hypertext and non-linearity

In "Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art", Landow and Delany suggest that “hypertext can be expected to have important institutional as well as intellectual effects, for it is at the same time a form of electronic text, a radically new information technology, a mode of publication, and a resource for collaborative work… Hypertext historicizes many of our most commonplace assumptions, forcing them to descend from the ethereality of abstraction and appear as corollary to a particular technology and historical era. We can be sure that a new era of computerized textuality has begun; but what it will be like we are just beginning to imagine."

This passage was written in 1991, at a time when hypertext systems were available in somewhat limited forms such as Hypercard and Intermedia, use of the Internet was largely confined to academic institutions, and the term “World Wide Web” had only just been coined. Now, 15 years later, comment and reflect upon the impact hypertext has had on the world.

there are huge differences between the hypertext and the use of the internet 15 years ago and now. in the past, the internet is used for the purpose of sharing exclusive information within the academic institutions, and accessing information only relevant to the individual or department. however, in today's internet, vast sources of information are available. one, at many times, may get access to information not relavant to him, like product information via advertisements, emails and pop-up windows.

another difference is that the internet today may be viewed as something of an 'ordered mess'. in the past hypertext systems are used for categorization purposes, providing '"virtual" rearrangement and retrieval', thus resulting in a more orderly and systematic classification of the institution's database. such hypertext systems may still exist in library catalogues, but more often than not, the websites for these catalogues are overwhelmed with other purposes and functions like links to other libraries and bookstores and may even act as a portal for communication between its users. the idea of an 'ordered mess' is depicted here. the internet on the whole is a messy establishment of links between websites, and the relationship connected by the link may be mild or strong. thus, when searching for information on the web, one may not always get what he wants instantly. however, orderliness of the internet is seen in the smaller modules of the internet. websites of schools, government institutions or subsidaries of large companies have an internal order within them. for instance, take the local research organization a*star. the organization has its main website, and its various institutes like ime, simtech and i2r have their individual links from this main site. and within each institute there is a further breakdown into various institutional departments. this order makes logical sense due to the hierarchical nature of the organization. finally, this order is interlinked to external websites, like websites of research institutes in other parts of the world or websites of universities, creating a massive network in the internet.

other implications of the hypertext today will be privacy issues, copyright issues, freedom of speech and internet crimes. the interconnectivity of the network enables the spread of both good and bad very quickly. viruses, bugs and malwares are easily disseminated across the internet, obtaining private information of individuals or damaging servers and computers. copyright issues also arise when information becomes extremely accessible. these, in addition to incidents of defamatory comments on the internet also propelled the establishment of internet laws. an interesting point to note is that new laws are often introduced because of the volatile and changing nature of the internet. due to the rapid advancement of technology, people can quickly come up with new ways to get round the existing laws.