorrectly.
Everyoneknows that permitting them such control overtheir own education
before they are readyfor it is not good for them. They don t yet know enough
to make such decisions.And besides,what is to becomeof us if they use this
insidious technology by themselvesl What are we to do?" Similarly, when
books appeared,many faculty members feared these dangerousnew teach-
ing machines, which clearly cededmuch of the instructor's knowledge and
power to the student. The mass production and wide distribution made pos-
sible by printing, which threatenedto swamp ancient authority in a flood of
modern mediocrity, also permitted people to teach themselvesoutside insti-
tutional confrol. Therefore,well into the eighteenth century undergraduates
in Europeanuniversities had accessto the library only a few hours per week.
Hypertext systems,just like printed books, dramaticallychangethe roles
of student, teacher, assignment, evaluation, reading list, relations among
individual instructors, courses,departments,and disciplines. No wonder so
many faculty find so many "reasons"not to look at hlpertext. Perhapsscari
est of all for the teacher, hypertext answers teachers' sincere prayers for
active,independent-mindedstudents who take more responsibility for their
educationand are not afraid to challengeand disagree.The problem with
answeredprayersis that one may get that for which one asked,and then . . .
What more terrifying for professorsof English, who havefor decadescalled
for creativity,independent-mindedness,and all thoseothergoodthings,to
receive them from their students! Complaining, hoping, even struggling
heroically,perhaps,to awakentheir students,they have nonethelessaccom-
modated themselves to present-dayeducation and its institutions, which
include the rifuals of lecture, class discussions,and examinations through
which they themselveshave passedand which (they are the evidence)have
some good effectson some students.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 demand hypertextmaterialsor, now that the World Wide Webhas arrived,go
in searchof them independentof their instructors'suggestions,wishes,or
even knowledge. One of my favorite storiesin this regard involvesa student
in one of the earliestclassesto use Intermedia who took a visiting year at Co-
lumbia University.After the opening meeting of a courseon fames Joyce,he
perplexedthe lecturer by asking, "Where is your Intermedia web on Uysses?"
Now they just ask for the URL of the course website. Students, in other
words, increasingly drive the use of hypertext-just as they did the use of
silent reading in the late Middle Ages. As we have seenin the discussion of
distancelearning, students at traditional tertiary institutions alreadyuse the
Web for their courses-whether or not their instructors tell them to do so.
Nonetheless,even with the enormous impetus provided by the World
Wide Web I do not expectto seedramatic changesin educationalpracticefor
some time to come, in large part becauseof the combination of technologi-
cal conservatismand generallack ofconcern with pedagogythat character-
izes the faculty at most institutions of higher learning, particularly at those
that havepretensionsto prestige.There is, however,occasionto hope as I first
wrote in 1991,becauseas one ofthose attending a 1988conferenceon edu-
cationalhypermediaat Dartmouth commented:"lt took only twenty-fiveyears
for the overheadprojector to make it from the bowling alleyto the classroom.
I'm optimistic about academiccomputing; I've begun to see computers in
bowling alleys."eAcademic computing in the form of course and university
websites,e-mail, and online courseinformation has in fact arrived,and there
is much about which to be pleased,particularly concerning administra-
tive matters like submitting and advertising course descriptions, obtaining
classlists,orderingbooks,schedulingmeetings,and so on. Teachinghas yet
to take full advantageof the Web, in part becausemany educationaltechnol-
ogists and faculty users still think in terms of the book.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 intended both to draw visitors and allow those who cannot come in person
to enjoy some of its treasures.Individual screenspresentimagesof North
American Indian artifactstogetherwith basicinformation about them. Sofar
so good. Unfortunately,that's all there is, for the entire site is nothing more
than a direct electronic presentation of a museum catalogue.Putting print-
derivedtext and imagesonline, however,requires doing much more than for-
matting them in HTML, and a description of the site shows why. Since the
designersbeganwith the ideathat a websiteis little more than an electronified
book, they also assumedthat readerswould begin at the opening screenand
make their way through one of severaltlghtly limited paths. Making a com,
mon error, they failed to permit readersto return easilyto the opening screen
or sitemap, much less provide similar accessto sitemapsfor subcategories
(departments)in the museum. Such book-blindereddesign,all too common
on websites,also showsthe designersnevertook into accountthat many web-
readerswill not arrive at the front entranceof the museum but led there by
Internet searchtools, arrive by falling through the roof and landing in the
middle of a strange gallery.At a very minimum, they need to know where
they are, and where they can go next.
The failings I've described thus far exemplify what happens when one
assumesthat a website, a nonphysical,electronic form, has the attributes of
a book, which has physical form. A related,though less obvious set of prob-
lems has broadercultural, educational,and political implications. In the first
kind of mistake, one uses a potential innovation inefficiently; in the follow-
ing, one suppressesit entirely. Looking at the elegant graphic design ofthe
site, one realizesthe brieftexts describing the representedobjectsin the col-
lection contain no links. Conceptualizedas old-fashionedcatalogueentries,
thesepassagesfail to take advantageofthe innovativecapacityoflinks, which
can provide basic glossaryitems that help younger users or thoseunfamiliar
with the topic under discussion. Links can also lead interested readers to
more advancedmaterials. Links, which can produce a kind of customizable
text, havethe power to flirn such a site into a fully functioning educationalre-
source.Used in this way,they serveto enrich and deepenthe site as an intro-
duction to the entire museum itself. Furthermore, linking to documents
about materials outside the museum can also reconfigure the site'srelation
to its intellectual community. Here, however,relying on the book as thought-
form or conceptualmodel preventedsuch innovation. Although this anthro-
pology museum site exists at a university that also has a department of an-
thropology, it makes no attempt to connect the two. The site contains no
319
RECONFIGURING documents by members of that department, nor doesit list relevant courses
LITERARY availableat the university.
EDUCATION What could one do differently with such a resource if one understands
that a website can be more than a booklike static introduction to a museum
collectionl Sincelinks crossborders and reconfigure our sensesofthe rela-
tionships, why not use them to reconfigurethe relations of museum and uni
versity) The site could include relevantdepartmental research,all or parts of
previouslypublishedpapers,bibliographies,researchguides,exemplarywork
by undergraduateand graduatestudents,evenmaterial from other universi-
ties' collections,and so on. Once one conceivesa website from the vantage
point of innovation-asking what's different about this new information
technologyand what we can do with such differences-one can conceptual-
ize it as a network within other networks, and not simply (and misleadingly)
as a book. At the sametime, we must not exaggeratethe differencesbetween
electronic hypertext and print text, for the many continuities betweenthem
require that we not only pay close attention to the relative strengths of each
but that we also take from the printed page as much can help us in the new
media. Hypertext is still text.
The sameapproachesto incorporating websitesinto institutional practice
that we sawin museums occur in many collegesand universities.Increasingly,
educationalinstitutions around the world haveturned to WebCT,Singapore's
InteractiveVir[talLearning Environment (IVLE), and similar softwarepack-
ages,which provide many valuablefeatures for administering and teaching
a course.These include not only electronic classlists and spread sheetsfor
gradesjoined to a centraldatabasebut alsoother featuresmore directly related
to teaching than to administration, such as collections of texts and images,
discussionlists, multiple-choicetests,and coursewebsites.What'swrong with
a course-basedwebsitel Those that move beyond serving as mere replace-
ments for papersyllabioften showintelligent planning and valuableresources,
but most that I've seenhavethree major shortcomings.In the first place,they
do not alwaysinclude studentwork, and when they do they almost neverkeep
these materials online past the end of the class,thereby sacrificing any
opporhrnity for developing a critical mass of student-createdmaterials that
Iater students could use and that could convince students that they actively
contribute to the educationalprocess.Erasingthese materials at semester's
end also destroysthe possibility of creating a valuablecoursememory.
Second,coursewebsitesare almost alwaysclosedto the public, thereby
losing opportunities to obtain contributions of usefirl materials and to show
320
HYPERTEXT
3.0 offwhat the classis doing. At one institution at which I've taught, classweb-
sites proved valuable informational and recruiting tools. Many universities
prevent public accessto coursewebsiteseither becausethey contain materi-
als for they have paid a subscription or, in other cases,becauseinstructors
have illegally used copyrightedmaterials without permission. Still, that's no
reasonto closeoffthe entire site.
Third, a course website is almost alwaysassociatedwith a particular in-
structor, and only very rarely will others in the samedepartment use it, which
means in practicethat the time and energythat go into creating a websitecan
never be sharedor leveraged.For that reason I would urge departments and
institutions to createbroader sitesllke TheVictorianWeband ThePostcolonial
Webthat many coursesand instructors can use. For example,a websitewith
materials about eighteenth-centuryAnglo-Europeanculture could be of use
not only to coursesin English, German, French, Italian, Spanish,and other
literatures but also to those in nonliterature departments,such as art history
religious studies, social and political history music, philosophy, and so on.
Websites, like all hypertext, are fundamentally modular. Therefore, such
sitescan grow slowly and only in certain areas.I find that peopleare far more
willing to contribute a small module to an ongoing enterprise, such as this
kind of a website,than to begin creating a body of materials by themselves.
The next step awayfrom course-basedwebsitesinvolvescreating depart-
mental or institutional ones that include more than administrative informa-
tion. When I servedasthe founding dean of the University ScholarsProgram
(USP),an interdisciplinary honors collegeat the National University of Sin-
gapore,we createdthe usual institutional site with information about admis-
sions and sectionsfor all disciplines and courses.We also used hlpertert as
an institutional paradigm.l0Courses ranging from writing, ethics, and the
culture of Islam to physicsand statisticsraisedquestionswith studentsabout
connectionsoftheir classesto other fields. The site for Science,Technology,
and Societyin addition to including lists ofcourses offered also had briefin-
troductions to the relations of technology,particularly information technol-
ogy,to literature, computer science,ethics, and so on. Since Singaporeis a
multiethnic, multiracial society,many coursestried to reflect that fact, incor-
porating materials from two or more cultures. Thus an introduction to polit-
ical theory included both Europeanpolitical thinkers and those from Islamic
countries, a course in the history of cosmologiesincluded India, China, the
Middle East,and Europe.Likethe sitemapsinTheVictorianWeb,the USPsite
was designedto suggestto studentsthe many different ways of approaching
a subject,not all ofwhich any one person could cover.
The Politicsof Hypertext:
Who Controlsthe Textl
HYPERTEXT
3.0 tert who reject outlandish claims for it. Then, there are those like Mitchell
who recognizethe "no free lunch" factor-in other words, that everyadvan-
tageof a new information medium brings with it a possibledisadvantage.For
example, many have proclaimed, quite correctly,the enormous benefits of
the Internet, but connectivityhas its downside,too, for as Mitchell wams after
9117,"in a networked,electronicallyinterconnectedworld, there is no funda-
mental difference between addressesand targets" (Me++,5). ,,The densely,
globally networkedworld," Mitchell further explains,.,isemphaticallynot (as
early cyberspaceutopians had sometimes imagined) inherently one of self-
regulating, libertarian harmony. The proliferation and geographicdistribu-
tion of accesspoints-the very essenceof the benefits of networks-arso
multiplies and distributes opporfunities to create threats to the safety and
well-being of thosewho havecome to rely upon network capabilities"(Me++,
179).Moreover,even those who remain convinced of the positive personal
and political benefits of the Net, such as the cyber-activistGeert Lovink, have
learned from experiencethat discussion lists and other electronic forums
require someform of centralcontrol-editors, webmasters,moderators,gate-
keepers.2Multiuser digital environments, like all human enterprises,turn
out to need organizational techniques found outside cyberspace:'After a
brief period of excitement,the newly founded web sites,lists, servers,media
labs, etc. haveto find ways to deal with growth, economicissues,internal
hierarchies,ever-changingstandards,ongoingconvergenceprobremsbetween
platforms, and incompatible softwarewhile establishinga form of cybernetic
normalcyin the process"(Dark Fiber,4l.
Another reason for skepticism about the possibility of hypermedia, the
Internet, and other digital technologiesfulfilling predictions that they would
democratizeinstitutions and empowerusersderivefrom justifiable fearsthat,
as Lovink puts it, "the Internet, bit by bit, is being closeddown, sealedoffby
filters, firewalls, and security laws, in a joint operation by corporations and
governmentin order to createa 'secure'and 'safe' information environment,
free ofdissents and irritants to capital flows" (Dark Fiber,tl-I2). Lovink, one
of many who believethat "it is time to say goodbyeto the short summer of
the internet" (19),fearsthat governmentaland commercial interferencewith
the Internet threatensto choke offits potential for political good:
T h ep r i m a rvya l u e os f t h ee a r l yI n t e r n ew
t ,i t hi t s U s e n e vt ,i r t u acl o m m u n i t i easn o
focuson the fightagainst
censorship
areunderthreat.Theconsensus
mythof an
egalitarian,
chaoticsystem,ruledbyself-governing
userswiththehelpof artificial
life
andfriendlybots,is nowcrushedbythetake-over
oftelecomgiants,
venture capital
323
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 According to researchersat Berkeley,Cambridge,Harvard, and Toronto,
the Chinese government may well have found a way to control this vast
amount of information using a variety of filtering software.One method uses
filtering technologythat in effectdisablesfeaturesofthe searchengine Google
by tapping "into snapshotsof web pagesstored on Google'sservers-which
are basedoutside China" that formerly provided "a common way for Chinese
to view sites that were otherwise blocked" (Hutzler, B1). According to re-
searchersat Berkeley,a secondpart of "the Great Firewall of China,,takesthe
form of "a list of bannedwords and phrasesthat a Chinesecompany embeds
in desktopsto filter messagingamong PCsand cellphones.Among the more
than 1,000taboo terms: 'democracy,''sex,' and 'Hu )intao,, China,spresi-
dent" (81). The new filtering technologiescomb the Internet and make sure
that e-mails objectionableto the government becomelost ,,in Chinesecyber-
space and never reach their destinations, and requests to search engines,
which providelists of Web sitesbasedon words,can go unanswered',(B1).
The government of Singapore, "one of the worldk most enthusiastic
users of the Internet," also wishes to take advantageof the new technology
while simultaneously silencing any liberatory messagethat might be in the
medium, for as Dan McDermott wrote on March 6, 1996,
chill windsblewthroughsingapore
cyberspace
yesterday,
as the government
an-
nounced sweepingplansto filterwhattheaveragesingaporean canseeandsayon
theInternet.
Joiningseveral
other governments
in seeki
ngto filtertheriversofwords
and picturespouringontothe Internet,
singapore
saidit will hold bothcontent
providers
andaccess
providers
responsible
for keeping
pornographic
andpolitically
objectionable
material 'l00,OOO
outofthecountry's Internet
accounts.
(A1)
T H E P O L I T I C SO F the industry" (I43). Lovink, who took part in Amsterdam's early experi-
HYPERTEXT ments in using the Internet to empowercitizens-see his "The Digital City-
Metaphor and Community"-provides an example of what happenswhen
severallarge corporationstry to control the technology.He was one of many
observerswho noted that in the 1990sMicrosoft and other large corporate
interests tried to undermine the fundamental user-centerednature of the
World Wide Web by turning it into another broadcastmedium: "Due to the
commercializationof the net, big publishing houses,cablegiants, telecoms
and softwarecompanieshave moved in and are now pushing the web in the
direction of old-stylebroadcastingtechnologies.Wired caTlsthis the revenge
of 'TV"' ('A Push Media Critique," 130).Lovinckwrote this in 1997,when
Microsoft tried to direct users of its Internet Explorer in discrete channels
through which information could be "pushedl'The attempt was a complete
failure, for users preferred to search the Web, however inefficiently, and
choosetheir own links and paths. The notorious failure of push media, I
would argue,demonstratesthat users believethat user-centeredhypermedia
best servestheir needs-and that networked computer environments do in
fact empower users to act as more than mere consumers. In his "Insiderk
Guide to TacticalMedia," Lovink arguesthat information technologiesdo in
'difference engine' on the level ofrep-
fact have an ideologicalbias: "Being a
resentation may put out a lot of useful public content, but it doesnot touch
on the 'media question.'What is of interest arethe ideologicalstrucfureswrit-
ten into the softwareand network architecture.It is not just enough to sub-
vert or abusethis powerful structure" (263).The reactionsby users to com-
mercial attemptsto turn the World Wide Webinto another form of broadcast
media-that is, the choicesthey made-demonstrate that users experienced
the Web as having a bias toward readerempowerment.
The most extremedoubtersinclude thoselike EspenAarseth,who denies
the possibility that hypertext in any way empowers or liberatesits users. Let
us look first at Aarseth, whom we may accurately describe as the leading
antihypertexttheorist. In his otherwise valuable Cybertext(1997),which
advancespioneering ideas about computer games,he mounts a fierce attack
on most earlier writings on hypertext,particularly on those that invoke post-
structuralist theory to explain digital media or that claim that the new media
in any way empowers users. Although he himself freely draws on Eco,
Genette,and Barthesat points in his book, he chargesthat people who use
critical theory to explainhypertext,or to point out parallelsbetweenthem, are
using an "imperialist pretext" to "colonize" another field (83). Similarly, to
call paper-basedtexts that partially anticipate electronic hypertext proto-
326
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 hypertextsis an "imperialist classification" (75). Strong words, but not sur-
prising when one considersthe context in which they appear.Most of Cyber-
turt concerns computer games and other forms of digital media, such as
MUDs and MOOs,which Aarsethearnestlywishesto establishasimportant
cultural forms. For some reason,he seemsto believe-or at least writesas if
he believes-that to clear intellectual space for games, MUDs, and other
forms of what he terms "cybertext,"he must trash hlpertext, denying that it
has any positive qualities. Certainly,at the time he began his project, hyper-
text and hypermedia were the forms of digital text that receivedmost atten-
tion, parficularly in Norway,which has important hypermedia theorists and
practitioners like Gunnar Liestol.
Reading Cybertert,I was struck by how litde actual hypertext Aarseth
seemsto have read, and how few hypertext systemshe seemsto have used.
Michael Joyce'spioneering ofiemoon,which is one of the few hypertextshe
mentions, is the only one he discussesat any length, and his remarks closely
follow the writings of fane YellowleesDouglas and Stuart Moulthrop. His
specific comments show little understanding or experienceof either afier-
noonor its softwareenvironment, Storyspace.According to Aarseth,in Story-
space"readerscould follow onlythesequenceslaid down by the writer. Hyper-
fictions written in Storyspoce,
like Affemoon, do not allow its readers free
browsing, unlike any codex fiction in existence" (77). His general remarks
about Storyspace,which apply only to the page readerversion used by Joyce,
are wrong on severalcounts. As we've alreadyobserved,Storyspacehyper-
texts,like PatchworkGirland Quibbling,which employ the Storyspacereader
that includes the software'scharacteristicgraphic map, permit readers to
browsefreely and indeed encouragereadersto do so. Other Storyspacewebs,
such as the In Memoriorn Web, Breath of Sighs, and Hero's Face,were pub-
lished in the Demo version of the authoring environment, which not only
features"free browsing" but also includes a searchtool.
Another fundamental flaw in Aarseth's chapter on hypertext, perhaps
suggestedby his almost total relianceon a single work of hyperfiction, is that
he almost completely neglectsinformational and educationalhlpertext and
examines no specific examplesof them. This turns out to be a major weak-
nessin his evaluationof readerempowerment,becausethesekinds of hyper-
text offer much clearer positive choices,in part becausemany of them have
vastly more lexias than any existing hyperfiction, and this factor provides a
greater range of inforrnedchoices.One of the few placeshe mentions such
forms of hypertext comes when he responds to my claim that ,.hypertext
blurs the boundary between author and reader" ("Hypertext, Metatext,"70):
327
3.0
HYPERTEXT We both agree,following Foucault,that authorship "is a social categoryand
not a technologicalone" (172)-the point, after all, of much of my chapter4-
and I claim that different forms of information technologyplus their social
and political contextshaveproduced different notions ofauthorship.
Perhapsour fundamental points of disagreementappearwhenhe asserts
that "there is no evidencethat the electronic and printed texts have clearly
divergent attributes" (70) while also denying that hypermedia in any way
empowers anyone or could tend toward democratization.Here in response
are three real-life examplesof the wayshypertext and the Internet empower
users by democratizing accessto information. Note that I do not claim that
any of theseexamplesshowsthat the Internet and associatedtechnologiesby
themselvesproduce political democracy.I also do not claim that they in any
way make the readerof Internet materialsan author of them. In the first case,
a young man encounterssomepills that resemblean antihistamine for which
he has a prescription, but he cannot definitely identify them for he no longer
has on hand the bottle in which they came.Eachpill, however,has three num-
bers impressedin the surface,so he typesjust the three numbers into Google,
a popular Web searchtool, and the first hit brings one to a pharmaceutical
manufacturer'ssite for a drug, which identifies it as a very different medica-
tion-an antibiotic, in fact-and he does not take the wrong medication.
Evenif onehada Physicians
DeskReference
(PDR)at hand,one could not search
by number but would haveto comparethe pill to images of various medica-
tions. In a similar situation involving unidentified medications for elderly
people,consulting a pharmacist did not help, since the pharmacist claimed
the PDR contained so many pills, he did not have the time to try to identify
any. In other words, information one would have to expend many hours or
even daysto acquire was locatedon the Web in less than fifteen seconds.
This user'sexperience,I submit, providesclearanswersto two questions.
First, does the Internet democratizeinformation and empower usersl I
believethe obvious answer is, yes, for as this example demonstrates,digital
information technology provides to people other than physicians and phar-
macistsinformation when they need it. In fact, anyonewith a computer con-
nected to the Internet, even if locatedfar from a hospital, physicians office,
or medical library has accessto the neededinformation. Second,does the
quality-in this case,chiefly time-needed to accessinformation prove an
important enough factor to distinguish media from one anotherl Again, I
would say,yes,for eventhough the sameinformation (the identity of the pill)
is availablein both print and digital media, the vastly different experienceof
329
HYPERTEXT
3.0 at the Niemann Foundation at Harvard about the implications of the new
technology for journalism. I speculatedthat if we could apply the hypertext
paradigm to news, we might have news media in which individual readers
could pursue subjectsthat interestedthem as long as they had time and
patienceto do so.3I hardly expectedto encounter such a rich examplehalf a
dozen yearslater! Let me emphasizehow this hypertextversion of the news
differs from both the televisionand newspaperones.To procure the same
information I obtained on the web, I would need to expendseveraldaysand
possiblyweeksusing a convenientlylocatedinformation resource,such as a
large library and I would also haveto supplement my searchwith telephone
calls to various embassies,including those locatedabroad.Compare this to
what we may term the Aarsethprinciple-the idea that if two different infor-
mation technologiescontain essentiallythe sameinformation, no difference
existsbetweenthem. As in the searchesfor information about medications,
this hypertextualpresentationof news about a current event clearly empow-
ers the user-if by "empower" we mean, as I do here, "providesinformation
that would be difficult if not impossible to obtain otherwise."Again, Aarseth
finds absolutelyno differencebetweeninformation technologiesthat contain
the same information, but to do so he has to ignore the vastlydifferent ways
each one is experienced.Using the words Mitchetl uses to distinguish be-
tween digital and printed text, I emphasize "that is relevant at the level of
everydayexperience."Whether or not they havea placein Aarseth'stheories,
the democratizationeffectsof hypermediaand the Internet are relevantat the
level of everydayexperience.
however
materialistic
suchanapproach to historymayseem,nothingisfartherfrom
and
Manismthanthestresson invention technique as theprimary
cause of histori-
calchange.Indeed,it seemsto me that suchtheories(of the kindwhichregard
t h es t e a me n g i n ea st h ec a u s eo f t h e I n d u s t r i aRl e v o l u t i oann, dw h i c hh a v eb e e n
rehearsed
yet again,in streamlinedmodernisticform, in the worksof Marshall
McLuhan)functionasa substitute in thewaytheyoffera
for Marxisthistoriography
feelingof concreteness
comparable
to economicsubjectmatter,at the sametime
thattheydispense ofthehumanfactors
withanyconsideration ofclasses andofthe
of production.
socialorganization (74)
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 of modern physics,"appearsin what he calls "that technologicaldeterminism
of which Macluhanism [sic]remains the most interesting contemporary
expression,but of which certain more properly Marxist studies like Walter
Ben;'amin'sambiguous Baudelaireare also variants."In responseto the fact
that Marxism itself includes "models which haveso often been denouncedas
mechanicalor mechanistic,"fameson gingerly acceptssuch models, though
his phrasing suggestsextraordinaryreluctance:"I would want to argue that
the categoryof mechanicaleffectivityretains a purely local validity in cultural
analysiswhere it can be shown that billiard-ball causalityremains one of the
(nonsynchronous)laws of our particular fallen social reality. It does little
good,in other words, to banish 'extrinsic' categoriesfrom our thinking, when
they continue to havea hold on the objectiverealities about which we plan to
thinki' He then offers as an examplethe "unquestioned causalrelationship"
between changesin "the 'inner form' of the novel itself" (25) and the late-
nineteenth-century shift from triple-decker to single-volumeformat. I find
this entire passagevery confusing, in part becausein it famesonseemsto end
by acceptingwhat he had begun by denying-or at leasthe acceptswhat those
like Mcluhan have statedrather than what he apparentlyassumesthem to
have argued. His willingness to acceptthat "mechanical effectivity retains a
purely local validity in cultural analysis" seemsto do no more than describe
what Eisenstein,Chartier,and others do. The tentativenessofhis acceptance
also createsproblems. I do not understand why fameson writes, "I would
want to argue,"as if the matter were asyet only a distant possibility,when the
end of this sentenceand those that follow show that he definitely makesthat
argument. Finally, I find troubling the conspicuousmuddle of his apparently
generous admission that "it does little good . . . to banish 'extrinsic' cate-
gories from our thinking, when they continue to havea hold on the objective
realities about which we plan to think." Such exrrinsic categoriesmight turn
out to match "the objectiverealities about which we plan to think," or again,
these objectiverealities might turn out to support the hypothesiscontained
in extrinsic categories,but it only mystifies things to describecategoriesas
having "a hold on . . . objectiverealities."
Such prose from fameson, who often writes with clarity about particu-
larly difficult matters, suggeststhat this mystification and muddle derives
from his need to excludetechnology and its history from Marxist analyses.
We have seen how hard fameson works to excludetechnologicalfactors
from consideration, and we have also obsewed that they not only offer no
threat to famesonian Marxism but even have potential to support it.6 fame-
333
HYPERTEXT
3.0 ination. Sincemarginalization results from one group'splacementof itself at
a center, one must nert ask which group placesitself at the center of power
and understanding, and the answer must be one that feels itself threatened
by the importance of technology.Ryan asks,"What is the operation of exclu-
sion in a philosophy that permits one group, or value, or idea to be kept out
so that another can be safeguardedinternally and turned into a norml"
(Marxism and.Deconstrucfion,31.One such operation that I have frequently
encountered after talks on educafionalhypertext takes the form of a state-
ment something like "I am a Luddite" or "What you say is very interesting,
but I can t use (or teach with) computers, becauseI'm a LudditeJ'(Can you
imagine the followingl "I can't use lead pencils-ballpoint pens-typewrit-
ers-printed books-photocopies-library cataloguesbecauseI'm a Lud-
ditel') All the self-proclaimedLudditesin academeturn out to opposeonly the
newest machines, not machines in general and certainly not machines that
obviatehuman drudgery.Such proclamationsof Ludditism come permeated
by irony, since literary scholars as a group entirely depend on the technol-
ogies of writing and printing. The first of thesetechnologies,writing, began
asthe hieratic possessionof the politically powerfirl, and the secondprovides
one of the first instances of production-line interchangeableparts used in
heavily capitalized production. Scholarsand theorists today can hardly be
Luddites, though they can be suspicious of the latest form of information
technology,one whose advent threatens, or which they believe threatens,
their power and position. In fact, the self-presentationof knowledgeworkers
as machine-breakersdefending their chanceto survivein conditions of soul-
destroyinglabor in bare, subsistenceconditions tells us a lot about the resis-
tance. Such mystification simultaneouslyromanticizesthe humanists' re-
sistancewhile presenting their arxieties in a grotesquelyinappropriateway.
In other words, the self-presentationof the modern literary scholaror critical
theorist as Luddite romanticizes, in other words, an unwillingness to per-
ceiveactual conditions ofhis or her own production.
Perhapsmy favorite anecdoteand possibly one that makes a parricularly
significant contribution to our understanding ofresistance is this: after a lec-
ture on hypertext and critical theory at one institution, a young European-
trained faculty member who identified his specialtyas critical theory candidly
admitted, "I've neverfelt old-fashionedbefore."As the latestof the newfound,
new-fangled developments,hypertert, like other forms of New Media, in
generalhas the (apparent)power to make those who position themselvesas
the advocatesof the new appearto themselvesand others as old-fashioned.
Discussionsof hypertext all raise political questions-ques-
The Politicsof tions of power, status, and institutional change.All these
changeshavepolitical contextsand political implications. Con-
ParticuIar Technologies
siderationsofhypertext,like all considerationsofcritical theory
and literature, haveto take into accountwhat famesonterms the basic "recog-
nition that there is nothing that is not socialand historical-indeed, that every-
thing is 'in the last analysis'political" (PoliticalIJnconscious,20).
A firlly imple-
mented embodiment of a networked hypertext system such as I havedescribed
obviouslycreatesempoweredreaders,oneswho havemore powerrelativeboth
to the texts they read and to the authors of thesetexts. The reader-authoras stu-
dent similarly has more power relativeto the teacherand the institution. This
pattern of relative empowennent, which we must examine with more careand
some skepticism,appearsto support the notion that the logic of information
technologies,which tends toward increasing dissemination of knowledge,
implies increasing democratizationand decentralizationof power.
Technologyalwaysempowerssomeone.It empowersthose who possess
it, those who make use of it, and those who have accessto it. From the very
beginnings of hypertext (which I locatein VannevarBush'sproposalsfor the
memex), its advocateshavestressedthat it grants new power to people.Writ-
ers on hypertext almost alwayscontinue to associateit with individual free-
dom and empowerment. 'After all," claim the authors of a study concerning
what one can learn about learning from the medium, "the essenceof hyper-
text is that usersare entirely free to follow links whereverthey please"(Mayes,
Kibby,and Anderson, 228).Although Bush chiefly consideredthe memex's
ability to assist the researcheror knowledge worker in coping with large
amounts of information, he still conceivedthe issue in terms of ways to
empower individual thinkers in relation to systemsof information and deci
sion. The inventors of computer hypertext have explicitly discussed it in
terms of empowerment of a more general classof reader-authors.Douglas
Englebart,for example,who invented the first actualworking hypertextenvi
ronment, called his systemAugment; and Ted Nelson, who seesXanadu as
the embodiment of the 1960sNew Left thought, callson us to "imagine a new
accessibilityand excitement that can unseat the video narcosisthat now sits
on our land like a fog. Imagine a new libertarian literature with alternative
explanations so that anyone can choosethe pathway or approachthat best
suits him or her; with ideas accessibleand interesting to everyone,so that a
new richness and freedom can come to the human experience;imagine a
'1.
rebirth of literacy" (ComputerLib, 141.7
Like other technologies,thosecentering on information serve
Technologyas Prosthesis as artificial, human-made means of amplifying some physi-
cal or mental capacity.fean-FranEoisLyotard describescom-
puting and other forms of information technologyin terms usually assigned
to woodenlegs and artificial arms: "Technicaldevicesoriginated asprosthetic
aids for the human organs or as physiologicalsystemswhose function it is to
receivedata or condition the context. They follow a principle, and it is the
principle of optimal performance: maximizing output (the information or
modifications obtainedl and minimizing input (the energy expendedin the
process)"(Postrnodem Condition,44).Accordingto TheAmeican Heitage Dic-
tionary,the term prosthesishasthe two closelyrelated meanings of an "artifi-
cial replacementof a limb, tooth, or other part of the body" and "an artificial
deviceused in such replacement."Interestingly,prosthesishas an early asso-
ciation with language and information, since it derives from the late Latin
word meaning "addition of a letter or syllable,"which in turn comesfrom the
Greek for "attachment" or "addition, from prostithenai,to put, add:pros-,in
addition + tithenai,to place,to put." Whereasits late Latin form implies little
more than an addition following the rules of linguistic combination, its mod-
ern application suggestsa supplement required by some catastrophicoccur-
rence that reduced the individual requiring the prosthesisto a condition of
severeneed,as in the caseof a person who has lost a limb in war, in an auto-
mobile accident,or from bone canceror, conversely,ofa person suffering as
a result of a "birth defect."In eachcasethe individual using the prosthesis
requires an artificial supplement to restore some capacityor power.
Lyotard'snot uncommon use of this term to describeall technologysug-
gests a powerful complex of emotional and political justifications for tech-
nology and its promises of empowerment. Transferring the term prosthesis
from the field of rehabilitation (itself an intriguing term) gathersa fascinat-
ing, appalling congeriesof emotion and need that accuratelyconveysthe
attitudes contemporary academicsand intellectuals in the humanities hold
toward technology.Resentmentof the deviceone needs,resentment at one's
own need and guilt, and a Romantic dislike of the artificiality of the device
that answersone'sneedsmark most humanists' attitudestoward technology,
and these same factors appearin the traditional view of the single most
important technology we possess-writing. These attitudes result, as Der-
rida has shown, in a millennia-long elevationof speechabovewriting, its sup-
posedlyunnatural supplement.
Walter f . Ong, who reminds us thatwriting is technology,exemplifiesthe
comparativelyrare scholarin the humanities who considersits artificiality as
337
T H E P O L I T I C SO F something in its favor: "To say that writing is artificial is not to condemn it
HYPERTEXT but to praiseit. Like other artificial creationsand indeed more than any other,
it is utterly invaluable and indeed essentialfor the realization of firller, inte-
rior, human potentials . . . Alienation from a natural milieu can be good for
us and indeed is in many ways essentialfor full human life. To live and to
understand fully, we need not only proximity but also distance" (Orolity and
Literaq,82). Like Mcluhan, Ong claims that "technologiesare not mere
exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness"{82),and he
therefore holds that writing createdhuman nature, thought, and culture as
we know them. Writing empowerspeopleby enabling them to do things oth-
erwiseimpossible-permitting them not just to sendlettersto distant places
or to createrecordsthat preservesome information from the ravagesof time
but to think in ways otherwise impossible.
Abstractly
sequential,
classificatory,
explanatory of phenomena
examination or of
stated
truthsis impossible
withoutwritingandreading. of any
. . Inthetotalabsence
writing,
thereisnothing
outside
thethinker, himor herto reproduce
notext,to enable
thesamelineofthoughtagainor evento verifywhether
heor shehasdoneso . . . In
to thinkthroughsomething
an oralculture, non-patterned,
in non-formulaic, non-
terms,evenif it werepossible,
mnemonic wouldbea wasteoftime,forsuchthought,
onceworkedthrough,couldneverberecovered asit couldbe
withanyeffectiveness,
but simplya passing
with the aid of writing.lt wouldnot be abidingknowledge
thought.(8-9,34-35)
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 landowners in an increasingly hierarchical societyobviously obtained more
power, as did the Church, which benefited from increasing surplus wealth.
Those who made and sold the technology also obtained a degreeof status,
power, and wealth. What about the farm workerl Those freemen in a tribal
societywho lost their land and becameserfs obviously lost power. But were
any serfs better off, either safer or better fed, than before feudalism, as apol-
ogists for the Middle Ages used to arguel I do not know how one could
answersuch questions,though one component of an answeris certain: even
if one had far more detailedevidenceaboutliving conditions of the poor than
we do, no answer will come forth garbed in neutrality, becauseone cannot
even begin to consider one's answer without first deciding what kind of
weight to assign to matters such as the relative value of nutrition, safery
health, power, and status both in our own and in an alien culture. Another
thing is clear as well: the introduction of new technologyinto a culture cuts
at leasttwo ways.
Like other forms of technology,those involving information have shown
a double-edgedeffect,though in the long run-sometimes the run has been
very long indeed-the result has always been to democratize information
and power. Writing and reading, which first belongedto a tiny elite, appears
in the ancient Middle Eastas an arcane skill that supports the power of the
state by recording taxes,property, and similar information. Writing, which
can thus conserveor presewe, has other political effects,Ong tells us, and
"shortly after it first appeared,it servedto freezelegal codesin early Sumeria"
(Orality and Literacy,4t).Only careful examinationsof the historical evidence
can suggestwhich groups within society gained and which lost from such
recording. In a particular societywithin a particular battle offorces, only
nobility or nobility and priesthood could have gained,whereasin other situ-
ations the common person could havebenefitedfrom stability and clearlaws.
Another political implication inheres in the fact that a "chirographic
(writing) culture and even more a typographic (print) culture can distance
and in a way denature eventhe human, itemizing such things as the names
ofleaders and political divisions in an abstract,neutral list entirely devoid of
a human action context. An oral culture has no vehicle so neutral as a list"
$2).The introduction of writing into a culture effectsmany changes,and all
of them involve questions of power and status.When it first appearedin the
ancient world, writing made its possessorsunique. Furthermore, if writing
changesthe way peoplethink as radicallyas Mcluhan, Ong, and others have
claimed, then writing drove a sharp wedge betweenthe literate and the illit-
erate,encourageda sharp division betweenthesetwo groups that would rap-
339
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 at "local book fairs and libraries" to teach himself mathematicswith little or
no outsidehelp (2a5).First with writing, then with print, and now with hyper-
text, one observesincreasing synergy produced when readerswidely sepa-
rated in spaceand time build upon one another'sideas.
Tom McArthur's history of referencematerialsprovidesanotherreminder
that all developmentsand inflections of such technology servethe interests
"compilers of
of particular classesor groups. The early-seventeenth-century
the hard-word dictionaries" did not in the manner of modern lexicographers
set out to record usage.Instead, they achievedgreat commercial successby
"transferring the word-store of Latin wholesaleinto their own language . . .
They sought (in the spirit of both the Renaissanceand Reformation) to
broaden the base of the educatedElect.Their works were for the nonschol-
arly, for the wives of the gentry and the bourgeoisie,for merchants and arti-
sansand other aspirantsto elegance,education,and power" (87).Thesedic-
tionaries sewed,in other words, to diffuse statusand power,and the members
of the middle classeswho createdthem for other members of their classes
self-consciouslyfollowed identifiable political aims.
The dictionary createdby the French Academy,McArthur reminds us,
also embodiesa lexicographicalprogram that had clear and immediate polit-
ical implications. Claude Favre de Vaugelas,the amateur grammarian who
directed the work of the Academy,sought "to regulate the French language
in terms of aristocraticgood taste" as a means of making French the "social,
political and scientific successorto Latin" (93).This dictionary is one of the
most obviousinstancesof the way print technologysponsorsnationalism,the
vernacular,and relativedemocratization.It standardizesthe languagein ways
that empower parlicular classesand geographicalareas,inevitably at the ex-
penseof others. Nonetheless,it alsopermits the eventualhomogenization of
languageand a corollary,if long-in-coming, possibility of democratization.
By the end ofthe eighteenth century Kernan argues, print technology
had produced many socialand political changesthat transformed the faceof
the literary world. 'An older system of polite or courtly letters-primarily
oral, aristocratic,amateur,authoritarian, court-centered-was sweptawayat
this time and graduallyreplacedby a new print-based,market-centered,dem-
ocratic literary system" (4). Furthermore, by changing the standard literary
roles of scholar,teacher,and writer, print "noticeably increasedthe impor-
tance and the number of critics, editors, bibliographers,and literary histori-
ans" at the same time that it increasingly freed writers from patronageand
statecensorship.Print simultaneouslytransformed the audiencefrom a few
readersof manuscripts to a larger number "who bought books to read in
341
T H E P O L I T ' C SO F the privacy of their homes."Copyright law,which datesfrom this period, also
HYPERTEXT redefined the role of the author by making "the author the owner of his
own writing" (4-5).
Like earlier technologiesof information and culturalmemory, electronic
computing has obviouspolitical implications. As GregoryUlmer argueddur-
ing a recent conferenceon electronic literacy,artificial intelligence projects,
which use computers either to model the humanmind or to make decisions
that peoplewould make, necessarilyembodya particular ideologyand a par-
ticular conceptionof humanity.loWhat, then, are the political implications of
hlpertert and hlpertert systemsl
I proposeto begin examining that question by looking at the political im-
plications ofevents describedin a scenariothat opened an ardcle on hyper-
tert in literary education that I published severalyears ago. It is 8:00 p.m.,
and, after having helped put the children to bed, Professorfones settlesinto
her favoritechair and reachesfor her copyof Milton's Pqrodiselost to prepare
for tomorrow's class.A scholarwho specializesin the poetry of Milton's time,
she returns to the poem as one turns to meet an old friend. Reading the
poem'sopening pages,she once again encountersallusions to the Old Testa-
ment, and because she knows how seventeenth-centuryChristians com-
monly read these passages,she perceivesconnectionsboth to a passagein
Genesisand to its radical Christian transformations. Furthermore, her pre-
vious acquaintancewith Milton allows her to recall other passageslater in
Paradiselost that refer to this and relatedparts of the Bible. At the sametime,
she recognizesthat the poem's opening lines pay homage to Homer, Vergil,
Dante, and Spenserand simultaneously issue them a challenge.
Meanwhile fohn H. Smith, one of the most conscientious students in
Professor fones's survey of English literature, begins to prepare for class.
What kind of a poem, what kind of text, doeshe encounterl WhereasProfes-
sor Jonesexperiencesthe great seventeenth-centuryepic sihrated within a
field of relations and connections,her student encounters a far barer, less
connected,reducedpoem, most of whose allusions go unrecognizedand
almost all of whose challengespass by unperceived.An unusually mature
student, he pausesin his reading to check the footnotes for the meaning of
unfamiliar words and allusions, a few of which he finds explained.Suppose
one could find a way to allow Smith to experiencesome of the connections
obviousto Professorfones. Supposehe could touch the opening lines of Par-
adise Lost,for instance, and the relevant passagesfrom Homer, Vergil, and
the Bible would appear,or that he could touch another line and immediately
encountera list of other mentions of the sameideaor image later in the poem
342
HYPERTEXT
3.0 or elsewherein Milton's writing-or, for that matter, interpretations and crit-
ical judgments made since the poem's first publication-and that he could
then call up any or all of them.
This scenariooriginally endedwith my remark that hypertextallows stu-
dents to do "all these thingsl' Now I would like to ask what such a scenario
implies about the political relations that obtain between teachersand stu-
dents, readers and authors. These issues, which writers on hypertext have
long discussed,also arose in questions I encountered when delivering in-
vited talks on my experiencesin teaching with hypertext. One of the admin-
istrators at my own university,for example,askeda question I at first thought
rather curious but have since encountered frequently enough to realize is
quite typical for those first encountering the medium. After I had shown
some of the ways that hypertext enabledstudents to follow far more connec-
tions than everbefore possiblebetweentexts and context, she askedif I was
not worried becauseit limited the students too much, becauseit restricted
them only to what was available on the system. My first response then as
now was to remark that as long as I used print technologyand the limited
resourcesof a very poor university library no administrator or member of the
faculty everworried that I found myself unable to suggestmore than a very
limited number of connections,say,five or six, in a normal classdiscussion;
now that I can suggestsix or ten times that number, thus permitting students
a far richer, less controlled experienceoftext, helpful educatorssuddenlybe-
gin to worry that I am "limiting" students by allowing them accessto some
potentially totalitarian system.
One part ofthe reasonfor this reactionto educationalhypertextlies in
a healthy skepticism. Another appearsin the way we often judge new ap-
proachesto pedagogyas simultaneously ineffective,even educationallyuse-
less, and yet overpoweringly and dangerouslyinfluential. Nonetheless,the
skepticaladministrator raisedimportant questions,for she is correctthat the
information availablelimits the freedom of students and general readers
alike. At the early, still experimental stagein the development of hypertext
when I was askedthat question, one had to pay great attention to ensuring a
multiplicity of viewpoints and kinds of information. For this reason I em-
phasize creating multiple overviewsand sets of links for various document
sets,and I also believethat one must produce educationalmaterials collabo-
ratively whenever possible; as I have suggested,such collaboration is very
easyto carry out between individual instructors in the same deparLmentas
well as betweenthose in different disciplines and different institutions. Now
343
T H E P O L I T I C SO F that the'World Wide Web includes so much information, finding the multiple
HYPERTEXT points of view and learning how to evaluatethem becomecrucial.
Severalkey features of hypertext systems intrinsically promote a new
kind of academicfreedom and empowerment. Reader-controlledtexts per-
mit studentsto choosetheir own way.The political and educationalnecessity
for this feature provides one reasonwhy hypertert systemsmust alwayscon-
tain both bidirectional links and efficient navigational devices;otherwise
developerscan desffoy the educationalvalue of hypertext with instructional
systemsthat alienateand disorient readersby forcing them down a predeter-
mined path as if they were rats in a maze. A secondfeature of hypertefi that
has crucial political implications appearsin the sheerquantity of information
the reader encounters, since that quantrty simultaneously protects readers
againstconsffaint and requires them to readactively,to make choices.A third
liberating and empowering quality of (read-write)hypertext appearsin the
fact that the readeralsowrites and links, for this power,which removesmuch
ofthe gap in conventional status relations between reader and author, per-
mits readersto read activelyin a much more powerfirl way-by annotating
documents, arguing with them, leaving their own traces. As long as any
reader has the power to enter the system and leavehis or her mark, neither
the !'r'anny of the center nor that of the majority can impose itself. The very
open-endednessof the text also promotes empowering the reader.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 sharp division betweenauthor and readerthat characterizespage-boundtext
begins to blur and threatensto vanish, with severalinteresting implications:
first, by contributing to the system,users acceptsome responsibility for
materials anyonecan read;and second,studentsthus establisha community
of learning, demonstrating to themselvesthat a large part of any investiga-
tion rests on the work of others.
Writing about electronic information technology in general rather than
about hypertext in particular, Mcluhan proposed:"The 'simultaneous field'
of electronic information structures, today reconstitutesthe conditions and
need for dialogue and participation, rather than specialism and private ini-
tiative in all levels of social experience" (GutenbergGalaxy,141).Mcluhan's
point that electronicmedia privilege collaborative,cooperativepractice,which
receivesparticular support from hypertext,suggeststhat such media embody
and possibly support a certain political systemor construction ofrelations of
power and status.f . Hillis Miller similarly arguesthat "one important aspect
ofthese new technologiesofexpressionand researchis political.Thesetech-
nologies are inherently democratic and transnational. They will help create
new and hitherto unimagined forms of democracy,political involvement,
obligation, and power" ("Literary Theoryi' 20).Writing in the spring of 1989,
Miller commented: "Far from being necessarilythe instruments of thought
control, as Orwell in 1984foresaw,the new regime of telecommunications
seemsto be inherently democratic. It has helped bring down dictator after
dictatorin the pastfew months" (21).
Hypermedia seemsto embody a truly decentered,or multiply centered,
politics that seemsthe political equivalentof Richard Rorty'sedifying philos-
ophy whose purpose is "to keep the conversationgoing rather than to find
objectivetmth . . . The danger which edifying discoursetries to avert is that
some given vocabulary some way in which people might come to think of
themselves,will deceivethem into thinking that from now on all discourse
could be, or should be, normal discourse.The resulting freezing-overof cul-
ture would be, in the eyesof edifying philosophers,the dehumanization of
human beings" (3771.ttLike Bakhtin and Derrida, Rorty presentshis views as
an explicit reaction againsttotalitarian centrism. Bakhtin had the exampleof
Marxist-Leninism, particularly during the Stalin years,whereasDerrida and
Rorty react against Plato and his heirs in a manner reminiscent of Karl Pop-
per inThe OpenSocietyand lts Enemies.t2 Hypertext is potentially the techno-
logical embodiment of such a reaction and such a politics.
Gregory Ulmer comments that "the use of communications technology
is a concretizationof certain metaphysicalassumptions,consequentlythat it
345
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Revolution,an oral history of women's experienceof the conflict. During the
next few years, Naume M. Ziyambi contributed sections of her study of
women's groups in Zimbabwe while Maurice Taonezvi Vambe added his
"Gender and Class Issuesin the PostcolonialZimbabwean Novel."As I was
writing this section, Phillip Chidavaenzi,a Zimbabwean journalist, sent in
another essay.
The chief value of placing these essaysonline is simply that Zimbab-
weans can speak-or rather, write-for themselvesra*rer than having crit-
ics from the Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United Stateswrite for
them. Such self-representationon the Web will not solvethe current terrible
problems in Zimbabwe, nor will it instantly rival publications produced by
major Europeanand American presses.It will, however,lessenthe degreeto
which postcolonialcriticism tends to repeatthe pattern of colonizers,impos-
ing cultural definitions from Europeupon the local scene.To a small extent,
this and similar proiects begin to fulfill Geert Lovinck's claim that "future
media politics is about empowerment,not about representingthe Other.The
goal of the democratization of the media is the elimination of all forms of
mediatedrepresentationand artificial scarcityof channels.There arenowthe
technical possibilities to let people speakfor themselves"(Dork Fiber,39).
The political value of placing such materials on a website (whoseseryers
incidentally reside in Singaporeand the United States)lies in the fact that
these essaysbecomelocation independent, accessiblefrom anywherein the
world to someone connectedto the Internet. Such location independence
also means that they evadecensorship by local authorities, something that
contributors to the site appreciate.The Postcolonial
Literatureand CultureWeb
receivescontributions from Nigerians living in South Africa, SouthAfricans
living in Ghana, and a host of contributors from Canada,South Asia, Aus-
tralia, and so on.
Severaltimes now I have found myself letting contributors redefine the
scope of the PostcolonialLiteratureand Culture Web,which I originally in-
tendedto include only Anglophone literature, after they wrote to me pointing
out that they could find no other sitesto include their work. Newly addedsec-
tions for Canada, Sri Lanka, and the Caribbean obviously fit the original
description of the site, but when Louise Vijoen, who teachesin the depart-
ment of Afrikaans and Dutch, University of Stellenbosch,submitted materi
als on writing in Afrikaans and others sent in essayson francophoneculture,
I found room for them on the site, too. Writings on contemporaryNepali lit-
erature followed, but the biggest stretch appearsin the section on Morocco,
where the languagesdiscussedare Arabic, Berber,and French.This addition
347
theydesire
to havewordscontinuously andkeptalive.Wedo notbelieve
spoken that
wordscanbecome
independent thatborethem,ofthe humanswho
ofthe speech
controlled
andgavebirthto them.Canwordsexchanged
todayon thisclearing
sur-
roundedby wavinggrassbecomelikea childleftto be broughtup by strangersl
to the stranger,
Wordssurrendered likethe abandoned
child,will becomealien-a
stranger
to ourtongues.
Thepaperisthestranger's
ownpeculiarcustom.Amongourselves,
speechisnot
likerock.Wordscannotbetakenfromthe peoplewhocreatethem.People
arethe
words.(39-40)
Vera makes the additional point that although the Shona do not possess
Europeanalphanumeric writing, they do employ multiple systemsof written
348
HYPERTEXT
3.0 signs. The narrator explains that the chief "bears proud marks on his fore-
head, and on his legs," and although "the stranger" seesonly scars,these
marks "distinguish him," signifying his individuality and status.In addition,
he occasionally"bears other signs that are less permanent, painted for par-
ticular rituals and festivities. He can even invent signs that will immediately
be understoodby his peopleas his own. Indeed, these signs help to commu-
nicatesacredmessagesamong the people"(40).
The gap between Shonaand British attitudes toward languageproduces
confusion and comedywhen a well-meaning Anglican priest tries to convert
Kaguvi, one of the leadersof the Chimurenga, to Christianity. Yvonne Vera
brilliantly dramatizesa clashof cultures in which two sincere,believing indi
vidualsmisconceiveeachother'spositions.Kaguvi,whom Verapresentsasthe
embodiment of oral culture, finds the notion that a printed book could con-
tain divinity intenselyproblematic,in part becausefor him, like Socrates,writ-
ing separatesthe words ofthe speakerfrom his or her presence.Sincehe does
not come from a print culture, the kind of multiplicity characteristicof a book
puzzleshim, and as he points out to the Christian, his is a "strange" god who
"is inside your book, but he is also in many booksl' In contrast,to this book-
bound divinity, he explains: "My god lives up above.He is a pool of water in
the sky.My god is a rain-giver. I approachmy godthrough my ancestorsand
my mudzimu. I brew beer for my god to praise him, and I dance.My mud-
zimu is alwayswith me, and I pay tribute to my protectivespirit" (105).13
In Charles Mungoshi's Waitingfor the Rain, which is set half a century
after Nehanda, another wise old man rejects the white man's information
technology.Mungoshi, who refusesto sentimentalize either modem or tra-
ditional ways,createscomplexportraits of the gapbetweengenerationsasthe
secondChimurenga, or war of liberation, begins.When the young would-be
revolutionariesapproachthe Old Man in hopesthat he will tell them what he
recallsfrom the first uprising against British colonial oppression,he refuses
to pass on his knowledge, in part becausethey badly misread his character,
in part becausehe feels their acceptanceof Westernways dooms them from
the start. Mungoshi presentsthe Old Man'srefusal as fundamentally related
to his rejection of modern information technologies,which he seesas inhu-
man, though he first presentsthis rejection as a matter of moral values.Be-
causethe young men made the mistake of telling him that they would put
what he tells them in a book, the publication of which might make him "rich
and famous,"he first focuseson that, sincehe claims that "by the way he said
it to me it seemsthat's all he is interestedin. Richesand fame. As if that were
349
According to the Old Man, then, any modern rebellion would fail since the
rebels have adopted Western ways. Given that Mungoshi wrote this novel
after the war for liberation had been won, the reader has to question the
speaker'sviews. Does he mean that any rebellion would fail, or that any re-
bellion, even if apparentlysuccessful,would only produce a pseudo-victory
since traditional culture would havebeen lostl
In one sense,or at one level, this statement appearsto reflect the simple
xenophobiaofthe defeated:anything from outsidethe group is bad, danger-
ous,destructive.Thus he finds his gluttonous wife's love ofrefined sugar,like
the widespreadhabit of drinking tea or listening to radios,equallydangerous
becauseeachrepresentssomething from outsidehis culture, though he does
not mention that many of his people'sbasic foodstuffs, such as maize, also
come from outside-in this casefrom the Americas.
In another sense,however,the Old Man raisesthe basic political issues
implicit in different information technologies;he acceptsthe value only of
speechwithin a small group, and any technologiesof cultural memory that
permit thoughts to be recorded or transported out of the presenceof the
speakerseem to him fundamentally wrong. Whether in the form of hand-
writing, book, or radio, modern information technologyremovesthe needfor
one person to be in the presenceof another for them to communicate. Like
Socrates(as Derrida reminds us), the Old Man emphasizesthe human costs
but not the benefits ofsuch technology.
In addition to making the collision of oral and writing cultures a para-
digm of the colonial experience,African, Maori, Samoan,and other novelists
self-consciouslytry to createthe effect of an oral culture in their works, often
by the use of proverbs,rituals, and formal orations. Chidi Okonkwo points
350
HYPERTEXT
3.0 out that "the importance of orality in the first generation of [postcolonial]
novels certainly eluded the first generation ofreaders and critics, whose re-
sponsesdefined European approachesto the novel for half a century" (33).
JayalakshmiV. Rao has catalogueddozens of the proverbs Chinua Achebe
cites in Anow of God, ThingsFall Apart, and No Longerat Ease,and she also
shows his use of folktales in his writings. In Antills of the Savannah,Ikem's
speechto his countrymen who have come to the capitol to inform the gov-
ernment of their plight, like many such addressesin recent African novels,
attempts to recreatethe glories of an oral culture within the novel, the genre
that epitomizes print culture. Duzia's funeral oration for Adda in Ken Saro-
Wiwa's 'A Death in Town," though far briefer, works in much the same way
by demonstrating the force and eleganceof the speaker'swords.
The central importance of the colonial importation-and imposition-
of writing and print on indigenous oral cultures problematizes Ngugi Wa
Thiong'o's famous decisionto abandonwriting novelsin English and thence-
forth write only in his nativelanguage,Gikuyu. Ngugi'sdeclarationprompted
a fiery often bitter debate,containing, as it had to, claims of authenticity and
revolutionary commitment. I don't proposeto rehearsethese debatesagain,
but I would like to draw attention to a set of associatedissues,which place
the entire subject in an important light. Following Mcluhan and Goody,I
want to emphasizethat the movement from an oral to a print culture brings
such radical changesin conceptionsof self, authorship, society,and ver-
bal arts that the question of which languageis more authentic to a particular
indigenous people seems incredibly ill-conceived.Whether writing in
Gikuyu or English, Ngugi thinks and expresseshimself in a way foreign to
precolonialtimes. This is not all. The modern novel, a literary genre that
derivesfrom-and epitomizes-print culture, representsa major European
influence on a colonized people.The novel, in other words, is a major colo-
nial imposition on African and other oral cultures. One can appropriateit,
and turn it against its originators: think of Wide SargassoSea'srewriting of
Jane Eyreor Jack Maggsas a rebuttal to Great Expectations.But one simply
cannot wite an authentic work of orality. Of course,there are many political
justifications for promoting the language of a nation newly freed from an
imperial power, and one does not have to go to Africa for examplesof lan-
guagesthat countrieshaverevivedor evencreatedas an act ofdecolonization:
the invention of Norwegian after Norway'sindependencefrom Denmark in
the nineteenth century and Gaelicafter Ireland's independencefrom Bdtain
in the twentieth.
Having observeda few examplesof the way existing hyper-
Hypertextas Paradigm media projects do in fact answer some needsof various post-
colonial countries, I'd now like to examine the usefirlnessof
for Postcoloniality
hypertext as a paradigm for understanding postcolonial (or
decolonized)cultures. It is hardly surprising that hypertext and postcolonial
theory both of which have important parallels to poststructuralist thought,
havemuch in common, but becausehypertextlexiastake part in a networked
structure, resist simple lineairy, and show that a complex entity can exist
within multiple contextswithout losing its identity they haveproved particu-
larly useful when discussing postcolonialities.Although my students and I
createdan early version of The PostcolonialWebln 1992,I don't think I real-
ized the full implications of hypertextfor postcolonialtheory until faishreeK.
Odin, associateprofessorat the University of Hawaii, Manoa, sent in her es-
say,"The Performative and Processual:A Study of the Hypertext/Postcolo-
nial Aesthetic."Drawing on the first versionof Hypefiert,Odin pointed out
how this information technologymodeled key issuesof postcolonialtheory:
Thepostcolonial
critiqueof unitarymodelsof sublectivity thatallsuchmod-
reveals
elsarebasedon binarythinkingthatcreates likeselfandother,maleand
categories
theprivileged
firstworldandthirdworldwherethefirsttermis always
female, term.
binarymodels,
Rejecting postcolonial
theoristsdescribe aswellas
bothsub,iectivity
decentered
experience andpluralistic. mediacanbeusedasmetaphor
Theelectronic
(represented
to thecultureatlargeastheCulture
whatis happening
fordescribing by
group)is beingdisplaced
thedominant byminority whichdemandrecogni-
cultures
aswellascultural
tionoftheirhistories productions. comPuters
Justasin networked
diverse,
sometimes contradictory in hypertext
canexistsimultaneously
information,
format,so it is in culturally societies
diverse sometime
withdifferent, contradictory
Theperson's
narratives. location what
basedon race,class,andgenderdetermines
perspective
willbetaken.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 specific."In a desire"aboveall to remain free of ideologicalfactionalism,"anti-
colonial rhetoric in Africa relied too heavily on empty abstractions."To it,
there was only today and tomorrow, bondageand freedom. It never paused
long enough to give its ideal of 'freedom' a content. Specifically,it implicitly
rationalized, exposedthe movement to the risk of division. Typically,there-
fore,the radicalanticolonialwriters tendedto romanticizethe resistancemove-
ment and to underestimate-even theoreticallyto suppress-the dimensions
within it." Unawareof "groups and individuals working with quite different,
and often incompatible, aspirations for the future" (5), many of the revolu-
tionaries set themselvesup for failure and disillusionment.
The history of how the terrible situation in Zimbabwe has been reported
in Western mass media provides an example of the way a clich6d binary
opposition-here black African versuswhite European-long preventedthe
world from understanding what was taking place.As Richard Mugabe'sgov-
ernment plunged further into corruption and inefficiency, he proclaimed
that he was satisfying the demands of Zimbabweansfor land that had been
appropriatedby the British during the dayswhen the country was a British
colony called Rhodesia.The international media, which likes its news pre-
packaged,immediately presentedMugabe'sversion of eventsbecause,after
all, isnt the split between black and white, colonized and colonizer, rich
farmer and poor, dispossessedfarm worker the central fact of this situationl
Well, actuallyit isnt. In fact, it doesn'texist.As a black Zimbabwean contrib-
utor to The PostcolonialWeb(she identifies herself publicly only as "Fliss")
pointed out in a seriesof communications in May 2000, Mugabe brilliantly
manipulated the racial bigotries of the international press:
2. "The farms of mixed and black people havealso been invadedin a pattern
that suggeststhe invasionsare political rather than racial, eg. the farm work-
ers that are beaten and harassedare those that support the opposition, the
white farmers that were killed were prominent supportersof the main oppo-
sition party as were all the black people killed so far."
3. [Those who attackedwhite and black farmers were not, as the press re-
ported,veteransof the war of independence,most of whom were in their six-
353
5. "Many of the peoplewho own farms today bought them legitimately after
independenceat fair market value.Many of them are fourth generationZim-
babweanswho embracedthe hand of reconciliation that Mugabe offered at
independence.Why is he choosingto take the land back now when he'shad
twenty yearswith willing co-operationfrom the British and the white farmers l "
theproblem
of thelocalandglobal.Netactivists withthe
andartistsareconfronted
dilemmabetweenthesupposedlyfriction-free
machinicglobalityandtheexperience
needto berootedin localstructures.
in orderto besuccessful,
thatsocialnetworks,
culturepopsupin places
Internet wherecrystals freedom
of (media) havebeenfound
At the sametimethenetis constantly
before. theverysamelocaltiesit
subverting
354
HYPERTEXT
3.0 growsoutof whilecreating
newformsof "glocality."
Thechoiceof globalor localis a
falseone.(DarkFiber,63)
HYPERTEXT
3.0 era colonies,such as Belarusand the Ukraine, neverwere ableto redefinethe
center/margin relation of empire and colony:
Unlike
western colonies,whichhaveincreasingly
talkedbackto theirformermasters,
Russia's
colonieshaveby and largeremained mute,sometimes lackingWestern-
educatednational
elitesandalwayslacking
theencouragement ofwesternacademia
thatforegroundingissuesrelevant
to themwouldafford.Theycontinueto be per-
ceivedwithinthe paradigmsrelevantto Russia,
the objectsof Russian
perception
ratherthansubjects
responding
to theirownhistories,
perceptions,
andinterests. In
that connection,
the perception
of postcolonialist
commentators that historyrs
"thediscourse
throughwhichtheWesthasasserted its hegemony
overthe restof
theworld"is incorrect.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 democraticempowerment dependsultimately on the individual reader-author's
accessto enormous networks ofinformation. As Norman Meyrowitz admits,
"Down deep,we all think and believethat hypertextis a vision that sometime
soonthere will be an infrastructure, national and international, that supports
a network and community of knowledge linking together myriad types of
information for an enornous varietyof audiences"(2).The personoccupying
the roles of readerand author musthave accessto information, which in prac-
tice means accessto a network-the Internet. For the writer this accessbe-
comesessential,for in the hypertextworld accessto a network is publication.
Considered as an information and publication medium, hypertext pre-
sents in starkest outline the contrast between availability and accessibility.
Textscan be availablesomewherein an archive,butwithout cataloguing,sup-
port personnel, and opportunities to visit that archive, they remain unseen
and unread. Since searchtools havemade materials within a hypertext envi-
ronment much easierto obtain, it simultaneously threatensto make any of
those not present seem even more distant and more invisible than absent
documents in the world of print are felt to be. The political implications of
this contrastseemclearenough: gaining accessto a network permits a text to
exist as a text in this new information world. Lyotard,who arguesthat knowl-
edge"can fit into the new channels,and becomeoperational,only if learning
is translated into quantities of information," predicts that "anything in the
constituted body of knowledge that is not translatable in this way will be
abandonedand that the direction ofnew researchwill be dictatedby the pos-
sibility of its eventual results being translatable into computer language"
(Postmodem Condition,4).Antonio Zampolli, the Italian computationallin-
guist and past president of the Association of Literary and Linguistic Com-
puting, warns about this problem when he suggestsan analogybetweenthe
Gutenberg revolution and what he terms lhe infortnatizationof langaages:
"Languageswhich have not been involved with printing, have become di
alectsor havedisappeared.The samecould happento languagesthat havenot
been 'informatized"' (47) transferredto the world of electronic text storage,
manipulation, and retrieval. As Lyotard and Zampolli suggest, individual
texts and entire languagesthat do not transfer to a new information medium
when it becomesculturally dominant will become marginalized, unimpor-
tant, virh-rallyinvisible.
Although a treatiseon poetry,horticulture, or warfare that existedin half
a dozen manuscripts may have continued to exist in the same number of
copies severalcenturies after the introduction of printing, it lost power and
status,exceptas a unique collector'sitem, and becamefar harder to use than
35'l
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 such as the laser, have required less than a tenth the time to complete the
sameprocess.This accelerationofthe dispersaloftechnological changesug-
gests,therefore, that the transition from print to electronic hypertext, if it
comes,will therefore take far less time than did earlier transitions.
The history of the print technologyand culture aiso suggeststhat as the
Web becomeseven more culturally important than it alreadyis, it will do so
by enabling large numbers of people either to do new things or to do old
things more easily.Furthermore, such a shift in information paradigmswill
seeanother version of what took place in the transition to print culture: an
overwhelming percentageof the new textscreated,like Renaissanceand later
how-to-do-itbooks,will answerthe needsof an audienceoutsidethe academy
and hence will long remain culturally invisible and objectsof scorn, particu-
larly among those segmentsof the cultural elite who claim to know the true
needsof "the peoplel' The enormous number of online diaries,political and
other parodies,examplesof self-publishedfiction and poetry',and conversion-
tales by peoplewith alternativelifestylesrevealsthat for many such a change
has alreadytaken place.The activereadershypertext createscan meet their
needsonly if they can find the information they want, and to find that infor-
mation they must have accessto the Internet and local text- and databases
that require specialaccess.Similarly, authors cannot fully assumethe autho-
rial function if they cannot placetheir texts on a network, something at first
impossible on the World Wide Web unless the author had accessrights to a
sewer. Blogs with comment functions, as we have observed,allow the Web
readerto act as a Web author, too.ls
THE POLITICS OF ments that had been flaggedas the cream of Slashdot."When numbers con-
HYPERTEXT tinued to grow Malda decidedto have anyonewho logged into Sloshdotand
"read an averagenumber of times-no obsessivecompulsive reloaders,and
nobodywho just happenedto readan artide this week"-serve asa moderator.
Moderatorsreceive"points of influence" that expire after three days,or
when they use up their allotment, since "each comment they moderate
deductsa point. When they run out of points, they are done servinguntil next
time it is their turni' In evaluatingcomments, Slashdotmoderators select"an
adjectivefrom a drop down list that aPpearsnext to comments containing
'Flamebait' or 'Informative.' Badwords will reducethe
descriptivewords like
comment's score by a single point, and good words increase a comment's
score by a single point. All comments are scoredon an absolute scalefrom
-1 to 5," although they are adjusted accordingto onek past performance, or
"karma."16Malda emphasizesto moderators,who are urged to judge impar-
tially,that they should "concentratemore on promoting than demoting,"since
their goal should be to "sift through the haystackand find needles.And to
keep the children who like to spam Slashdotin checki'The editors,who still
moderateabout 3 percent of contributions, try to protect the user-moderators
by screeningmajor spammers,since"a singlemalicious user can post dozens
of comments,which would require severalusersto moderatethem down, but
a single admin can take care of it in secondsl'
Slashdothasseveralmeansto preventabuseby moderators,the most sim-
plest and basic of which is the rule that they cannot participate in a discus-
sion they moderate.The more complex means involvesmetamoderation,or
M2, which the site usesto checkthe quality of decisions,removing bad mod-
eratorsand rewarding good oneswith additional mod points. Any activeuser
who has been a member of the site for at least severalmonths can serveas a
metamoderatoras well as a moderator.
Slashdotrepresentsa fascinatingly successfirlexperiment in large-scale
online collaborationand readerempowerment. It doesnot, however,embody
cyber-utopianInternet anarchy,for, as Malda'shistory of the site reveals,he
quickly discoveredthat Sloshdotneededa moderator to protect it from vandals.
Furthermore, as soon as he and the other editors tried to share power with
users, they realized that they had "to limit the power of each person to pre-
vent a single rogue from spoiling it for everyoneJ'Although the editors still
maintain control of Slashdotand havefinal sayon overall policies, they have
transformed it into a collaborativeventure, which means that in large part,
they haveturned most of the enterprise overto the users,who act at different
times as contributors, readers,moderators, and judges of the moderators.
3il
HYPERTEXT
3.0 Comparing this multiuser blog to offiine publishers, one realizesthat it has
retained certain featuresof the print world, such as editors with separatere-
sponsibilities,but at the same time it shareseditorial authority with its large
body of users, making most of Slashdotan example of decentered,distrib-
uted power. Interestingly enough, protecting the communal enterprisewhile
sharing power and responsibility proved as crucial to the enterprise as soft-
ware. Although Slashd.ot
obviously employs many links, its hypertextuality
appearschiefly in its changing network ofreader-user-editors.
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 discussiongroups and severalvirtual gambling casinoswhose serversare
locatedoutsidethe United States.WagerNet,basedin Belize,and SportsInter-
national, based in Antigua, permit one to place sports wagers-$50 mini
mum bet for SportsInternational-and the CaribbeanCasino,which is based
in Turks and CaicosIslands,offers blackjackand lotteriesaswell aswagering
on sports.Theseestablishmentsescapelocal American lawsagainstgambling
both becauseit takesplacein virtual spaceand becausethe serverlies outside
a boundary that would permit law enforcement. According to William M.
Bulkley,"the JusticeDepartment sayscyberspacecasinosare illegal. But the
companies' offshore venues may protect them. And authorities will have a
tough time detectingwho's actuallybetting becausemany peoplewill be play-
ing the same games for free" (B1).The effect of cyberspace,in other words,
here is the opposite of that observedin the Thomas case:whereas in the
pornographycase,local authorities (with the assistanceof the U.S.postal
authorities)assertedtheir control overanotherjurisdiction, in this casethe lim-
its of U.S.sovereigntymeansthat no control is possible.Perhapsthe Thomases
should move offshore. Many spammers havealreadydone so.
A decadehas passedsince the appearanceof online casinos,and Matt
Richtel reports that "a new generation of online serviceslike Betfair has
emerged to allow sports bettors to wager not against the house but directly
againsteachother."Such peer-to-peerbetting, which has becomepopular in
Europe,Asia, and Australia, thus far takes two forms: Betfair,a British web-
site, permits would-bebettors to contacteachother,whereasBetbug,a newer
American Internet service,"is remarkably similar to file-sharing programs
like Kazaaand Morpheus, which let peopleexchangemusic and other media
over the Internet. Anyone downloading the Betbug software will be able to
proposea wager,then reachout to everyoneelseon the network to find a taker
for the bet."The Internet servicesmake their money by receivinga small per-
centageof the winning bet. fohn O'Malia, "an American entrepreneur based
in London," claims that he violatesno American laws "becausehe is not act-
ing asthe sportsbookmakerby setting the oddsor participating in the wager."
"What becomesof governmentin an electronicrevolutionl" asksfamesK.
Glassman,who assertsthat "government'sregulatoryfunctions could weaken,
or vanish. It's alreadya cinch on the Internet to get around the rules; censor-
ship, telecommunications restrictions and patent laws are easily evaded.
Eventax collection could becomenearly impossible when all funds are trans-
ferred by electronicimpulses that can be disguised."Glassmandescribes
the cyberpunk science-fictionworlds of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and
Neal Stephenson,in which the new information technologies prevent na-
367
THE POLITICS OF tional governments from controlling the flow of money and information,
HYPERTEXT thereby inevitably destroyingthem and transferring their power to other en-
tities, such as multinational corporationsand organized crime.
The apparentlyodd collocationofpolitics and pornography that appears
so explicitly in China and Singaporeturns out to be a common theme in the
intertwined histories of information technology, democratrzanon,and moder
nity. In fact, as Lynn Hunt has shown, "pornographyas a regulatory category
was invented as a responseto the perceivedmenace of the democratization
of culture . . . It was only when print culture opened the possibility of the
massesgaining accessto writing and pictures that pornography began to
emergeas a separategenre ofrepresentation" (12-13).Ifone definespornog-
raphy as "explicit depiction ofsexual organsand sexualpracticeswith the aim
of arousing sexualfeelings," then it almost alwaysappearsaccompaniedby
"something else until the middle or end of the eighteenth century. In early
modern Europe,that is, between 1500and 1800,pornographywasmost often
a vehicle for using the shock ofsex to criticize religious and political author-
ities" (10),and it was therefore linked "to freethinking and heresy,to science
and natural philosophy,and to attackson absolutistpolitical authority" (11).
As these examplessuggest,the World Wide Web and the Internet bring
with them the threat and promise of democratizedaccessto information-
all sorts of information, not all of it savoryor sane-but the degreeto which
information technology will change culture, government, and society very
much remains an open question. If, as we have observed,the very slightest
changesin technology(the size of a screen,the presenceor absenceof color,
forms of linking) often have surprisingly major effects on the way we read,
write, and think in e-space,then one cannot predict if governments will
finally control the forms of hypertext we shall encounter, or if they will appear
in forms that will provetoo powerful for presentconceptionsof space,power,
and the laws that shapethem.
HYPERTEXT
3.0 has pointed out that "as the model of the integratedprivate self of the author
fades,the rights of the author as a persistent self-identity also becomemore
evanescent,more difficult to define. If the work of an author no longer car-
ries with it definite physicalproperties as a unique original, as a book in def-
inite form, then the author'srights too grow more tenuous, more indistinct"
(Electic Language,22ll.If the author, like the text, becomesdispersedor mul-
tivocal, how does societyfairly assignlegal, commercial, and moral rightsl
Beforewe can begin to answersuch a question,we haveto recognizethat
our print-basedconceptionsofauthorial property and copyright evennow do
harm as well as good. They produce economicallyirrational effects,hinder-
ing as well as stimulating invention. Indeed, as |ames Boyle reminds us in
his splendid book about law and the construction of an information society,
copyright
isa fenceto keepthepublicoutaswellasa scaffolding dis-
forthebillboards
playedin themarketplace
of ideas;it canbe usedto denybiographers
theabilityto
quotefromorto paraphrase
letters; parody;
to silence to controlthepackaging,
context,
andpresentation
of information.
Tosaythatcopyrightpromotes theproduction
andcir-
culation
of ideasisto stateaconclusion Attheveryleastwe
andnotanargument. might
wonderif, in ourparticular
copyright thegainsoutweighthe losses.(l 8-l 9)
regime,
Boyle forcefully arguesthat the author paradigm, which provides the center
ofcopJtight law and our current visions ofintellectual properry,"produces
effectsthat are not only unjust, but unprofitable in the long term" (xiv),in part
becauseit only rewards certain kinds of creation to the detriment of others.
Using the examplesof the way Western scientistsand corporationscopy-
right materialsbasedon information derivedfrom communities in the Third
World, he demonstrateshow laws supposedlyintended to promote innova-
tion by rewarding creatorsrecognizeonly creativity and originality basedon
romantic authorship.
Centuries
of cultivation produces
byThirdWorldfarmers wheatandricestrains
with
valuable
qualities-inthe resistance
of disease,
say,or in the abilityto givegood
yieldsathighaltitudes.
Thebiologists, andgenetic
agronomists, engineers
of a West-
ernchemicalcompanytake
samples
ofthesestrains a littletoadd
andengineerthem
a g r e a t er re s i s t a ntcoef u n g u so r a t h i n n ehr u s k . . .T h ec h e m i c a
col m p a n ys' sc i e n -
tistsfit the paradigm
ofauthorship.
Thefarmers
areeverything
authorsshouldnot
be-their contribution
comesfroma community ratherthanan individual,
fromtra-
ditionratherthan
innovation,
fromevolution
ratherthan transformation.
Cuesswho
getsthecopyrightlNextyearthefarmersmayneeda license
to resowthe grainfrom
t h e i r c r o p (s1. 2 6 )
359
HYPERTEXT
3.0 as a derivative of something else or as what Baudrillard would call a simu-
lacrum. Traditional conceptionsof literary properry derive importantly from
ideasof original creation,and thesederivein turn from the existenceof mul-
tiple copiesofa printed text that is both fixed and unique. Electronictext pro-
cessingchanges,to varying degrees,all aspectsofthe text that had made con-
ceptions of authorial property practicableand even possible.Heim correctly
warns that an outmoded conceptionof "proprietary rights basedon the pos-
sessionof an original creation no longer permits us to adapt ourselvesto a
world where the technologicalbasisof creativework makes copying easyand
inevitable,"and that to protect creativitywe "must envision a wholly new
order of creativeownership" (Electic Language,IT0). But the problem we face,
Boylewarns, is that our "author-vision" of coplright and intellectual property
"downplays the importance of fair use and thus encouragesan absolutist
rather than a functional idea of intellectual properry" (139).
As StevenW. Gilbert testified before a congressionalcommittee, technol-
ogy alreadyboth extends conventional conceptions of intellectual property
and makes its protection difficult and even inconceivable:
It maysoonbetechnically
possible
for anystudent,teacher,
or researcher
to have
immediate
electronic fromanylocation
access to retrieve
andmanipulate
thefulltext
(including
pictures)
ofanybook,soundrecording, program
or computer everpub-
lished-andmore.Whenalmostanykindof "information"
in almostanymedium
cannowbe represented
andprocessed the rangeofthings
withdigitalelectronics,
thatcanbeconsidered
"intellectual
property"
is mind-boggling.
Perhaps
thebriefest
statement
of the needto redefine
termswas madeby HarlanCleveland in the
May/June
I989issueof Changemagazine:"Howcan'intellectual be'pro-
property'
tected'lThequestioncontains
the seedof its own confusion:
itl the wrongverb
aboutthewrongnoun."(l 6)
Attitudes toward the correct and incorrect use of a text written by some-
one else depend importantly on the medium in which that tert appears."To
copy and circulate another man'sbook," H. |. Chaytor reminds us, "might be
regardedas a meritorious action in the ageof manuscript; in the ageof print,
such action results in law suits and damages."tT
From the point of view of the
author of a print text, copying, virtual textuality, and hypertext linking must
appearwrong. They infringe upon one person'sproperty rights by appropri-
ating and manipulating something overwhich another person has no proper
rights. In contrast, from the point of view of the author of hypertext, for
whom collaborationand sharing are of the essenceof "writing," restrictions
on the availabilityof text, like prohibitions againstcopying or linking, appear
371
HYPERTEX3
T. 0 tions, easyuse of the widest range of information and related servicesmay
becomeavailableonly to individuals affiliated with a few large universities or
corporations" (14).Thus, dividing the world into the informationally rich and
informationally impoverished,one may add,would producea kind of techno-
feudalism in which those with accessto information and information tech-
nology would rule the world from electronicfiefdoms. William Gibson, fohn
Shirley, and other practitioners of cyberpunk sciencefiction have convinc-
ingly painted pictures of a grim future, much like that in the movie Blade
Runner,in which giant multinational corporationshavereal power and gov-
ernments play with the scrapsleft over.Now is the time to protect ourselves
from such a furure. Like many others concernedwith the future of education
and electronic information technology,Gilbert therefore urges that we must
develop"new ecowon'tic
mechanismsto democrqlizelhe useof infonnation, ond
economicmechanismsbeyondcopyight and patent. It would be a tragedyif the
technology that offers the greatesthope for democratizing information be-
came the mechanism for withholding it. We must make information acces-
sible to those who need it . . .Any pattern that resemblesinformation disen-
franchisement of the masses will become more obviously socially and
politically unacceptable"(17-18).
Most of the discussionsof copyright in the electronicage that I have
encountered recently fall into two sharply opposing camps. Those people,
like Gilbert, who considerissuesof authorial property from the vantagepoint
ofthe hypertextreaderor user ofelectronic text and dataemphasizethe need
for accessto them and want to work out some kind of equitablemeans of as-
signing rights, payment, and protection to all parties. Their main concern,
nonetheless,falls on rights of access.Others, mostly representativesof pub-
lishers, often representativesofuniversity presses,fiercely resist any ques-
tioning of conventional notions of authorship, intellectual property, and
copyright as iftheir livelihoods dependedon such resistance,as indeed they
well might. They argue that they only wish to protect authors and that with-
out the systemof refereedworks that controls almost all accessto publication
by university presses,standardswould plummet, scholarshipwould grind to
a halt, and authors would not benefit financially as they do now Theseargu-
ments havegreatpower,but it must be noted that commercial presses,which
do not alwaysuse referees,have published particularly important scholarly
contributions and that even the most prestigious pressesinvite thesis advi-
sorsto readthe work of their own studentsor havescholarsevaluatethe man-
uscripts of their close friends. Nonetheless,publishers do make an impor-
tant point when they claim that they firlfill an important role by vetting and
373
THE POLITICS OF then distributing books,and one would expectthem to retain such roles even
HYPERTEXT when their authors begin to publish their texts on networks.
Although almost all defensesof present versions of copyright I have en-
counteredclearlyusethe rights ofthe author or societyin largepart asa screen
to defend commercial interests,one issue,that of the authork moral rights,
is rarely discussed,certainly not by publishers. As fohn Sutherland explains
in 'Author's Rightsand TiansatlanticDifferences,"Anglo-Americanlawtreats
copyright solely in terms of property. "Continental Europe by contrast en-
shrines moral right by statute. In Franceand West Germany the author has
the right to withdraw his or her work after it has been (legally)published-
something that would be impossible in Britain or the United Stateswithout
the consent of the publisher . . . In fFranceand West Germany], publishers
who acquire rights to the literary work do not 'own it,' as do their Anglo-
American counterparts.They merely acquire the right to 'exploit' it."18
The occasionfor Sutherland'sarticle raises important questions about
rights of the hlpertext as well as the print author. In 1985an American his-
torian, Francis R. Nicosia, published The Third Reichond the PalestineQues-
tionwith the University of TexasPress,which subsequentlysold translation
rights to Duffel-Verlag,a Neo-Nazipublisher whose director "is (accordingto
Nicosia)identified by the West German Interior Ministry as the publisher of
the DeutscherMonatschefie, apublicationthat, among other matters,hastalked
'a
about coming Fourth Reichin which there will be no placefor anti-Fascists.
The path to selfdiscovery for the German peoplewill be overthe ruins of the
concentration camp memorials."' Believing that an associationwith Duffel-
Verlagwill damagehis personal and professionalreputation, the author has
complainedvigorouslyabouthis American publisher'streatment of his book.
Traditional Anglo-American law permits the author no recoursein such sit-
uations, but Sutherlandpoints out that "on October 31,1988,Ronald Reagan
signed into lawAmerica's ratification of the BerneConvention,"which grants
the author moral rights including that which preventsa publisher from act-
ing in ways "prejudicial to his honour and reputation."
The question arises,would an author whose tert appearson a hypertext
environment, such as the Web, find that text protected more or less than a
comparableprint authorl At first glance,one might think that Nicosiawould
find himself with evenfewer rights if his work appearedas a hypertext,since
anyone, including advocatesof a Fourth Reich, could link comments and
longer texts Io the Third.Reichand the PalestineQuestion.In 1991,
when I was
thinking in terms of full read-writesystemslike Intermedia, I wrote that such
an answeris incorrect for two reasons.First, in its hypertextversion Nicosia's
374
HYPERTEXT
3.0 monograph would not appearisolatedfrom its contextin the way its print ver-
sions does. Second(and this is really a restatementof my previous point), a
read-writehlpertext version would permit Nicosia to appendhis obiections
and any other materials he wished to include. Linking, in other words, has
the capacity to protect the author and his work in a way impossible with
printed volumes. Allowing others to link to one'stext therefore doesnot sac-
rifice the author'smoral rights. The problem with this responseis that since
we've ended up with the current World Wide Web, my original argument
turns out to be of only theoreticalvalue.The one way on the Web that an au-
thor could state(publish)) his objectionsto what someoneelsehas done to his
work involves creating a site in which he explains them. Since those inter-
estedin the relationship of Nazi Germanyto the Middle Eastwho are reading
a Web version would likely searchthe Internet, his responsewould appearin
searchresults very closeto his book.
On the Web, links can also associateone'swork with unexpectedor un-
wanted materials. Exploring focus.com,an online museum of experimental
digital photography,which includes one of my images,I followed links to the
sitesof other photographers,lookedat galleriesof their work, and then clicked
on a link for recommended sites,which brought me to a one called "CNPN-
BestErotic Nudes-Nude Gallery-Fine Art Nude Photography,"which con-
tains links to dozensof photographers'sites,including that of Kim Weston,
grandsonof the greatmaster of landscapeand the nude.What I found jarring,
however,was that abovethe list ofart photographersappearedlinks to hard-
core pornographic sites. In all fairness I haveto mention that all the art pho-
tographerslisted appearagainsta blue background,whereasall the porno ads
appearin blackboxes(exceptfor somein sidebars).Checkingthe supposedart
sites, I found that they in fact belongedto an international group ofphotog-
rapherswho did the kind of work one finds in galleriesand museums. These
sites, almost all of which were extremely elegant, included artists' biogra-
phies,Iists of exhibitions, and statementsabouttheir work aswell asWebgal-
leries containing selectionsfrom it. Although some of the images I encoun-
tered could be describedas erotic, a large number were experimental,highly
abstract,or emphasizedlandscapesettings-hardlythe kind of material that
would interest anyoneseekingpomography.Curious about how such profes-
sional work ended up juxtaposedto hardcore pornography,I e-mailed more
than a dozen photographers.In response,one replied that he did not know
that CNPN listed him, but most of them respondedthat when they agreedto
be listed on CNPN the site contained no links to pornography.Some were
very angry or disappointedand removedreturn links on their sitesto CNPN,
375
HYPERTEXT
3.0 another author's text markedly reduces the authority of that author, and if
only one party has accessto a tool like Portal Maximizer, the original author
is at a great disadvantage.One can view such technology as potentially de-
mocratizing, or, if it is only availableto a few, as potentially dangerous,which
raisesthe question,
Chapterl. Hypertext
1. An important caveat:here, right at the beginnin g,leI me assure my readers
that although I demonstrate that Barthes and Derrida relate in interesting and im-
portant ways to computer hypertext, I do not take them-or semiotics, poststruc-
turalism, or, for that matter, structuralism-to be essentiallythe same.
2. In fact, some of the most exciting student proiects and published examplesof
hypermedia take the form of testing, applylng, or critiquing specificpoints of theory,
including notions of the author, text, and multivocality. Cicero Ignacio da Siiva'sPlalo
OnJine: Nothing, Scienceand.Technology QAA3-4) exemplifies a particularly carnival-
esque,rambunctious experiment with conventional attitudes toward authorship and
its relation to conceptions of a work. The Brazilian scholar explains in Plato On-line,
which has no pagination, that "in order to test my hlpothesis that there is no work
without a 'signature,' and there is no 'safe' means to authenticate the signature of a
text and in a text on the internet," he created"hundreds" ofwebsites for fictional re-
search institutes, scientific journals, and survey centers "hosted by free-of-charge
providers (geocities,tripod, among others)" upon which he placed computer"
generatedtexts createdby a combination of "PERL and fava Script programming"
from "fragments of text from the internet." Each text is signed with 'Algorithm
[author's name]," such as ?lgorithm Giles Deleuze,"and the resultant text is "pur-
posefully unstructured and rarely makes any sense."A11the texts he keeps on the
Internet appearin Portuguese,which Babelfishthen translatesinto English, French,
German, and )apanese.FinaLly,Plato On-linernakesthe element of spoof quite clear
when it announces that it is "a serious journal interested only in publishing texts
written by electric generators.This magazine does not havethe intention to publish
anlthing that makes sense . . . The names of the authors are not true and all the
names are not from authors who exist [but from] programmed algorithms."
Nonetheless,da Silva has discoveredthat readerspersist in submitting "articles,
reviews on articles, and comments on the texts, etc." Moreover, despite the fact that
378
NOTES TO PAGES 5. A third (and last) caveat:as I pointed out in the introduction to Hyper/Tert/
3-r3 Theory,some hlpertext environments, which are not chiefly text- or image-based,
employ logical and conceptuailinks as a means of assisting organization, collabora-
tive work, and decision making. Systemslike Xerox PARC'sAcquanet and IDE thus
far have appealedto workers in computer and cognitive science investigating the
business applications of information technology. For Acquanet, see the articles by
Catherine C. Marshall listed in the bibliography; for IDE see those by Daniel Rus-
sell. Clara Mancini's 2003 doctoral dissertation includes a brief summary with
screen shots of various systemsof semantic hypertext.
6. The developersof Microcosm, currently the most advancedhypertext system
yet developed,similarly argue: "Thereshouldbeno artificial distinctionbetweenauthor
andread.er.Many systemshavean authoring mode and a readermode; such a system
is not open from the readert point of view. We believe that all users should have
accessto all parts of the system; this does not imply that one user will be able to
accessor change another's data, but implies that this aspect should be controlled
by the granted rights ofaccess to the operating system. Users should be able to cre-
ate their own links and nodes within their private workspace, then change the ac-
cessrights so that other users may view or edit them as required" (Hall, Davis, and
Hutchings, RethinkingHypermedia,30\.
7. The original text here read, "lntermedia, the hypertext system with which I
work," butshortlyaftertheprintpublicationof Hypertert,my sitdents and I foundour-
selvesforced to use severalother systemsafter Apple Computers, which had funded
a portion of the project, fundamentally changedits version of UNIX, thus halting de-
velopment-and eventually even the use-of Intermedia. Two firlly illustrated articles
describe IRIS Intermedia in detail: Yankelovich, Meyrowitz, and Drucker, "Inter-
media"; and Bemard |. Haan, IQhn, Riley,Coombs,and Meynowitz."IRIS Hypermedia
Servicesl'TheIntermedia sectionof my Cyberspace, Hryerturt,endCriticalTh.eoryweb-
site, which contains a detailed introduction to the system with many screenshots,
can be found arhq:l lwww.qberartsweb.orgt/ht/HTatBrown/Intermedia.htrnl. This
URL also provides information about obtaining Paul Kahn's archival video, Inter-
media:A Retrospective, from the Association of Computing Machinery.
8. One could make the same point about contributors to discussion lists, but
since these lists are intended to take the form ofgroup discussions, new contribu-
tions don't seem unusual, and one experienceswhat seemsa very different form of
collaboration.
9. Writers haveoffered other classificationsof links, often in terms of binary op-
positions. Thus in 1988,Paul Kahn compared objectiveto subjectivelinks, an oppo-
sition chiefly relevant to so-calledlegacytext-text, that is, translated into hypertext
from print or other paper presentation. According to Kahn, footnotes and cross ref-
erencesrepresent objectivelinks, becausethey are present in the original text struc-
ture, whereas subjectivelinks are addedby the person translating the document into
hypertextual form. Kahn's objectiveversus subjectivelinks appearclosely related to
Anna Gunder's analoganddigitallinks ('Aspectsof Linkologyi'112-13). Gunderalso
distinguishes between internal and external links: "Links within a work are called
intemallinkswhile links running between works are labeled ertemallinks" (ll3l.
380
N O T E ST O P A G E S 10. Such media reversals continue today, though for different reasons: Geert
29-35 Lovinkt Dark Fiber TiackingCntical Intemet Culture,which MIT Presspublished in
2002, reproduces essaysthat appeared on various Intemet discussion groups be-
tween 1995 and 2001. In this case,the characteristic qualities ofnetworked digital
text discussedlater in this section havebeen exchangedfor the relative fixiW and sra-
bility of print.
11.At conferencesI've severaltimes found myself defending Bolter and Grushin's
valuable idea of remediation from chargesthat it is too simple or limiting. Markku
Eskelinen and Raine Koskimaa, for example, claim that "the concept of remediation
carries worrying stabilizing effects with it. Whatever new form, mode or medium
there is, there s no time to study it and buiid a decent scholarship around it, as we
supposedto be immediately stuck with remediating it" (9). I don t seehow pointing
out that various information technologies remediate one another has any limiting
effects,and Bolter and Grushin's emphasis that we have to consider the place of any
particular form of IT (such as hypertext) within a media ecology,strikes me as an
essential place to begin, in large part becauseit goes a long way toward preventing
misunderstandings about supposed total oppositions of earlier and later technol-
ogies (such as, say,print and hypertext).
12. In Witing Space,Bolterexplains some of these costs: "Electronic text is the
first text in which the eiementsof meaning, of structure, and ofvisual dispiayare fun-
damentally unstable. Unlike the printing press,or the medieval codex,the computer
does not require that any aspectof writing be determined in advancefor the whole
life of a text. This restlessnessis inherent in a technology that records information
by coilecting for fractions of a second evanescentelectrons at tiny junctions of sili-
con and metal. All information, all data,in the computer world is a kind of controlled
movement, and so the natural inclination of computer writing is to change" (31).
13.Terry Eagleton'sexplanation ofthe way ideology relatesthe individual to his
or her society bears an uncanny resemblance to the conception of the virtual
machine in computing: "lt is as though society were not iust an impersonal struc-
ture to me, but a 'subject'which 'addresses'me personally-which recognizesme,
tells me that I am valued, and so makes me by that very act into a free, autonomous
subject. I come to feel, not exactly as though the world exists for me alone, but as
though it is significantly'centred'on me, and I in turn am significantly'centred'on
it. Ideology,for Althusser, is the set ofbeliefs and practiceswhich doesthis centrins"
(Literary Theory,172\.
14. Marie-Laure Ryan'sNanative and Virtual Reelity,which provides a valuable
discussion of virhrality with specific emphasis on its relation to immersi on (25_.471,
suggests "three distinct sensesof uidual; an optical one (the virbual as illusion), a
scholasticone (the virtuai aspotentiality), and an informal technological one (the vir-
tual as computer mediated)" (13).
15. Hayles'sdemand that we recognize the importance of embodiment and
materiality in a digital age derives from her recognition of the absurdity of some
postmodern claims: "Every epoch," she points out, "has beliefs, widely acceptedby
contemporaries,that appearfantastic to later generations . . . One contemporary be-
lief likely to stupefy future generationsis the postmodern orthodoxy that the body is
381
NOTETO PAGE that "takes Bloody AgesJ'The final factory-setoption involves 'Annoy me with the
42 sodding paper clip" either constantiy or "when I least expectit."
Cartoons published worldwide, which show how much computing has become
part of our everydaylives, similarly present users' attitudes toward personal com-
puters. In a brilliant four-panel Doonesburycartoon,GerryTrudeau conveysthe frus-
trations of people who installed Windows 95. In the first panel, which shows the
communal nature of personal computing by so-called early adaptors, Mike ap-
proachestwo co-workers,one of whom is seatedat a PC and is told, "We're loading
in the new Windows 95 operating system,"and when he asks in the next panel how
it's going, the bearded, bespectacledman seated at the computer replies, "Dont
know yet. I'm still trying to clear enough memory for it." In the third panel, in which
the three men appear in white silhouette against black background, we receive the
software installer's message:'Attention User: You call this capacity?Reboot when
you're ready to play."-a fine parody of the error messagesthose trying to install
Windows 95 on older machines often receivedl The final panel effectively drama-
tizes the way users came to fear both their PCs and the company that createdtheir
operating systemsasthe man seatedat the computer exclaims, "Son of a . . . It's diss-
ing my hard drive!" only to be cautioned by the man behind him, "Back off, Hank.
Don't want to make it lose face . . ." Yet other cartoons satirize Microsoft's monopo-
listic practices.In Bill Arend's Fortrotrhe older of two brothers comes upon his sib-
ling sitting at a computer "reading about a big Windows source code leak," 600 Mb
ofwhich are "all over the internet." In the third panel the younger brother points out
that peopie probably have already guessed "some of what's in it," after which the
final panel shows the parody code onscreen:
BEGIN
IF browser-type:
"Intemet-Explorer"
THEN smooth.sailingElSE
IF (browser-type:
"Netscape")AND
" justice-deparlment NOT looking)
THEN
REPEAI
Crash (random)
NOTES TO PAGES linking changes the author's conception of his or her power and authority. In fact,
r 25-l 38 the sentenceimplies a distinction between readers and authors.
3. Seethe final sectionsof chapter 8 for a discussion of the political implications
of open hypermedia applications for the Web.
4. L6vi-Strauss'sobsewation in a note on the same page of The Raw and the
Cooked(12) that "the Ojibiwa Indians consider mphs as 'conscious beings, with
powers of thought and action"'has some interesting parallels to remarks by pagels
on the subject of quasianimate portions of neural nets: "Networks dont quite so
much compute a solution as they settle into it, much as we subjectively experience
our own problem solving . . . There could be subsystemswithin supersystems-a
hierarchy of information and command, resembling nothing so much as human
society itself. In this image the neuron in the brain is like an individual in society.
what we experienceas consciousnessis the 'social consciousness'of our neuronal
network" (126,224).
5. L6viStrauss also employs this model for societiesas a whole: .,Our sociery,a
parlicular instance in a much vaster family of societies,depends,like ali others, for
its coherence and its very existence on a network-grown infinitely unstable and
complicated among us-of ties between consanguineal families,, (Scopeof Anthro-
pology,33).
6. Said in fact prefacesthis remark by the evasivephrase, "it is quite possible to
argue,"and since he nowhere qualifies the statement that follows, I take it as a claim,
no matter how nervous or half-hearted.
7. I originally wrote in 1991that Heim wouid be correct only ,.in some bizarrely
inefrcient dystopic future sense-'future' becausetoday [1991]few people writing
with word processorsparticipate very frequently in the lesser versions of such in-
formation networks that alreadyexist, and 'bizarrely inefficient' becauseone would
haveto assume that the billions and billions of words we would write would all have
equal ability to clutter the major resourcethat such networks will be."The reason for
Heim s presciencecomes, as we shall observe in chapter 8, from the new technol-
ogies of Intemet surveillance, web browser cookies, Google-like search tools, and
data mining.
8. An example of the way changes in an author's beliefs weaken the value of
the author function-the traditional conception of the unitary author-appears in
the works of Thomas carlyle: whereas in TheFrenchRevolutionhe clearlyacceptsthe
necessity of violence and sympathizes with lower classes,he became increasingly
reactionary and racist in his later works. In arguing for the unity ofany particular
carlylean text one cannot casually refer to "carlyle" unless one specifies to which
Carlyle one refers.
9. According to the scientists that Galegher,Egido, and Kraut studied, people in
these fields work collaborativelynot only to sharematerial and intellectual resources
but also because"working with another person was simply more fun than working
alone. They also believedthat working together increasedthe quality of*re research
product, because of the synthesis of ideas it afforded, the feedback they received
from each other, and the new skiils they learned. In addition to these two major mo-
tives, a number of our respondents collaborate primarily to maintain a preestab-
3E7
Chapter5. ReconfiguringWriting
1. Coover,who is known for his postmodern experimental fiction, argues that
the linear narrative ofthe traditional novel is an obsolete,politically offensive genre:
For all its passing charm, the traditional novel, which took center stage at the
same time the indusftial mercantile democracies arose-Hegel called it "the
epic of the middle classworld"-is perceivedby its would-be executionersasbe-
ing the virulent carrier of patriarchal, colonial, canonical, proprietary hierar'
chical, and authoritarian values of a past which is no longer with us.
Much of the novel's alleged power is imbedded in theline, that compulsory
author-directedmovement from the beginning of a sentenceto its period, from
the top of the page to the bottom, from the first page to the last. Of course,
through print's long history there have been countless counter-strategiesto the
line's power from marginalia and footnoting to the creativeinnovations of nov-
elists like Sterne,foyce, Queneau, Cortirzar,Calvino, and Pavic,and not exclud'
ing the form's father Cervantes himself, but true freedom from the t1'ranny of
the line is perceivedas only really possible now at last with rhe adventof hyper-
388
NOTES TO PAGES text, where the line in fact does not exist unless one invents and imDlants it.
156-202 ("EndofBooks,"1, 1i7
I hardly agree with the overheatedcharge that the traditional novel served only as
"the virulent carrier ofpatriarchal, colonial, canonical, proprietary hierarchical, and
authoritarian values,"in part becausethe narratives ofmany traditional novels, par-
ticularly those with multiple plots, are not accuratelydescribed as linear and in pan
becausemuch postcolonial fiction appearsin the form of the traditional novel-so
much so that African novelists have complained of the difficulties of publishing
more experimental fiction in the west, since publishers, they claim, expecta tradi
tional realistic novel.
2. Unfortunately, when one returned to one of them, olderversions of Netscape
deletedthe intervening document tities, thereby tuming what been Ariadne's thread
into Hansel and Gretel'sbreadcrumbs. Furthermore, Netscapeand similar browsers
not oniy did not retain records ofthe complete reading path when one backtracked,
they also deletedit entirely both after each sessionand when users closedthe viewer
window even though one hadn't quit the application.
3. Intermedia provided two forms of preview information. First, its web view
announced destinations of all links from the current lexia; activating a link marker
with a single mouse click-clickingtwicefollowed the link-darkened the icons for
all the lexias linked to it. Intermedia also permitted authors to attach descriptions to
each anchor, and these descriptions appeared in menus automatically generated
when one foliowed a link leading to two or more lexias. In contrast to Intermedia,
storyspaceallows authors to attach descriptions, not to anchors but to links them-
selves,though the reader perceivesthe result as much the same. As useful as these
features were and are, hypermedia authors still have to assist readersby employing
various techniques that constitute a rhetoric ofdeparfure.
4. Clara Mancini's Ph.D. thesis, "Towards Cinematic Hlpertext,,,devotesseveral
chaptersto surveying various attempts to define coherenceby psycholinguistics and
gestalt psychology.Although she does not mention the fact, almost all the proposed
"discourse coherencerelations," such as ',exemp1ifies,',,,supports,"and ,,disproves,,'
precisely match the forms of typed links proposed in pioneering technical papers
about hypertext systems. Taking a different approach, Marie-Laure Ryan empha-
sizes total hypertext structures, which she suggestscan take eight different forms,
including the graph network, tree, maze, flow chart, braided plot, hidden story and
vector with side branches (246-58).
5. In my earlier work, beginning in 1987, I attempted to sketch out the begin_
nings of a rhetoric of hlpertext and hypermedia, and one way of answering the ques-
tion, "Is this hlpertext any goodl" involves looking at the degreeto which a parricu-
lar hypertext observes some of these minimal stylistic rules. This discussion,
however, tries to broaden the question, looking for other sources of aesthetic plea-
sure and success.
6. Is this the result of following a link? If one means by "following a link" that
when one carries out this action (clicking) new text appears,then by definition one
has followed a link, but in fact it is not clear that one has activateda link or another
computational procedure. Both the HTML and storyspaceversions of (box(ing)
389
NOTES TO PAGES actually involve links, so that, as in early Hypercard proiects, clicking a link actually
203-220 replacesone document with another, though the readerreceivesthe illusion that the
document remains the same and a new word or phrase appearswithin it. One can-
not tell whether or not Vniverseworksthe same way or generatestext on the fly, but
from the vantage point of the viewer a replacement link or what we may term an
actionlink appearidenticai.
7. Lyons adds:"Thus, the parenthesesand interactive interface follow mutually
compatible rules to establish what I hope are complementary contributions from
writ language on the screenand script code behind the scenes. . . My aim here was
simply to make good use of computers to get this ridiculous poem more legible,
even as the interactive capability makes a greater range of (potentially confounding)
meanings more accessible.You can think of it as magnetic poetry with rules."
8. Strickland'sconcern with reader empowerment appearsin the detailed intro-
duction she has appendedto the project.
Chapter6. ReconfiguringNarrative
1. Dorothy Leeargues that the language ofTrobriand Islanders revealsthat they
"do not describe their activity lineally; they do no dynamic relating of acts; they do
not use even so innocuous a connective as and" (157).According to Lee,they do not
use causal connections in their descriptions ofreality, and "where valued activity is
concerned, the Trobrianders do not act on an assumption oflineality at any level.
There is organization or rather coherencein their actsbecauseTrobriand activity is
patterned activity. One act within this pattern gives rise to a preordained cluster of
acts"-much as, Lee explains, when knitting a sweater the "ribbing at the bottom
doesnot causethe making of the neckline" (158).Similarln "a Trobriander does not
speakof roadseither as connecting two points, or as running from point to point. His
paths are self-contained,named as independent units; they are not to and from, they
are at. And he himself is at; he has no equivalent for our to or from" (159).Appro-
priately,therefore, when an inhabitant ofthe Trobriand Islands "relateshappenings,
there is no developmental arrangement, no building up of emotional tone. His sto-
ries have no plot, no lineal development, no climax" (160),and this absenceof what
we mean by narrativity relates directly to the fact that "to the Trobriander, climax in
history is abominable, a denial of all good, since it would imply not only the presence
of change,but alsothat changeincreasesthe good;but to him value lies in sameness,
in repeatedpattern, in the incorporation of all time within the same point" (161).
Lee,incidentally, does not claim that the people ofthe Trobriand Islands cannot
perceivelinearity, just that it possessessolely a negativevalue in their culture and it
is made difficult to use by their customs and language If one acceptsthe accuracy
ofher translations ofTrobriand language and her interpretations ofTrobriand cul-
ture, one can seethat what Lee calls nonlineal thought based on the idea ofcluster-
ing differs significantly from both linear and multilinear thought. Placed on the
spectrum constifuted by Trobriand culture at one extreme and Western print culture
at the other, hypertextuality appearsonly a moderate distance from other'Western
cultural patterns. Lee'sdescription of Trobriand structuration by cluster, however,
does possibly offer means of creating forms of hlpertextual order.
390
NOTES TO PAGES 2. Lyotard also proposesthat "the decline ofnarrative can be seenas an effect of
221-238 the blossoming of techniques and technologies since the SecondWorld War, which
has shifted emphasis from the ends of action to its means; it can also be seen as an
effect of the redeplol'rnent of advancedliberal capitalism after its retreat under the
protection of Kepresianism during the period 1930-60, a renewal that has elimi-
nated the communist alternative and valorized the individual enjoyment of good
and services"(Postrnodern Condition,3T-38).His use of "can be seen as" suggests
that Lyotard makes less than a fuil commitment to these explanations.
3. Hlpertext is not the first information technology to make closure difficult. In
Witing Space,Bolter reminds us that "the pappus scroll was poor at suggesting a
senseofciosure" (85).
4. I have not substantiaily added to the following discussion ofloyce's pioneer-
ing hyperfiction, since it has been the subject of numerous detailed discussions
since I first wrote about it. See,in padicular, the chapters by J. YellowleesDouglas
and TerenceHarpold in Landow, Hyper/Tert/Thaoryaswell as Clement, 'Afternoon,
a Story"; and Coover,'And Now Boot Up the Reviews,"10.
5. The termprosopopoeia,Millerexplains,describes"the ascription to entities that
are not reaily alive first of a name, then of a face,and finally, in a return to language,
or a voice.The entity I have personified is given the power to respond to the name I
invoke, to speakin answer to my speech.Another way to put this would be to saythat
though my prosopopoeiais a fact of language,a member of the family of tropes, this
tends to be hidden becausethe trope is posited a priori" (Versionsof \gmation, 5).
6. The phrase is from CuIler, Structuralist Poetics,207.For propp, seeVladimir
Propp, "Fairy Tale Transformations" (1928),in Readingsin RussianPoetics,g4-I'!,4;
Morphologyofthe Folktale(1958);and Propp sectionsin Groden and Kreisirth, Guide
to Literary Theory.Seealso Scholes,Structuralismin Literature,59-141,.
7.lanet Murray provides another instance of the way in which people construct
connections and coherencefrom juxtaposition: "In the 1920sthe Russian film pio-
neer Lev Kelshov demonstrated that audiences will take the same footage of an
actor'sface as signifying appetite,grief or affection, depending on whether it is jux-
taposedwith images of a bowl of soup, a dead woman, or a little girl playing with a
teddybear" (160).
8. Goldberg continues: "In Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard who claims
that 'of ail the prosthesesthat mark the history of the body,the double is doubtless
the oldest,' discussesscience'sdesire to createlife artificially:
Cloning radically abolishes the Mother, but also the Father,the intertwining of
their genes,the imbrication of their differences, but aboveall, the joint act that
is procreation. The cloner does not beget himself: he sprouts from each of his
segments. One can speculateon the wealth of each of tlese vegetalbranchings
that in effect resolveall oedipal sexuality in the serviceof'nonhuman' sex,ofsex
through immediate contiguity and reduction-it is still the case that it is no
longer a question ofthe fantasy ofauto-genesis.The Father and the Mother have
disappeared,not in the serviceofan aleatoryliberty ofthe subiect,but in the ser-
vice of a matrix called code. No more mother, no more father: a matrix. And it is
39'l
'gives
N O T E ST O P A G E S the matrix, that of the genetic code, that now infinitely birth' based on a
239-241 functional mode purged of all aleatory sexuality.
"This statement has many implications for both hypertext and critical theory par-
ticularly about the relationship between the author and her work. The author does
not beget herself she sprouts from each of her segments" ("Comments on Patch'
WOTKGLTL I.
9. Williams continues: "Perhaps one may seethis tension between order and disor-
dermost clearly inlife. Patchwork Girl'sfitnaloning mirrors a cell'slife. The cytoplasm
of links servesas a permeable medium through which disparateparts passsigns. Its
global disorder accommodatesthe local structure of organelles,which may havebeen
conceivedautonomously,but together rely on one another'sdifferentiated function to
achievetheir firllest existence. Cells that incorporated subunits with diverse textures-
wrinkled mitochondria, knotted DNA, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum-
had sufficient complexity asbiological collagesto form entities such asreaders of textsj'
10. In his lexia Lars Hubrich argues that in PatchworkGirl scarsbecome more
than emblems of disfigurement, since we encounter "the story of a long struggle, of
an emancipation that ends not in a mouming about the lost battles but in new
strength, as the monster explains:
Scar tissue does more than flaunt its strength by chronicling the assaults it
has withstood. Scartissue is new growth. And it is tougher than skin innocent
ofthe blade.
"ln fact, the scarsbecome a new, living organ, opening up a new sensorium that goes
silaight into the chest of the monster. The scarsare hot, responding to other people's
input. And they have the ability to share their experience,to inscribe themselveson
someone else'sskin.
"The scars hold together the individual parts, each one having its own his-
tory, and gain their strength from the parts' experiences. But they do not point
back,they rather are signs ofan active,progressivelook into a future that has leamed
from history.
"I have a navel like any other person. Does Shelleyl monster have onel Of
course, it has to. Not that it gets mentioned, though, as far as I have read Patchwork
Girl. It would be rather odd for a monster like the one in the story to have a navel. Its
origins lie somewhere else,not at one single point.
'And
then we realize what those scars really are: birthmarks. Birthmarks of a
new history, arisen from endlessstruggles. Donna Harawaywould smile" ("Stitched
identity").
11.In his lexia entitled'A Spotlight on the Haze: Notions of Originin Patchwork
Girl," Brian Perkins claims, however,that "hlpertext is not so much a harbinger of
the new possibilities, but a spotlight on the old machinations. It makes manifest the
problems involved in defining the author as producer and the reader as consumer,
problems which are not specific to hypertext, but which encompassall of language
and signification. The transmission of meaning has forever been a blurry and com'
plicated phenomenon. Hypertexts like Patchwork Girl are not novel because the
392
N O T E ST O P A G E S reader is decisivein determining their meaning, they are novel becausethey more
243-252 clearly demonstrate the processwhich has alwaysbeen at work."
12.Greco continues: 'Any claim that hypertext is a privileged preserveof female
or even feminist writing is suspicious for other reasons as well. Who is to say how
and why hypertext might in some essentialway fulfill a dream of an equal or even
superior voice and representation for a group whose voices,interests, and hopes are
themselves diverse and difficult to define? Those who make this ciaim commit
themseives to a patronizing ideology of dominance masclueradingas support and
concern; for it is the privilege of the powerfirl to appropriate domains of discourse
on behalf of others. Moreover, discovering altematives to 'rational linearity' is not
the same as resisting and transforming the structures whose power and authority
give rise to the need for alternativesin the first place" (88).
13. There is one way that hypertext has proved clearly relevant to role-playing
games, though it tells us more about the use of the World Wide Web than it does
about computer games:some of those who participate in continuing non-computer-
based role-playing games create websites for both the gameworld and individual
characters. For example, one participant of a game set in the nineteenth century
has a site in which his character,a Victorian physician, displays the contents ofhis
medical bag.
14.Aarseth makes a much harsher attack on game studies basedon literary and
cinematic theory:
The sheer number of students trained in fiIm and literary studies will ensure
that the slanted and crude misapplication of "narrative" theory to games will
continue and probably overwhelm game scholarship for a long time to come. As
long as vast numbers of journals and supervisors from traditional narrative
studies continue to sanction dissertations and papers that take narrativity for
granted and confuse the story-gamehybrids with games in general, good, criti
cai scholarship on games will be outnumbered by incompetence. ("Genre
Trouble," in First Person,54l
Much of the writing in the ludologist tradition is unduly polemical: they are so
busy trying to pull game designers out of their "cinema envy" or define a field
where no hypertext theorist dares to venture that they are prematurely dismrss-
ing the use value ofnarrative for understanding their desired object ofstudy. For
my money, a series of conceptualblind spots prevent them from developing
a full understanding of the interplay between narrative and games. ("Game
Design as Narrative Architecture," in First Person,120)
15. Seemy ElegantJ eremiahs, 82-715, for discussions of brief narratives with
blatantiy sy.rnbolicmeaning in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Anglo-American
prose. One chapter, "The Sage as Master of Experience" (132-531,examines pas-
sages in the writings of ]ohn Ruskin, D. H. Lawrence, Tom Wolfe, and Norman
Mailer in which these writers of nonfiction use narrative to create protocinematic
forms of descriotion.
393
NOTES TO PAGES 16.Kristoffer Gansing, who wants to include gamesin his theories of interactive
252-283 cinema, agreeswith Aarseth that "we should not be afraid to study gaming for gam-
ing's own sake,"but still asserts "there are computer games where narrative has a
foregrounded,,explicit role (adventuregames) . . . [and] th erc arc many gameswhere
narrative could be described as being implicitin game structure (strategygames).If
the explicit role is somehow contradictory to the nature of gaming, I leaveothers to
decide, opting instead to focus on narrative simply becauseit is integral to the idea
of an interactive film" (53-5a).
17.The article by Henderson, Pruett, Galper, and Copes describing the project
states that the simulation does not permit the trainee to kill a patient, for a super-
vising physician stepsin and takesover when that might happen. During the demon-
stration ofthe project at a Sioan Foundation-sponsored conference at Dartmouth
College in October 1988, two years after the publication ofarticle describing it, I
believe the speaker stated that the patient could die; I may be misremembering
this point.
18. In the second part of the Iowa Reviewinterwew,Wardrip-Fruin explains the
role of each member of the team and the evolution of the project.
The Brown cavetakes the form ofan open cube, each ofwhose surfaces mea-
sures 8x8 feet, and is the result ofsuccessful application in 1997to *te National Sci-
ence Foundation for a project entitled 'Acquisition of a Cave and Shared Memory
Supercomputer."The project, which had thirteen principal investigators from the
departments of chemistry, applied math, physics, computer science, and geology,
was funded by a $1 million National Science Foundation grant with significant
additional cost-sharingfrom Brown University.
Chapter7. ReconfiguringLiteraryEducation
1. We have been observing ways that hypertext embodies literary theory and we
should also notice that it also instantiates related pedagogicaltheory. The hypertex-
tual read-author,for instance, matches R. A. Shoaf'sclaim that "every reader,in fact,
from the beginning student to the seasonedprofessional, is also a writer, or more
accurateTy a rewriter-and must be aware of that" (80).
2. ln 2002 George Lorenzo pointed out in an article in University Businessthat
eArmyU "has set out to deiiver online distance education to 80,000 soldier-students
. . .The program now includes 23 schoolsand 85 online degreeprograms . . . All reg-
istrations are handled through eArmyU's portal. On-base counselors provide sup-
porf' (37). I suspectthat very few universities realize that one ofthe biggest experi-
ments with higher education is taking place.
3. "The modularity in question emerges when the Americans take something
the Europeans considered as a whole, namely undergraduate education, and break
it up into small, self-contained and implicitly recombinable units commonly called
course credits or credit hours . . . The implications of the new system show up most
ciearly in the new artifact to which they give rise: the student transcript . . . The tran-
script, by tracing one personb passagethrough the curriculum, is an additive record
bounded by the number ofcredits required for graduation. Equivalenceofparts dic-
tates that a course is a course is a course, though locally defined restraints on com-
394
N O T E ST O P A G E S binability (mafors, distribution requirements, and the like) may sometime lead a
284-300 student to accumulate more credits than the minimum required for graduation"
(Blair, 11,20). A full hlpertext version of the present book wouid, at this point, link
to the entire text of Blair s book (most likely through a section or chapterthat, in turn,
would link to the entire text) and also to the enormous body of internal reports pro-
duced in recent decadesby individual American collegesand universities discussing
the results of such modular approaches.
4. That part of the Intermedia development plan funded by the Annenberg
/CPB Project included an intensive three-year evaluation carded out by a team of
ethnographers,who taped, attended, and analyzed.all class meetings and who fre-
quently surveyedand interviewed students for the two yearsbefore the introduction
of the hypertext component and for the year following. Many of my observationson
conventional education and the educational effects ofhypertext on it derive from
their data and from conversationswith Professor Hewvood. See Beeman and col-
leagues, Interrnedia.
5. Hypertert 2.0, 235-45, narrates in detail the evolution of a small Intermedia
collaborativelearning project on the poetry ofWole Soyinka to The Postcolonialand
Literatureand Culture Web,and readers interested in the ways such a project devel-
oped should consuit the earlier work. This website now has about 15,000documents
and images, many of them by contributors from Australia, Canada, India, |apan,
Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and other countries. In the past few
years,instructors from various American universities, including Northwestern and
DePauw have had their students submit essays.
6. Hugh Kenner, "The Making of the Modernist Canon," in Canons,3TL WriI-
ing in terms ofthe broadest canon, that constituted by the concept ofliterature and
the literary Eagieton observes:"What you have defined as a 'literary'work will al-
ways be closelybound up with what you consider 'appropriate' critical techniques: a
'literary'work
will mean, more or less, one which can be usefully illuminated by
such means of enquiry" (Literary Theory,80\.
7. In L968,for example, Random House, which purchased seventy-fourpages
of advertisementsto Harper's twenty-nine, "had neariy three times as many books
mentioned in the feature 'New and Recommended' as Doubledayor Harper, both of
which published as many books as the Random House group" (381).Ohmann also
points out "it may be more than coincidental" that in the same year in the New York
Reviewof Books,founded by a Random House vice president, "almost one-fourth of
the books granted full reviews . . . were published by Random House (again,includ-
ing Knopf and Pantheon)-more than the combined total of books from Viking,
Grove, Holt, Harper, Houghton Miffiin, Oxford, Doubleday, MacMillan, and Har-
vard so honored; or that in the same year one-fourth of the reviewers had books in
print with Random House and that a third of those were reviewing other Random
House books,mainly favorably;or that over a five-yearperiod more than half the reg-
ular reviewers (ten or more appearances)were Random House authors" (383).
8. According to Hugh Kenner, "Since Chaucer,the domain of English literature
had been a country, England. Early in the 20th century its domain commenced to be
a language,English" (366).
395
N O T E ST O P A G E S 9. More than a dozen years after hearing this statement, I came upon Vincent
314-321 Mosco'sstatement that new technologies only become truly powerfirl once they be-
come unnoticeable: "The real power ofnew technologies does not appear during
their mythic period, when they are haiied for their ability to bring world peace,re-
new communities, or end scarcity,history geography,or politics; rather their social
impact is greatestwhen technologies become banal-when they literally (as is the
caseof electricity) or figuratively withdraw into the woodwork. . . Indeed, it was not
until we stopped looking at electricity as a discrete wonder and began to see it as a
contributor to all other forces in society that it became an exfraordinary force. Elec-
tricity achievedits real power when it left mythology and entered banalily" (19-20\.
Many years ago someone told me that computing would never reach its potential
until people entering one's office or home ceasedremarking, "I seeyou have a com-
puter." PCs have truly achievedordinariness.
10. For a firller discussion of the University ScholarsProgram's hypertext para-
digm in the context of institutional history and goals, see my essay"The Paradigm
is More Important than the Purchase."
NOTES TO PAGES 2. Martha McCaughey and Michael D. Ayers's coilection of essays, Cyberac-
322-332 tivism: Online Activism in Theoryand Practice,contains discussions of the political
usesof the Intemet by Amnesty International, NOW, and the Zapatistas,and protests
against the World Bank as well as theoretical approaches,such as a Habermasian
analysis ofthe relations ofdemocracy and the Internet. The editors point out that
"the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other radically conservativeorganizations have also
colonized cyberspacein hopes of achieving their goals" (3).
3. A few years after I offered my speculations about the future ofnewspapers,
Negroponte prophesied a somewhat different vision. Pointing out that both broad-
cast television and newspapers are produced "with all the intelligence" (19) at the
transmitting part of the communicative relationship, he proposes that to change
news media for the better we must create "computers to filter, sort, prioritize, and
manage multimedia on our behalf-computers that read newspapers and look at
television for us, and act as editors when we ask them to do so" (20; seealso 84).The
results of this filtering would produce a daily news source custom-tailored to each
reader'sinterests, something in fact very closewhat one receivesfrom the New York
Times online after one has created a user profile identifying subjects of highest
priority. Negroponte s emphasis on filtering, preselection,produces a very different
kind of news media than one based on user-directedhypertext. In his vision, users
receive only the news that they want to read; in mine, users can also obtain more
information when they need it. There is another important difference: whereas Ne-
groponte'sfilter-centered vision concentrateson current news, a hypertext-centered
new media createsmore of a communal memory becauseone can follow links to
historical contexts.
4. Eagleton,Criticismand ldtology,44-63. Nthough EagletonnevercitesMcluhan
or other students of the history of information technology,he severaltimes compares
manuscript and print cultures within the context of Marxist theory; see47-48, 51-52.
5. Ryan,60. Ryan also offers an oddly limited description of technologywhen he
writes: "Technologyis the human mind working up the natural world into machines.
And, as I have argued, it is motivated by the desire of a class of subjects-capital-
ists-to maintain power over another class of subjects-workers" (92).The prob-
lems with this statement include, first, the fact that Ryan confuses "capitalists" with
"owners of production" eventhough he makes clear elsewherethat what he calls the
Leninist tradition also relies on heavy technology; and second,such a bizarrely nar-
row definition apparently restricts technology to heary machinery, thereby omitting
both everything before the Industrial Revolution and everything in the electronic
and atomic age other than old-fashioned rust-belt manufacturing. The context
makes it difficult to determine whether Ryan'sdislike of technology or capitalism
leads him to such an obsoletedefinition.
6. Eiizabeth L. Eisensteinmakes a particularly astute point when discussing
arguments about the role ofprint technology in radical social change during the
Reformation: "Given the convergenceof interests among printers and Protestants,
given the way that the new media implemented older evangelical goals, it seems
pointless to argue whether material or spiritual, socio-economicor reiigious 'factors'
were important in transforming Westem Christianity. Not only do thesedichotomies
397
N O T E ST O P A G E S he wishes to convert that "my God is the true God. He is the way to eternal happi
354-373 ness" (105).Two aspectsof Christian belief here puzzle his listener-first, that
happiness could be eternal and, second, that hard work is bad and that any form
of happiness might involve freedom from what he takes to be a crucial, pleasurable
human activity.
14. Lovink quotes a member of a South Asian media collective,who takes an op-
timistic view of the problem: "I would never use a term like 'digital divide.' We have
a print divide in India, an education divide, a railway divide, an airplanes divide. [But]
the new economy of India is definitely not conceivedas a divide" (210).On commer-
cialization of the Internet, see"lntroduction: Twilight of the Digerati," 3,11-12, and,
"lnformation Warfare: From Propaganda Critique to Culture lall:rrrring,"309, 330,
bothin Dark Fiber.For the Amsterdam experiments in using the intemet to empower
citizens, see "The Digital City-Metaphor and Community," 42-67,in Dark Fiber.
15. Earlier versions of Hypertart followed the preceding discussion with a short
story "Ms. Austen's Submission," whose heroine encounters the darker implica-
tions of a future hypertext author's attempt to gain accessto the Net. Anyone want-
ing to read about the world of future e-publishing as a dystopia, should consult
Hyperturt or Hypertext 2.0.
16.Thus, "logged-in users start at 1 (although this can vary from 0 to 2 basedon
their karma ) and anonymous users start at 0." Malda explains: "Slashdottracks your
'karma.'
If you have Positive,Good, or Excellentkarma, this means you have posted
more good comments than bad, and are eligible to moderate. This weeds out spam
accounts.The end result is a pooi ofeligible users that represent (hopefi-rlly)average,
positive Slashdotcontributors. Occasionally(we11, every 30 minutes actually),the sys-
tem checksthe number of comments that havebeen posted,and gives a proportion-
atenumber of eligible users 'tokens' [or moderation points]. When any user acquires
a certain number of tokens, he or she becomes a moderator. This means that you'll
need to be eligible for many of these slicesin order to actuallygain access.It all works
to make sure that everyonetakes turns, and nobody can abusethe system, and that
'regular'
only readers become moderators (asopposedto some random newbie )."
17.Cha1,ror, FromSciptto Print,l. Citedby Mcluhan, GutenbergGalary,ST,and,
credited on the previous page as "a book to which the present one owes a good deal
of its reason for being written."
18. Sutherland,'Author's Rights," 554. Sutherland quotes E. Plowman and L. C.
Hamilton's explanation in Copyight (1980)that in Franceand Germany moral rights
include "the rights to determine the manner of dissemination, to ensure recognition
of authorship, to prohibit distortion of the work, to ensure accessto the originai or
copies ofthe work, and to revoke a license by reason ofchanged convictions against
payment of damages."This and all subsequent quotations from this article in the
main text come from page 554.
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INDEX opposedto orality, 54; antilinear, 84, 132; DynaText, L6-18, 182 dynamic table of con-
assemblage,54i dibordement,lL4, 732-33; tents,156-58;SGML-based, 156;typed
decentering,10, 46, 52,56-57; deconstruc- links in, 19
tion, 356-57; discretereading units, 53-
54; effect ofinformation technologyon Eagleton,Terry, 64, 292, 330-31, 38On73,
thought, 67; emphasizesdiscontinuity, 53- 396n4
54, 205; grammatologyand h)?ertext,67- EArmyU,393n2
68; hieroglyphic writing, 84; intertextual- EastgateSystems,23
ity, 53, 55; irrelevanceofinside vs. outside, Eco,Umberto, 325
113-14;Miiler on,66-67; mourceau,54i Eckersley,Richard,86
paradigm shift in, 1; postcolonialtheory Ede, Lisa, 139-40, 243, 387nLl
356; speechas technology ofpresence, 31; Egido, Carmen, 138,386n9
statlrsrelations, 122;textual openness,53- Eisenstein,Elizabeth, 29, 46, 100,702,740;
54, 113-14;uses hlpertext terminology, 53, 330, 332-33, 339, 385n9, 396n6,397n9
63. Works: Disseminotion,53, 67, 713,122; Eisenstein,Sergei,262-63
GLas,1, 66,120; "Living On," 112,1L4,133: Hectrowic Book Review,236
Of Grammatology,1, 67; "Signature Event Electronic Literature Organization (ELO),
Context," 54. Speechand Phenomena,54; 199
"Stmcture, Sign, and Play in the Dis- ElectronicZen,222, 267, 307-8
coursesof the Human Sciences,"57 Eliot, T. S., 69, 1r7, 146
Desai.Anita. 300 Emerson, Cary1,112
D eutscharM onatshef.e,333 EncyclopaediaBitannica, L04, LO6
de Vaugeias,Claude Fawe, 340 Endnotes,3-4,5-6
DiBianco, Michael, 239-40, 304 Englebart,Douglas C., 273,335: influenced
Dickens,Charles,7, 8, tl7 ,228,278,285,287, by V. Bush, 12
307.350.369 Ergoilc,47-42
Dickens. Eric. 354-55 Emst, Max, 190
DickensWeb,The,69, 170 Eskelinen,Markku, 251-52, 380n11
Dickey,William, 223, 227, 267 Ethernet,62
Didion,1oan,265,271 Iveland, 1.D.,142
Digital text: alwaysphysicallyembodied, 35,
367;code-based, 34; placein history of Falco,Ed,267
infotech, 30-41; resistancero, 47-48; vir- Farrell, Susan,154
|lral. 35-36. 44. Seealso Information tech- Fart Ciry,268-69
nology; Print technology;Text, electronic Faulkner,William , 228,246
Dillon, Andrew 129 Feder,Ned, 387n11
Discussionlists, 38, 322 Fforde, Jasper,T
Disorientation: causedby poor writing, 151; Firefox, 154
Conklin on, 144,145tforms of, L45-46;by Fishman,Barryl.,76
systemfeatures,150;in the humanities, Fisher, Caitlin, 799,200, 265, 277
146-48; pleasuresol 146-50 Flash,xi, 94, 273,267, 268-69
Distributed Link Services,25. SeealsoMicro- Flitman, Ian. SeeHackneyGirl
cosm Floppy disc,227
Docuverse.45,54 Footnotes,3- 4, 1L9-20, 183-84
Doubrovsky,Serge,57 Formosa,Feliu,90-91
Douglas, |ane Yellowlees,243, 326, 390n4 Forss,Pearl,90, 95
Dreamweaver,171 Foucault,Michael, 64, 130-33, 119;on text
Duchamp, Marcel, 306 and network, 2, 53, 63. Works: The Orderof
Duchastel, Phillippe, 273-7 4 Things, 63; "What Is an Authorl" 127-28,
Ducreux, Marie-Elizabeth,50, 383n22 r33,L39,306
Durand. David.108 FreakShow l8T, 217,245-47, 249, 260
Durrell. lawrence,228 French, Howard, 323
Dvorak, |ohn C., 365 F R E S S3, 7 8 n 3
Dynamic Diagrams, 154-55 Friesner,Nicholas,94-96
428