Hypertext

In my technology and writing class at James Madison University we have recently been discussing hypertext. A hypertext is a way of storing data on a computer program that allows the user to create and link information non-sequentially through nodes. Nodes are the ‘hot link’ or hyper-linked part of the document that allow you to click on them to move to another part of the story. As stated in Literacy and Computers,
Because exploratory hypertext can still preserve much of the original author’s node offerings, some sense of stability is preserved: the reader is still only choosing among various options that are inherently in the original text—a path from one node to another exists only because the original writer decided that it should exist. (Selfe and Hilligoss 207)

Many people believe that these types of documents are going to change the way people read recreationally, thus blurring the lines between reader and writer. However, after a class discussion we came to the conclusion that these types of documents still need work. Hypertexts are still a foreign to people from my generation as well as people from past generations.

We were able to come to the conclusion though that hypertext documents have the chance to catch on in the future, if they are used more in the classrooms of grade school. I think that hypertext can be a very useful tool in the classroom. However, I believe that they will provide as a better tool for teaching students how to write rather than helping them with their reading.

Work Cited
Selfe, Cynthia L., and Susan Hilligoss. Literacy and Computers: the Complications of Teaching and Learning with Technology. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1994. Print."