Journal 7-- Chelsi Chang

There are a few things one has to consider when reading a hypertext, the most obvious being that it will not function in the same way as a print technology. While print technology must provide all of the details to a reader, hyper text can simply add the link to that information. Authors can write under the pretense that readers know just about anything and then connect readers to the information to help them get up to speed on information. Also, much like Neal mentions, hypertexts do not necessarily have to be read in any specific order. For example, when I read an article in the New York Times and they are discussing a court case that I have never heard of, they may link me to a completely different article in the Times so I, the reader, can fully understand what they are talking about. However, when I choose to read that linked article is completely up to me; I can elect to click the link and read it right away or I can wait until I am done with the first article to read the second. In this way, the author must make a decision in how they choose to continue writing their information once they provide the information. It also gives the author a lot of authority on how readers get additional background information for their story. Will they provide a link to a story with a lot of political bias, an editorial, a balanced story? Those decisions completely fall into the hands of the author that provides the connection to new information. Finally, it allows authors to "represent the connections they see in their work." By adding someone else's work or maybe even a previous work of your own, you are infinitely connecting your work to something else. These two works be connected to one another on the Internet forever. It adds another leg to the web of an author's prose and associates a different piece to their own. It adds a new dynamic that cannot be simply overlooked. All of these elements work together collectively to contribute to the whole.