Hypertext and the Remediation of Print, Ch. 3 - Jay David Bolter, A Response.

What does hypertext refashion? According to Jay David Bolter in his book "Writing Space", "In one sense this linking is simply the electronic equivalent of the footnote used in printed books for hundreds of years." He explains that the most important difference that hypertext facilitates is a process of web pages being linked together and that this process can continue indefinitely as the reader moves through the respective textual space. This form of layered writing is not as easily adopted in books, such as linking a footnote to another footnote, but is regarded as natural when reading and writing on the World Wide Web. Also the reader might be referenced to a more comprehensive and "elaborate" page.

A couple of items come to mind when thinking about Bolter's illustration. Google and other related search engines have become infamous with their comprehensive abilities to take inputted words and numbers and directing the user to a listing of the corresponding websites that a match is found. The importance of keywords and terms have emerged as a centered aspect of idea formulation. Also, the collaboration of wikis such as the information monster Wikipedia, has been built on hyper-linking and resource generation. This new form of writing can be both very helpful and confusing at the same time. Since in order to properly search, a greater background understanding of the subject's keywords can play an intricate role in the findings. This can be conducive at the same time to the reader when embarking in an unfamiliar subject matter's territory.