Readers, Writers and the Problems of Hypertext
To show you the types of writing generated by this exercise, I want to quote a paragraph from Soula Michaelides's essay. Not only does her essay demonstrate a response to ideas about hypertext, but it also offers an important critique of studying hypertext in a composition course. She writes,
One of the problems I have with Landow's and Bolter's claims about electronic text is that they emphasize a lack of order--“no required order.” But I am attending college and taking this class so that I'll learn how to order my words in a better way. I am trying to learn how to write in a clear manner, so that I can communicate my ideas. If I want to convince a politician to change his/her mind, I need to present my ideas in a clear fashion. Hypertext doesn't encourage that. I'm not saying I want to be a politician, but I know I don't want to be a computer scientist. If I'm going to be a business woman, I need to write in a clear and orderly fashion. Hypertext, although, it may be fun to play with, isn't good for me.
Her objections to hypertext as a disorganized system reflect the reading theorist Peter Foltz's suggestion that a website as well as a print text must have coherence if it is to be useful to a general audience (126-133). For Soula, Bolter's joy at electronic texts' openness and non-hierarchical organization is threatening. But this threat does not seem to be a fear of the unknown but rather a concern about her ability to influence the world: “I am trying to learn how to write in a clear manner, so that I can communicate my ideas. If I want to convince a politician to change his/her mind, I need to present my ideas in a clear fashion.” Using hypertext in a college composition course appears to be “play.” Hypertext does not seem to provide her with writing skills that will have a real-world use.