Reading extracts from George P. Landow, Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization.
Landow writes about what he defines as “the third kind of hypertext essay”, in which the writer collates multiple networked documents together in conceiving his or her argument. In order to validate and back-up claims, the lexia links out to supporting evidence and material. This allows readers to effectively choose where they want to investigate via hypertext. Essentially, “these auxiliary materials thereby become paratexts, easily accessible add-ons” (p. 77).
What this means is that an article’s reference list is embedded in the writing. Rather than footnotes or traditional in-text references print literacy limits itself to, hypertext allows discourse to branch beyond evidence-related references and links to entirely different facets of relevant epistemologies. By doing so, an essay can become far more universally accessible and relevant; the writer can open their subject up to any number of arguments, comments, observations and thoughts. This is something to work on in my own web writing.
Landow also inevitably broaches the subject of The Weblog. What is most interesting here is the concept of the “online diary”. By definition, a diary is typically something which is kept entirely private; however, the blog moves this previously “private” space into the public. It is for this reason that many blogs “reinforce the stereotype as a genre for unbridled narcissism” (McNeill 2003, cited in Landow 2006, p. 81). This concept, in my opinion, is one fatal flaw in thinking that blogger’s may make when writing for an online audience. I believe a certain degree of network literacy is needed for the individual to make this distinction between private and public. There needs to be quite a conscious shift in thinking about web content and blogging: I would argue that a complete dissociation between the personal diary and the blog is necessary. The public-private dichotomy links back to this post, as well as this.
Rather than viewing one’s blog as a private space in which personal thoughts and anecdotes are (over)shared, it is more advisable (in my opinion, at least) to understand and strongly consider it’s inherent public nature. No matter how many times you tell yourself that no one is reading your blog anyway, hypertext means that literally anyone may stumble across it one way or another. As Landow asserts, the confines of your blog “are porous and provisional at best… Internet search tools can bring it to the attention of Web surfers” (p. 82). Whether wittingly or unwittingly, chances are that someone, somewhere in the world, will at some point be reading whatever it is that you have written.
Ergo, I have taken two main points from Landow. Firstly, hypertext should not be ignored, but rather celebrated. When writing content for the web, take advantage of your ability to use hyperlinks and allow the reader to explore wherever it is you link out to. And secondly, your blog is not the same as your diary (in it’s level of privacy, at least).
