Eric Calderon- Journal 7

I think the major considerations that we need to make for reading a hypertext is how this will help someone expand on their creativity—rather than to just teach the mechanics of a computer. It’s something that was talked about during the seminar last week with Dr. Yancy, when she discussed that most schools will just teach their students how to use softwares like Microsoft Office. Although it is important to teach these students how to use these types of programs, there still lies a big problem with these ways of teaching. The problem is that there aren’t many teachings for these young students that encourage any type of initiative to go beyond what the basics are and to be more creative while doing so. So the main idea that you would have to think of when reading a hypertext would be to understand what the author’s creative intent might be when making their given hypertext. For example, using different types of formats and medias can alter the way we think while reading a specific hypertext. There are ways—like using pictures—that can help manipulate the audience to either lean for or against a specific audience that might be viewing this hypertext. You might want to consider why the author is choosing to use specific formats, and if it was meant to change your view of that specific topic, or if there was potentially a different motive behind the intent. Overall, readers should cautious when reading certain hyper texts, especially when it can be possible if the author did not include all of the information that can either alter or reinforce your opinion on a given topic. Also—in terms of making these hypertexts interactive—with the emergence of comment sections at the end of some hypertexts, a viewer can go straight to the bottom of the hypertext after they read it and view the opinions of “normal” people to help confirm if they either agree or disagree with the hypertext.