The Contingencies of the Hypertext Link (Q2846)
a work by Terry Harpold
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | The Contingencies of the Hypertext Link |
a work by Terry Harpold |
Statements
1991
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This negative disposition of hypertext travel language is a subsidiary effect of its function as metaphor. The resemblance of the activity of threading through a complex document to that of forecasting a ship's route, or guiding its rudder, is based on a process of approximation common to both processes. (It's a critical cliché, but perhaps not unproductive to point out here that the root meaning… (English)
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To read the link as purely a directional or associative structure is, I would argue, to miss—to disavow—the divisions between the threads in a hypertext. "Missing" the divisions is how the intentionality of hypertext navigation is realized: the directedness of the movement across the link constitutes a kind of defense against the spiraling turn that the link obscures (Harpold, 1991, 181, n6). Wha… (English)
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