blogs

12 Oct

Association of Internet Researchers

in internet

"The Association of Internet Researchers is an academic association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies. It is a resource and support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders. The association is international in scope."

12 Oct

Reading and Writing Hypertext

in hypertext

By David S. Miall: "In this document I introduce a basic rhetoric of hypertext. After an opening section in which I delimit and describe the kind of hypertext I am discussing, I outline the primary features of the parts of a hypertext (the nodes) and the connections between them (the links). I conclude with some provisional criticisms of hypertext as a medium for communication."

12 Oct

Hyperwriting: A New Process Model

in hypertext

By Jean Mason: "New technologies are creating new writing experiences. This transformation challenges educators in general and writing instructors in particular, as technological innovations force us to reframe our roles and points of reference. Hyperwriters epitomize this challenge as they struggle to master a new process that includes electronic links, visual images, sound, animation, and other forms of data within a single digitized writing space. We need new process models to help us rethink and adapt our understanding of writing and its instruction.

This "article" presents a selected portion of the findings of a two year study. Data was collected from a purposive sample of writers in the form of interviews, observations, correspondence, journals, and artifacts. A significant portion of that data was collected over the Internet using asynchronous and synchronous communication. The subsequent analysis and interpretation of that data offer new insight into how the writing process is affected in the unprecedented hypertextual writing space. Interpretations, implications, and speculations are framed within communication, writing, and hypertext theories. A new process model is presented."

12 Oct

Patterns of Hypertext

in hypertext

By Mark Bernstein: " The complexity and unruliness of the complex webs of links we create has frequently led to calls for "structured" or otherwise disciplined hypertext [33][20][75]. While calls for clearer structure have tried to avoid, consolidate, or minimize links, it is now clear that hypertext cannot easily turn its back on complex link structures. Where it was once feared that the cognitive burdens of large, irregular link networks would overwhelm readers, we find in practice that myriad casual readers flock to the docuverse. The growth of literary and scholarly hypertext, the evolution of the Web, and the economics of link exchange all assure the long-term importance of links.

Since large linked constructs cannot be wished away, it is time to develop a vocabulary of concepts and structures that will let us understand the way today's hypertexts and Web sites work. Progress in the craft of writing depends, in part, on analysis and discussion of the best existing work. An appropriate vocabulary will allow us both to discern and to discuss patterns in hypertexts that may otherwise seem an impenetrable tangle or arbitrary morass. The reader's experience of many complex hypertexts is not one of chaotic disorder, even though we cannot yet describe that structure concisely; the problem is not that the hypertexts lack structure but rather that we lack words to describe it. "

12 Oct

Comprehension, Coherence and Strategies in Hypertext and Linear Text

in hypertext

By Peter W. Foltz