Current literature on the social impact of hypertext has focused largely on the similarities between hypertext and the concept of the postmodern Text as defined by Barthes, Bakhtm, Dernda, and Foucault. By claiming that hypertext concretely realizes the shape and role of the postmodern Text, researchers claim also to be able to assess the possible social impact of hypertext. Yet much of the literature also relies on a perspective on the links between technology and society informed almost entirely by a form of technological determinism, based on technicist readings of the development of written discourse. As a result, many of the assessments of the potentially "revolutionary" impact of hypertext on society are overly simplistic. Keywords: hypertext, hypertext/hypermedia, discourse, critical theory, literary theory, literacy studies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baird, P. & Percival, M.1990. Glasgow online: Database development using Apple's HyperCard . In Hypertext: Theory into practice, ed. R. McAleese, 75-92. Oxford: Intellect Books.
2.
Bakhtin, M.1981. The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
3.
Barthes, R.1974. S/Z. New York: Hill and Wang.
4.
_. 1975. The pleasure of the text. New York : Hill and Wang.
5.
_. 1977. The death of the author. In Image, music, text, ed. S. Heath, 142-49. New York: Hill and Wang.
6.
_. 1979. From work to text. In Textual strategies: Perspectives m post-structural criticism, ed. J. Harari, 73-82. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
7.
Bolter, J.D.1991. Writing space: The computer, hypertext, and the history of writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
8.
Bolter, J.D., & Joyce, M.1987. Hypertext and creative writing. Hypertext '87. New York: Association for Computing Machinery .
9.
_. 1991. Storyspace. Computer software. Eastgate Systems, I34 Main St., Watertown, MA 02I72; 800-562-I638; 6I7-924-9044.
10.
Born, G.1992. A hypertext-based support aid for writing software documentation . In Computers and writing: State of the art , ed. N. Williams & P. Holt , 266-77. Oxford: Intellect Books.
11.
Clark, I.L., & Richards, T.1987. Hypertext applications in information retrieval . Hypertext '87 Digest. Computer software. Eastgate Systems, I34 Main St., Watertown, MA 02I72; 800-562-I638; 6I7-924-9044.
12.
Coover, R.1992, June 2I. The end of books. New York Times Book Review (June 2I): I, 23, 24-25.
13.
Crane, G.1991. Composing culture: The authority of an electronic text . Current Anthropology3:293-311.
14.
Davenport, E., & Cronin, B.1990. Hypertext and the conduct of science. Journal of Documentation46 (3): 175-92.
15.
Derrida, J.1976. Of grammatology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
16.
_. 1979. Living on. In Deconstruction and criticism: A continuum book, ed. James Hulbart, 75-176. New York: Seabury Press.
17.
Dorner, J.1991. Authors and information technology: New challenges in publishing. In Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Conference on Computers and the Writing Process, I15-23. Brighton : Computers & Writing (UK) Association.
18.
Douglas, J.Y.1989. Wandering through the labyrinth: Encountering interactive fiction. Computers and Composition6 (3): 93-103.
19.
_. 1991. Understanding the act of reading: The WOE beginner's guide to dissection. Writing on the Edge2 (2): I12-26.
20.
_. 1992. Maps, gaps, and perceptions: What hypertext readers (don't) do. PerforationsI (3).
21.
_. 1994 forthcoming. "Nature" versus "Nurture": The three paradoxes of hypertext. In The social and interactional dimensions of human-computer interfaces, ed. P. Thomas , New York: Cambridge University Press.
22.
Dunlop, C., & Kling, R.1991. Social control and privacy. In Computerization and controversy: Value conflicts and social choices, ed. C. Dunlop & R. Kling , 410-20. New York: Academic Press.
23.
Edward, D.M., & Hardman, L.1990. Lost in hyperspace: Cognitive mapping and navigation in a hypertext environment. In Hypertext. Theory into practice , ed. R. McAleese, 105-25. Oxford : Intellect Books.
24.
Eisenstein, E.L.1979. The printing press as an agent of change: Commumcations and cultural transformations m early modern Europe. Vols. I-2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
_. 1983. The printing revolution m early modern Europe. London: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Englebart, D.1988. A conceptual framework for the augmentation of man's intellect . In Computer-supported cooperative work A book of readings , ed. I. Greif, 35-66. San Mateo: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
27.
Finnegan, R.1988. Literacy and orality. Oxford : Blackwell.
28.
Foucault, M.1973. The order of things. An archeology of the human sciences. New York: Vintage .
29.
Garrett, N., Smith, K., & Meyrowitz, N.1987. Intermedia: Issues, strategies and tactics in the design of a hypermedia document system. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-supported Cooperative Work. Austm, TX: MCC Software Technology Program.
30.
Ghaoui, C., George, S.M., Rada, R., Beer, M., & Getta, J.1992. Text to hypertext and back again. In Computers and writing: State of the art, ed. N. Williams & P. Holt, 109-30. Oxford : Intellect Books.
31.
Goody, J.1977. The domestication of the savage mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Halasz, F.1988. Reflections on NoteCards: Seven issues of the next generation of hypermedia systems. Communications of the ACM31:836-52.
33.
Havelock, E.1963. Preface to Plato. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.
34.
_. 1976. Origins of Western literacy. Toronto : Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
35.
Helsel, S.1992. Virtual reality and education. Educational Technology32:38-42.
36.
Holderness, M.1993. Down and out in the global village. New Scientist (May 8): 36-40.
37.
Horowitz, I.L.1989. New technology and the changing system of author-publisher relations. New Literary History20:505-10.
38.
Jones, R.A.1987. Hypertext laboratory at the University of Illinois. Hypertext '87 Digest. Computer software. Eastgate Systems, I34 Main St., Watertown, MA 02I72; 800-562-I638; 6I7-924-9044.
39.
_. 1988. Building a hypermedia laboratory. Academic Computing3 (4): 24-29, 43-44.
40.
Jones, R.A., & Spiro, R.1992. Imagined conversations: The relevance of hypertext, pragmatism, and cognitive flexibility theory to the interpretation of "classic texts" in intellectual history. Paper presented to the European Conference on Hypertext. December, Milano , Italy.
Landow, G.P.1987. Relationally encoded links and the rhetoric of hypertext. Hypertext '87. New York: Association of Computing Machinery.
43.
_. 1991. Hypertext: The convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkms University Press.
44.
_, ed. 1992. The Dickens web. Computer software. Eastgate Systems, I34 Main St., Watertown, MA 02I72; 800-562-I638; 6I7-924-9044.
45.
Landow, G. P., & Lanestedt, J., eds. 1993. The "In memoriam" web. Computer software. Eastgate Systems. (See above.)
46.
Lanham, R.1989. The electronic word: Literary study and the digital revolution . New Literary History20:265-90.
47.
Latour, B.1987. Science in action How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
48.
_. 1988. The politics of explanation: An alternative. In Knowledge and reflexivity: New frontiers in the sociology of knowledge , ed. S. Woolgar, 155-77. London : Sage.
49.
Latour, B., & Woolgar, S.1986. Laboratory life. The construction of scientific facts2d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
50.
Mayes, T., Kibby, M.R., & Anderson, T.1990. Signposts for conceptual orientation: Some requirements for learning from hypertext. In Hypertext. State of the art , ed. R. McAleese & C., 121-29. Oxford : Intellect Books.
51.
McLuhan, M.1962. The Gutenberg galaxy: The making of typographic man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
52.
_. 1964. Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York: Signet.
53.
Miller, J.H.1982. Fiction and repetition: Seven English novels. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
54.
Moulthrop, S.1991a. Beyond the electronic book: A critique of hypertext . In Hypertext I99I proceedings, ed. P. D. Stotts & R. K. Futura, 291-99. New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
55.
_. 1991b. The politics of hypertext. In Evolving perspectives on computers and composition studies: Questions for the I990s , ed. G. E. Hawisher & C. L. Selfe, 253-71. Urbana: NCTE Press.
56.
_. 1993. You say you want a revolution? Hypertext and the laws of media. In Essays in postmodern culture, ed. J. Unsworth & A. Amiran , New York: Oxford University Press.
57.
_. 1992. Paragnosis, or the hermeneutic of resistance in
58.
Moulthrop, S., & Kaplan, N.1991. Something to imagine: Literature, composition and interactive fiction. Computers and Composition9:7-24.
59.
Narasimhan, R.1991. Literacy: Its characterization and implications . In Literacy and orality, ed. D. R. Olson & N. Torrance, 177-97. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nielsen, J.1990. Hypertext and hypermedia. New York : Academic Press.
62.
Odor, P.1992. Hypermedia—Choices, creations, care, and maintenance . London: Department of Employment Group.
63.
Olson, D.1991. Literacy as metalinguistic activity. In Literacy and orahty, ed. Torrance , 251-70. New York: Cambridge University Press.
64.
Ong, W.J.1982. Orahty and literacy. The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.
65.
Pinch, T.J., & Bicker, W.E.1987. The social construction of facts and artifacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. In The social construction of technological systems: New directions m the sociology and history of technology, ed. W. E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes , & T. J. Pinch, 17-50. Cambridge : MIT Press.
66.
Rosenberg, M.1992. Contingency, liberation, and the seduction of geometry: Hypertext as an avant-garde medium. PerforationsI.
67.
Samuelson, P.1992. Some new kinds of authorship made possible by computers and some intellectual property questions they raise. University of Pittsburgh Law Review53:586-704.
68.
Sharples, M., Goodlet, J., & Pemberton, L.1989. Developing a writer's assistant. In Computers and writing, ed. N. Williams & P. Holt, 123-35. Oxford: Intellect Books.
69.
Sharples, M., & Evans, M.1991. Computer support for the development of writing abilities . Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Conference on Computers and the Writing Process, 18-26. Brighton: Computers & Writing (UK) Association.
70.
Street, B.V.1984. Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
71.
Woodhead, N.1991. Hypertext and hypermedia: Theory and application . Wilmslow, England: Sigma Press .
72.
Wright, P., & Lickorish, A.1989. The influence of discourse structure on display and navigation in hypertexts. In Computers and writing, ed. N. Williams & P. Holt , 90-120. Oxford: Intellect Books.
73.
Yankelovich, N., Meyrowitz, N., & Drucker, S.1988. Intermedia: The concept and the construction of a seamless information environment. IEEE Computer21:81-96.
74.
Ziegfeld, R.1989. Interactive fiction: A new literary genre? New Literary History20:341-73.
