Hypertext

the Idea of Hypertext

The idea that hypertext reveals readers' mental process is extremely agreeable in Landow G and Paul D's essay Hypertext, Hypermedia & Literary Studies: The State of the Art. The traditional way of reading is linear and discrete for the readers. Through traditional reading, we keep our thoughts to ourselves and let the content and the text of the reading material lead us to wherever it goes. However, Hypertext stories force its readers to make conscious decisions.

In general, when we pick a book and decide to read through it, first thing we do is to start following the direction that the author has already set for us. We know that we have to follow the plot in one direction and eventually we are going to be led to one exclusive ending of the material. This is what I mean by that the traditional way of reading is linear. Additionally, when we read the book, we do not keep a tack of our thoughts because there is only one way to go, therefore, we do not reveal our thought processes to others or even to ourselves. This is what I mean by saying traditional reading is also discrete-we keep our thoughts separate from the public and ourselves.

Hypertext provides us the opportunity to actually get involved in the story building process by giving us the option to select different story path. Trough this process, our thinking process would be documented and we actually put in effort making conscious plot-related decisions while reading. Hypertext is obviously the originality of modern Internet gadgets, such as: hyper links. It offers its reader the option to choose what they want to read and what not. This intractability pushed us to think and offers us more convenience to get to where we want to get in the reading.

In conclusion, hypertext breaks down the linear process that traditional reading offers. It provides its readers the option to choose its content-related direction and reveals their thought processes.

Here is a video of what hypertext is.