Is Hypertext the Future for Reading?

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Is Hypertext the Future for Reading?

Hypertext has significantly altered the traditional role of the reader. It has provided an opportunity for the reader to become more engaged in the actual text the reader encounters. The reader now has the power to pick and choose topics they may want to learn more about by engaging in a multi-linear fashion of reading. A rather dramatic shift of power from the author to the reader allows the reader to construct their own personal path through a story, reading whatever strikes their fancy. Readers are no longer forced to start at page one and finish with the last page. With hypertext there is no definite end to a story by any means. I experienced this first hand with the hypertext fictional story “Dissapearing Rain” by Deena Larsen.

I read “Rain”, a hypertext on the web, and found the story very confusing. I found myself confused as to where to click and what I needed to know to understand the story. With every click came a multitude of options that only opened a number of more options. Throughout the story I had an overwhelming feeling that I was missing vital information by picking and choosing which hyperlinks to follow. “Such violations of clarity and causality seem to be defining qualities of all hypertexts that permit the reader to make significant choices in the order of presentation.” (Bolter 129) I realized that I was reading a story that had no pre-ordained order. The author allowed her readers to decide where the story would take them, a rather awkward challenge I had never before appreciated while surfing the web.

It came as quite a shock when I understood how complicated reading a hypertext fictional story could be. I was no longer being led through a story with an author’s complete authority; I was now given choices. I was the one to decide where the story was going to take me and how I wanted to experience it. The hypertext fiction “Rain” allowed an option of following specific characters. I figured this would be the best way to possibly decrease the amount of hyperlinks offered, but I was wrong.

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