Hypertext: Connecting the Dots
The human mind strives to create links between disparate pieces of information; it is how we think and it is how we live.
It is this ability to synthesize that allows us to make cognitive leaps—at its extreme, we call these leaps genius: Albert Einstein always maintained he thought of the Theory of Relativity while standing on a train platform, watching a passing train and observing the Doppler effect as it approached and receded.
When we read a book or watch a movie, the writer maps our narrative path, always forward; our path is a straight line, from A to Z.
Non-Linear Meta-Narratives & Individual Choices
A hypertext document's path resembles a tree, with many branches, representing choices, spreading out in almost limitless combinations and variety. Readers interact with the story in such a way as to determine their own reading experience—pretty much the dictionary definition of interactivity.
Hypertext, as we interpret it at NextTech Magazine: A non-linear, meta-narrative information structure; links to associated/related articles are integrated into narrative flow, allowing the user to move forward, backward and even laterally through the storyline, assembling the component parts (nodes) in their minds, allowing users to create their own gestalt.
See also:
Robert Coover Introduces The Unknown
Hypertext and Hypermedia Bibliography
Updated: November 18, 2005