The Confusion of Hypertext
Hypertext can be very confusing. It does not direct you to where you
should be heading. Instead, hypertext allows the reader to be in control
of where the text takes goes. There are multiple paths that are possible
to take. This seems to suggest a kind of textual randomness
(149,Delany & Landow). Sometimes, when conducting research, you want
the most useful information possible and you want to find it quickly.
Hypertext does not allow you to scan, like a book does, because there
are multiple pages, and you only access some by choosing a particular
path. This is frustrating to some people, who do not respond well to
ambiguity. An example of this is Mark Bernstein's Hypertext
gardens . This essay, proposes that links are no longer
confusing. However, I disagree with him completely and found the whole
site a puzzle to get through. Perhaps this was a clever attempt to use
irony to highlight the confusing nature of hypertext.
But I don't think so.
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