When I first began working with "html" ("hypertext markup language"), I kept as my goal the ideal of organization. I wanted my page to provide either straightforward information or else to provide clear-cut links to other pages that could do that. I began with what I called a "Classical Rhetoric Web-ography" which consisted of a small series of annotated references which were linked to informative sources. Shown to the right, this novice page reveals my desire for linearity. The page served as nothing more than a jumping off point for my readers. Because it would be, I did not link to that page. It offers nothing informative to this discussion except to serve as a model of "where I started." I think that the assumptions I made, early on about "hypertext," were that it was an interesting indexing tool. As you can see, the text to the right has three basic sections, "Rhetoricians," "Cultures," and "Discussions, Texts, and Indexes." Within the document itself, then, I included an anchors at the beginning of each section, and I kept everything on the single page rather than presenting a separate node to account for each section.

Quite frankly, I am not sure why I made that decision, but I know that from my current vantage point, it indicates a desire to maintain the textuality with which I am most familiar--printed, linear, sequential text. And I have continued with that prejudice for sequentiality in the later web projects that I have worked on. In fact, ordering this web-site is presenting considerable challenges to me as I attempt to avoid "telling you where to go" with my linking.