Hypertext, in my opinion, is one of the defining aspects of the internet, making it just so very different from simply being a linear collection of a variety of media. The internet posseses the ability to allow a user to 'surf' from one piece of information to another, to expand links, to click on words for definition or more information, to open a video, or photo, or go to a message board and interact. Essentially this makes everyone's journey on the WWW hightlyindividualised and personal. Unlike reading a book, it is not a case of reading just what is given to you, it is a case of choosing jsut what you want to know and read about; no two peoples 'journey' online is quite the same. Positively, this means we can find JUST what we are looking for., but does it mean we might miss out on potentially crucial information, only seeing half the picture?
I found Ellie's points talking about hypertext in relation to interactive tv interesting as it wasn't something I'd considered, and I made some further comments of my own here: http://elliemccullough1989.blogspot.com/2009/01/hyperlinks-and-effect-on-real-life.html?showComment=1233355080000#c4107458378417978894
Info from lecture notes week 2, and Lister et al (2003) NEW MEDIA: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION, London: Routledge.
Do you agree with Sonia Livingstone's notion that we need a new literacy in order to look at the web on a different aspect to books?
ReplyDeleteHi -nice touch to include a url, can I encourage everyone to paste in urls for online sources etc?
ReplyDeleteLiteracy? maybe literacy is often thought of too narrowly? Part of being 'literate' is being able to understand and use the information carried in a medium. Perhaps all media reqire a complex mixture of skills to be really 'literate'? If so, the fact that CMC draws upon mainly pre-existing media which we've grown up with would suggest that it's not the enormous shift some might claim?
What do you think are the gaps that people need help with? What do you wish you'd had better teaching on -in primary school? -in secondary school? are there still things you know you are shaky on?
Oh, yes -the real reason for this comment is to say -isn't there a problem if 100 people can 'read' the same hypertextual site, but come away having seen 100 different versions and made 100 different conclusions? Is'nt that an especial challenge for education?
I'd say it's certainly a problem for the people contributing to the online content. If you can't guarantee your writing will be read in isolation from other texts or read all the way through, you can't garuantee the message you are putting across and what you are saying can easily become 'polluted' by everything that surrounds it.
ReplyDelete