How Hypertext Refashions

I think one of the most interesting points that Bolter brings about the use of Hypertext is how it refashions the way we think. He discusses the ideas of linear reading that are presented to the reader in the traditional forms of print (Novel, Essay...). But, with the advent of hypertext a new form of associative reading is being created. Bolter writes how hypertext is a reformatted form of text that creates a general network, such as the World Wide Web (34). Some argue that this type of associative reading is more natural to the human thought process.

This type of associative reading brought me back to the days of Choose Your Own Adventure novels. In a certain way, reading hypertext is similar to being allowed to choose your own adventure. The reader is allowed to choose their own path based on their own conscious decision. I won't go as far to say that these novels were the predecessors of the idea of hypertext, but Bolter does point out that certain aspects of Hypertext, such as hypermediation, can be traced back to modernist writers such as James Joyce (44).

The idea of Hypertext does coincide with many post-modern ideas of an over-abundance of information and the consequences of it. Bolter quotes one of the most renowned post-modern theorists, Frederic Jameson, early on in the book, immediately bringing about the association between the age of Late-capitalism (post-modernism) and the "late age of print" (3). Many attribute this associative reading style to be causing shorter attention spans. I don't remember the last time I read through a whole web-page. But it may just be that the human brain is simply more sporadic and wandering then we like to think, whichmay be why this associative reading has caught on so easily.

Citations

Bolter, David. Writing Space:Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Routledge; New York 2001.