Some theorists claim that hypertext reconfigures the constructs of text, reader, and writer. The following arguments support this claim:
Without the boundaries imposed by print, hypertext creates an
open, unconfined text containing both intra- and intertextual
connections.
According to George P. Landow (1992), it is the "seemingly endless" links that break down these boundaries and reconfigure the constructs of text, reader, and writer.
Readers write the text themselves.
Due to the nonlinear, interactive nature of hypertext, "readers cannot avoid writing the text itself, since every choice they make is an act of writing" (Bolter, 1991).
Through traversing hypertext links, readers control the organization
of the material.
However, as Karen Schriver (1997) points out, "increased freedom for readers to integrate information in their own preferred order may be beneficial, but only if readers are skillful at selecting their information order" (p. 379).
The hypertext writer has less authority over the text.
As Johnson-Eilola (1997) states: "Authors lose their control over the specific path followed by the reader as the text becomes a networked hypertext" (p. 78-79). In addition, the writer of hypertext is "more multivocal, less centered, and less autonomous" (Tovey, 1998).
The distinction between writer and reader becomes blurred.
As Johnson-Eilola (1997) explains, "Technology apparently breaks down the distinction between writer and reader, especially the commonsense notions of these roles as polar opposites" (p. 143).
This blurring distances the hypertext writer from both the text and the reader and bolsters the reconfiguration of these three elements.
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Last Updated: May 2, 2001
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