This week we took another look at George Landow’s ‘Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalisation.’ Here is something I found useful

“Hypertext narrative clearly takes a wide range of forms best understood in terms of a number of axes, including those formed by degrees or ratios of

1. reader choice, intervention, and empowerment
2. inclusion of extra linguistic texts (images, motion, sound)
3. complexity of network structure
4. degrees of multiplicity and variation in literary elements, such as plot, characterisation, setting, and so forth”

I like that Landow talks of ‘degrees or ratios’ of form. This way the different forms don’t become too limiting.

Prior to this reading, I would imagine a jumbled mind map whenever the work hypertext popped up. Perhaps this was due to a limited understanding of the concept, but I thought information could become easily lost within hypertext. This, however, was cleared up for me when Landow stated that “hypertext, the argument goes, makes certain elements in these works stand out for the first time.” This isn’t a surprise when you think about the potential of links to highlight information.  “This approach therefore uses hypertext as a lens, or a new agent of perception, to reveal something previously unnoticed.”

For more: http://vogmae.dropmark.com/133224/2234767