lost

in hypertext.

you can't

curl up

with a computer under

a nice warm blanket

Doug Brent, writer of Rhetorics of the Web,

writes that there is a

boundary that hypertext reaches,

past which it is no longer like any

printed text.

links are the differentiating factor.

Narrative becomes

fragmented

-virtually non-existent.

there is no

last page

and no end to the

possibilities of hypertext.

if you looked at my first link, you saw an earlier essay i wrote on the new literature: hypertext. for all intensive purposes, you could have printed it out and gotten the same information and experience from it. This essay, on the other hand, would be useless if taken out of this medium. the link to the Doug Brent article replaces the footnote and allows you to immediately find the source of an idea. the interlocking nature of the internet lets hypertext provide a wider view of the topics discussed. printed text does not have this option. hypertext brings all parts of a narrative into perspective immediately through links.

also, the reader can communicate with the author through links to email. this allows the reader to understand the material better. so if you have any questions or comments about this page,e-mail me