Hypertexts are the way of the
future. My first experience in learning the value of hypertexts came from a
music website that I frequently read. The article was in regards to the new
release of an artist that I had been following. The writer had included links
throughout his article that first linked to the timeline of the public
announcements tied to the new album. Each click would bring me to a tweet or
public statement that added more information to the release of the new music.
Next the author linked several charts and studies and looked at the popularity
of the artist overall and of artists who make music of the same genre.
This instance was the first time it
occurred to me how helpful hypertexts can be. The ability to tie other studies
and authors to your own work, with a single click, has potential to revolutionize
the way we view and consume information.
However, hypertexts are not without
their problems. With the ability to easily link outside sources comes the risk
of said sources being false or misleading. This is a criticism that many news
outlets such as fox or cnn constantly face.
At one point the author also
addresses the point that many make regarding social media platforms: “While a
portion of writing teachers find these new texts and techs compelling and
exciting, others are wary, fearing that we may not be able to adjust to or
manage 21st-century literacies. While most writing teachers understood the
value of incorporating early digital technologies such as word processing into
the classroom, some of the newer digital technologies many be less apparently
connection to our pedagogy and curriculum: wikis, blogs, digital video, social
networking (e.g., MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter) and social bookmarking (e.g.,
del.icio.us and Diigo), and the expanding range of audio/visual technologies
(e.g., Flickr, YouTube, Wardle, Prezi, and Vuvox).” He then quickly disregards
this, instead appreciating this widening spectrum of platforms for writing and
ideas. In my opinion, this forward way of thinking is both exciting and
productive. Hypertexts are something that people can now learn naturally as
they are both fun and deeply engrained in our society.
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