Week 4—Hypertext

This week’s topic is based on ‘hypertext’, which is one the main elements that drive internet based media and plays a large part in the digital writing world. Hypertext is a lot of things and can be evidenced in many areas of the internet. In addition anyone that has ever used a web browser, such as Firefox for a Windows PCs or Safari for Apple computers, to view a webpage has consciously or not employed the use of hypertext.

Admittedly the opening paragraph in this post more often than not may have a soporific effect on most people; it may even rate somewhere on the scale close to learning tax law; which begs the question: how do you capture a person’s attention once they arrive at a website and is content enough?

   "Web Page" by Carly Nelson is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Writers and publishers alike will not-inconceivably attest that a story needs someone to view it—an audience. And just because digital stories are based in cyber space doesn’t mean the traditional rules get left in the tactile world. In traditional literature, a book’s title is often a glimpse into the book’s content. For those readers who like to search second hand book repositories and dusty shelves, looking for something that grabs their attention, the title of a book can mean the difference between spending money on a book or buying a mocha latte instead. Additionally, there’s a saying in the culinary trade that ‘people eat with their eyes’, meaning that first impressions are central to making decisions about what a person wants. The Japanese people express the term ‘Oishi sou desu yo’ which means: it looks delicious!

Once upon a time, long ago, I was an avid fan of John Wyndham, who wrote science-fiction stories. One of his novels titled, Stowaway to Mars is but one on a list of many that, for me at least, used nomenclature in its title to full effect that implied a taste of what was to come. It's a little bit like being greeted by the aroma of fresh bread being baked in the hearth of a humble kitchen after a hard day at the coal face—the senses begin to whir with an-tici-pation while undergoing complete and uncontested submission and expectation of delight that slowly rises from within.

Okay, so Stowaway to Mars might not titillate readers in more recent times, but in 1936 when this book was published interplanetary expeditions were indeed a thing of science-fiction because they did not exist as fact! The science fiction writer in pre-science fact times cleverly used titles that drew people in, they tapped into people’s curiosity, and for writers like John Wyndham this proved to be a successful marketing strategy.

So why should webpages be any different? It doesn’t matter if a webpage has the answer to every single question ever asked throughout living history, if the initial spark is not there then it is very likely the visitor will not stick around. This very claim is made at a webpage titled, Hypertext Gardens, which opens by stating: ‘The attention of the audience is a writer's most precious possession, and the value of audience attention is seldom more clear than in writing for the Web. The time, care, and expense devoted to creating and promoting a hypertext are lost if readers arrive, glance around, and click elsewhere.’ (Bernstein, 1998)

Some young starry-eyed young Juliet might argue: 'What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.' Additionally they might also conclude that print is dead and to get with the times, besides, hypertext is interactive; it has multi-linear and nonlinear aspects that draw-in visitors to websites, elements that make you feel as though you’re part of the story, as though you’re really there; you’re at liberty to take different paths that lead to different experiences, you can become lost down a digital rabbit hole…who needs a title…?

Arguably, hypertext is full of technical wizardry designed to impress and instil unreserved awe. Moreover, interactivity of hypertext doesn’t stop at what is read on a screen. Now it is possible to experience physical touch while engaging in digital exploration. Interestingly it so happens there is a group based in Adelaide called Mindflux who are creators of hardware accessories that help expand the interactive nature of the digital world. Mindflux claim, ‘Hardware has been streamlined and improved considerably, enabling you to even feel what you may be touching in the virtual world.’ Presumably anyone that has used a virtual reality (VR) headset, without the addition of the element of touch, might consider this feature further evidence of progress. Furthermore, perhaps these and other advancements expand on how ‘hypertext are fundamentally concerned with escaping the logocentric geometry of regulated time and space.’ (Barnet, 1998, p. IV)

Could the new age palimpsest be the effects of the digital screen that refreshes images and texts so fast the information is etched and then re-etched onto the neural pathways of the brain, instead of by traditional means which left its legacy on the object itself. But has this created a new age Deleuzian premise whereby a reader’s experience transcends traditional precepts as it transforms its targeted individual, similar to the 5G band? Arguably this analogy could explain any number of consequences that are affecting traditional broadcast news affiliations, which as we note more and more are running out of steam and are slowly taking their place in the annals of history evidenced with the closing of print based news and information sources as adverting dollars move online. But that’s okay because progress had its price, right?

You know what? I think the awe factor has reached its apex. What might have been the case twenty, fifteen or even ten years ago is now being supplanted as common place. A couple of years back someone offered me their enlightened opinion about online courses afforded by many universities these days. Thankfully they had time to patronise me with their view, backed up and based on anecdotal evidence which started out like, ‘when I went to university…’. My response was simply to acquiesce with a nod and a smile allowing the greater ego to have its moment; but later, I mused on what I wished I’d said, something like, ‘get with the times, man, that’s the kind of prehistoric thinking that stifles all forms of creativity’, ...but alas. One interesting example worth reflecting on in 2020 is the current pandemic, aka Covid-19. As bad as this virus is, without access to our hypertext-enabled phones, PCs and laptops helping us stay connected, it could indeed be a lot worse.

Works Cited

Barnet, B. (1998). In the garden of forking path: contingency, interactivity and play in hypertext. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1(5). Retrieved from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/9812/garden.php.

Bernstein, M. (1998). Hypertext Gardens: Delightful Vistas. Retrieved from Eastgate Systems: http://www.eastgate.com/garden/Introduction.html