Hypertext theory

SUMMARY



This paper presents the changing landscape in reading and writing after new technologies have emerged. The fact that reading and writing are social practices should be considered of as very important because every historical period uses its reading and writing media which affect the current communicative order. Moreover, the active agent under consideration when talking about reading and writing as social practices is the citizen. When talking about new technologies of reading and writing we describe a process of social transformation. To approach all these phenomena, we must look at textuality first. The notion of textuality has changed since the use of word processor. Printed texts were thought to be linear meaning that trivial effort was needed to navigate them. While going through a printed text the storyline is straightforward and the act of reading takes place sequentially page to page. On the other hand, ergodic texts require non-trivial effort to go through their storyline. This means that the reader decides which path to take while being in a multicursal maze. The text moves which means that it presents different choices to the reader, who is ready to add content. Several examples available from printed culture show that hypertextuality is also present in printed texts. So, technology should not be thought of as a carrier of inherent characteristics that cause change but as a mean to express citizens’ ideas on social changes. As such it differentiates hierarchies expressed through texts and it, therefore, causes new text genres to flourish.

This essay seeks to demonstrate how "Everett's Hypernarrator"—theorized and articulated by Judith Roof in 2013 in relation to his later novels—speaks through, across, and outside his stories' physical texts. Everett's stories are a salve to the rhizomatic limitations that inhibited hypertextual narrative, to the point of hypertextuality losing popular attention, insofar as the stories enact planes of association qua informational quanta, though located in the physical text; "open up" the text to the reader for co-constitutive processes of meaning-making; and provide a model for the sort of boundary-conscious, inconclusive, and inclusive storytelling that hypertextuality theoretically reached toward.

The palimpsest effect presupposes the existence of an obvious intention on the author’s part to superpose, within the same structure, multiple cultural layers, multiple “stories”, wagering everything upon a play of mirrors, that produces the meanings of the fictional universe. Drawing on the term introduced by Gerard Genette, in his fundamental work Palimpsestes. La litérature au second degré (Seuil, 1982), I explore only hypertexts, id est narratives that exist in explicit relation with other narrative(s), be it an independent work by another author, a myth, or a universally known “true history”.

This article presents a joint case study of altZine and altKitap—two Turkish websites disseminating free access literature and electronic books respectively. Both projects were created in the late 1990s and early 2000s and are still being maintained by intertwined teams (including one of the authors of this article) and overlapping visions. The preceding electronic magazine, altZine, began publishing monthly issues comprised of plain text, hypertext, multimedia, hypermedia, and participatory literary works in March 1998. The publication changed its presentation (e.g., imitating a physical magazine, focusing on animation, facilitating user input, etc.), technology, publication frequency, and teams over the years and is about to celebrate its 20th year online. The latter electronic presshouse, altKitap, began publishing free access Turkish ebooks in July 2000, some of which were later physically printed by various publishers. In time, altKitap’s selection expanded into academic studies, visual novels, and an annual short story competition wherein the participant stories were published as a collection.

Em 1997, as ficções em hipertexto “afternoon, a story”, de Michael Joyce, e “I have said nothing”, de J. Yellowlees Douglas, foram incluídas na antologia Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology, um termômetro que afere e consagra obras literárias nos Estados Unidos. Pela primeira vez, foram colocadas naquela importante antologia, obras
produzidas em hipertexto, ao lado de nomes como William S. Borroughs, Norman Mailer, Thomas Pynchon, dentre outros, numa coleção que reúne autores inovadores de 1945 a 19971. “Afternoon, a story”, e “I have said nothing” foram produzidas em Storyspace, um programa de autoria em hipertexto criado por Michael Joyce, J. David Bolter e John Smith e
apresentado ao público pela primeira vez em 1987. Em 1989, foi publicado afternoon..., pela Eastgate Systems, e em 1991 a mesma Eastgate lançou o Storyspace, que distribui até hoje. O programa de computador Storyspace e as obras literárias com ele criadas e distribuídas são exemplos de um tipo de literatura extremamente inventiva, falando-se de hipertexto.

In this article, written in 2001 and part of my Phd thesis, "Writing in hypertext: a Storyspace approach",  I shall try to relate a reading of the hyperfiction text "Afternoon, a story", by Michael Joyce. This text is considered a pioneer narrative in hypertext. It was published in 1992 and produced in Storyspace . The comments featuring in this article refer to the specificities of  the support I have met as I progressed in its reading, and also to certain subjective sensations met by a reader when following the story. Besides, I shall also produce a briefing of some topics for theoretical discussion on fiction narratives in hypertext.

This paper is an analysis of hypertext narrative, or in other words, of those novels and short stories that can be read only using a computer. Special emphasis is placed upon the specific features of the random access memory, which enables the writer/reader to interact with the hypertext, and produces a new definition of "writing space". A parallel is then drawn between the hypertext concept and the idea of the labyrinth, in order to see to what extent hypertexts can be classified using labyrinth classification. Recent approaches in semiotics which can be related to these themes are also briefly examined.

Hypertext as a nonlinear, computer-based or digital text that is now used along with conventional, linear printed text and can be described as a relatively advanced text type. Moreover, hypertextuality is among the characteristics which differentiate online news from printed news. While digital writing has become more advanced with hypertextuality, its impact on users' reading habits has gained importance as an underlying matter. In this context, the present research aims to provide an analysis of users' experiences of reading digital news in the context of hypertextuality. This study begins by summarizing the studies on hypertextuality and news users. Following this, a case study is presented to analyze newspaper users' reading habits in a digital setting to propose empirical evidence for the theoretical ideas of poststructuralist thinkers on hypertextuality. This part focuses on the hypertext reception practices of UMASS/Amherst Department of Communication undergraduate students through analysis of their news consumption patterns via an online survey. Based on the findings, this study contributes to the literature regarding journalism, technology, and digital writing by identifying the advantages and disadvantages of reading digital news. Although hypertextuality invites both writers and users to think in a nonlinear and cooperative way, it also leads to polarized opinions and newly emerging ethical issues.

Die Wikipedia ist als Online-Universalenzyklopädie in der Turing-Galaxis ein erfolgreicher Hypertext, dessen Konzeptgeschichte unser Verständnis der konkreten Gestaltung der MediaWiki-Software und der Praktiken der Wikipedianer*innen verbessert. Gleichzeitig hilft die Untersuchung des gegebenen (Digital-)Artefaktes und der an ihm vollzogenen Praktiken sowie der möglichen Nutzungszusammenhänge-seiner Affordanz-bei der Weiterentwicklung theoretischer Hypertext-Modelle. So können a) unter Rückgriff auf Vannevar Bushs imaginäre MEMEX-Blaupause, Theodor H. Nelsons bis heute nicht realisiertes "Dream-File" und Jeff Conklins früher Taxonomie historisch verkörperter Hypertextsysteme der Funktionsumfang der gegenwärtigen Wikipedia ins Verhältnis zu historisch vorkonfigurierten Nutzungsangeboten und Designoptionen gesetzt werden. Hierbei kann der Verzicht auf die Speicherung von "Lesespuren" und die technische Gliederung in abgeschlossene Objekte auf Lemmata-Ebene statt in rekombinierbare Elemente auf Textbausteinebene als zentrale Abweichungen markiert werden. Die Rückkopplung der Untersuchung der Wikipedia an Fragen der Theoriebildung kann b) im Vergleich von zwei Abweichungen von Tim Berners-Lees minimalistischer Hypertext-Definition gewonnen werden, und zwar auf der einen Seite des historische Kontinuitäten betonenden Ansatzes David J. Bolters, der Hypertext als Arbeitsumgebung eines medial gewandelten Schreibraums zur Erzeugung von Sinn deutet und auf der anderen Seite der historische Brüche verstärkenden Rede von einer Autooperativen Schrift, die von Gernod Grube und Sybille Krämer geführt wurde. Es wird deutlich, wie hiermit auch raum-wie prozessorientierte Ansätze kontrastiert werden können. In einem hybridisierenden Versuch wird Hypertext als "autooperative Schrift im semantischen Raum" benannt, der sich in der Wikipedia verwirklicht und anhand ihrer aufzeigen lässt. Eine Besonderheit stellt die intendierte Nutzung auch durch autonome Agenten dar-Luciano Floridis "Inforgs" wirken unter anderem in der Wikipedia aufgrund ihrer Hypertextualität. Diese Auflösung des Unterschiedes zwischen menschlichen Schreiber/Lesern und programmierter Zeichenmanipulation ist integrales Merkmal des epistemischen Zusammenhanges, den man unter Rückgriff auf Giorgio Agamben und mit Moritz Hiller als "Computerdispositiv" fassen kann, um die Wikipedia als Kulturtechnik zu untersuchen und so konkrete Artefakte und historische Konzepte wechselseitig aufeinander zu beziehen.

Through this research proposal we intended to discuss the concept of hypertext and its particular aspects based on some theorists, with The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 serving as a parameter for data analysis, whereas Gomes's: Hipertexto no cotidiano escolar (2011) providing the theoretical basis for the development of the subject.

Los enlaces o hipervínculos son direcciones de hipertexto (http://…) que se insertan normalmente en los textos, imágenes y otras partes de una página web. La palabra o frase de donde parte el enlace se diferencia del resto del texto con un color diferente o un subrayado. Esa palabra o frase se denomina ‘texto ancla’ o ‘anclaje’ y tiene especial valor para los motores de búsqueda.

El uso del hipertexto en las piezas periodísticas es una de las características del lenguaje digital aplicadas a la información que antes se han estudiado, y que, a pesar de su importancia en un sistema propiamente hipertextual como es la world wide web, han recibido menos continuidad en la investigación en comunicación. En los últimos años, sin embargo, desde diversas perspectivas se ha renovado el interés por estudiar esta cuestión. Al mismo tiempo, se ha observado una cierta inconsistencia en el uso de esta característica por parte de los profesionales del periodismo. Por ello, se explica brevemente cuál es el estado de la cuestión y algunas tendencias en el estudio del hipertexto periodístico.