Hypertext as a Medium for Writing

Hypertext as a Medium for Writing

This paper will compare and analyze theoretical ideas found in Hamlet on the Holodeck by Janet H. Murry focusing on Chapter 10 “Hamlet on the Holodeck” as it relates to hypertext as a specific medium for writing, and Writing Space by Jay David Bolter focusing on Chapter 7 “Interactive Fiction” and chapter 8 “Critical Theory in a New Writing Space” and their emphasis on digital poetry and the increased role of the reader in the reading process. The information taken from these two works will then be compared to the interactive hypertext webpage entitled “Heading South” by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) English graduate student, Cheryl Ball.

In relation to hypertext, the role of the reader seems to be more interactive than that of a typical offline reading. A large amount of evidence supporting the assumption that the reader plays an increased “interactive” role in interactive or hypertext material is found in both Hamlet on the Holodeck and Writing Space. These examples show how Cheryl Ball’s poetry is easy to follow and how readers are able to play an interactive part in observing her material. As background information relating to digital poetry and the readers’ role, Janez Strevhovec, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Academy of Visual Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia states, “Today digital poetry provides us with new, provocative, and challenging, to sensitivity even testing forms of experiencing. It is a medium that can only be understood on the basis of analysis of the present world of the new media, and new perception forms, which originate in the interface culture” (Strehovec 4). Strehovec’s description of digital poetry simply addresses that it is presented in a new-aged...

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...-established outcomes or only a few to choose from. I believe using hypertext as a medium for writing can only increase the importance placed on the reading, not lesson it. The information from Bolter, Murray, and what I have gained from evaluating Ball’s web site has helped me to become better aware of different aspects of hypertext, and what I will and will not use when creating my own webpage.

Works Cited

Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Maywah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.

Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001.

Strehovec, Janez. “Text as a Loop/On the Digital Poetry.” The University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2003. [Retrieved from the World Wide Web 15 March 2004].

http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Strehovec.pdf