HYPERTEXT

AND
INTERTEXT
WRITING

GROUP 4
Hypertext Writing
- Hypertext is writing on the web that
incorporates the use of hyperlinks.
- Hypertext is read differently by each reader,
and therefore each  hypertext document
continues to change. The reader is as much a
part of the writing as the writer in making
meaning.
- While we read most book text or papertext
from top to bottom, left to right, front to back,
we don't necessarily read hypertext in the
same linear way. 
PURPOSE OF HYPERTEXT
 The hypertext transfer
protocol, abbreviated
HTTP, is a system by which computers talk
to each other across the World Wide Web.
It's used by computers and smart phones to
ask web servers to send the contents of
websites and to submit data through online
forms.
EXAMPLE OF HYPERTEXT
AFTERNOON BY MICHEAL JOYCE

The syntax and descriptive language are untouched by modernist experiments in

fragmentation as found in printed texts such as James Joyce's Ulysees or The
Wasteland by T.S. Eliot. Whilst the narrative is spread over web sites rather than
pages it is cohesive. In its subject matter Afternoon follows lines of traditional
narrative as the relationships of the central characters are revealed. By navigating
the space in different ways characters are reinterpreted, so a second visit
functions like a flashback. Micheal Joyce has combined traditional techniques
with the new hypertext medium. At the same time Joyce utilizes the lack of central
control in hypertext, rather than providing an obvious enigma to be resolved, the
narrative remains enigmatic; Did the narrator's son and wife die in the car crash or
not? "I want to say I may have seen my son die this morning." It is this lack of
certainty, or missing centre, which produces the multiple narrative configurations
of the text, and the space in which the narrative exists. Determinate cybertext or
never-ending text where elements are predictable, but conditional. The sequence
of the elements might lead to multiple endings. This category encompasses the
tree fiction found on the web where the reader makes choices dictating the action
and is essential to the process of the text. Aarseth stated that "the reader makes
the action, and without the reader the process is dead."
TURNING AND TURNING IN
THE WIDENING GYRE
THE FALCON CANNOT HEAR
THE FALCONER;
THINGS FALL APART, THE
CENTER CANNOT HOLD.
MERE ANARCHY IS LOOSED
UPON THE WORLD.
- W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”
HYPERTEXT
AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE
MODERN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Nerd Night Presentation

May 12, 2011

By Jenna Duncan
Writer, Instructor @ GCC
WHAT IS HYPERTEXT?
A term coined by theorist Theodor H. Nelson in the
1960s:

“Non-sequential writing—text that

branches and allows choices to the
reader, best read at an interactive
screen…”
Text chunks that lead the reader down different
pathways.
Example: “New Perverse Logics” http://
www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/body/dgmt/main.html
WHAT IS HYPERTEXT?
VannevarBush’s concept:

“Chains of links might themselves

comprise a new form of scholarly writing.”

Interactivity
Intertextuality
De-centering (of
power)
Accessibility
Multi-platform
Multimedia
WHAT IS INTERTEXTUALITY?
 The relationship between texts—especially
literary ones!

Heteroglossia
(many meanings
within one text) -
Postmodern Bakhtin
Literature
Intertext Writing
 Intertextuality isthe shaping of a
text's meaning by another text.
 It is the interconnection between
similar or related works of literature
that reflect and influence an
audience's interpretation of the text. 
 Intertextual figures include: allusion,
quotation, calque, plagiarism,
translation, pastiche and parody.
PURPOSE OF INTERTEXT

It is important stage in
understanding a piece of literature,
as it is necessary to see how other
works have influenced the author
and how different texts are
employed in the piece to convey
certain meanings.
EXAMPLE OF INTERTEXT

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Hemingway has based the title of his novel published in

1940 on John Donne's poem XVII Meditation. An excerpt of
the poem is usually published under the name "No Man is an
Island." The title of the novel has been taken from "And
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls
for thee." Hemingway also incorporates Donne's philosophy
into his story with the Spanish civil war as a backdrop. The
intertextuality between the two literary pieces has expanded
the theme of the novel.
CONVERGENCE CULTURE

CENTRAL DEVICE

COMMUNICATION PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS ENTERTAINMENT

Interpe Physical/b
Text Visual Vocal Compan
Air
ody
rsonal Food Sleep
Gaming Video
language
ionship
Evolution of Texting: From
Cuneiform to OMG
ACRONYM-ITY
DE-CENTERING THE TEXT
Derrida – Abandon our conceptual system!

Rethink ideas of:

Center
Margins
Hierarchy
Linearity
DE-CENTERING THE TEXT

Replace with:
Multilinearity
Nodes
Links
Networks

“All texts have variable applications and

purposes” (Jenkins 106).”
N!
- Hypertext changes how we speak and how
we are spoken to.
- Levels the playing field; democratizes texts

“Almost all are party to this paradigm

shift…”
- Jenkins
We are all connected, we are all “textual,”
we are all empowered, we are all
user/generators!*
* with some exceptions: ie. Third World, victims of oppressive regimes, the incarcerated
REVOLUTION/EVOLUTION
But it comes with some warnings…
1. Impersonal – everyone sitting around, privately
using; a “denaturing” of language

2. Validity – Instant info. = good info.?

3. A deprecation of the language:

If the rules change too fast, we no longer have a common
ground upon which to stand; we no longer have a base of
language to understand one another.

“Things fall apart, the center does not hold…”

BE EMPOWERED - USE HYPERTEXT

“THE MACHINE IS US/ING US”

HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=
NLLGOPYXT_G
WORKS CITED
 
“Desertion.” Wikipedia.org. 24 April 2011. Web. 10 May
2011.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWOL#Absence_without_leave>
 
Eyal, Segal, et al. "The Intertextual Thread: A Newcultural Unit in Hypertext." Leonardo
Electronic Almanac 12.9 (2004): N.PAG. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28
Apr. 2011.
 
“Is English Changing?” ed. Betty Birner. Linguistic Society of America.nd. Web. 28 Apr.
2011. <www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Is_English_Changing.pdf>
 
Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York:
New York UP. 2006. Print.
 
Landow, George P. Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in a Global Era.
Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Print. Google Books. Web. 28
Apr. 2011.
 
Language. Films Media Group, 1999. Films On Demand. Web. 10 May 2011.
<http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=8949&xtid=10177>.
WORKS CITED 2.0
 
Lanham, Richard A. "What's Next for Text?." Education, Communication and Information
1.1 (2001): 15-36. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 May 2011.
 
Levy, Pierre. Collective Intelligence: Mankind’s Emerging World in Cyberspace.
Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Books. 1997. Print.
 
Robertson, Stephen. "What's Wrong with Online Readings? Text, Hypertext, and the
History Web." History Teacher 39.4 (2006): 441-454. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. Web. 1 May 2011.
 
“Scrabble.” Wikipedia.org. 4 May 2011. Web. 10 May 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble
 
Writing. Films Media Group, 1998. Films On Demand. Web. 10 May 2011.
<http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=8949&xtid=10178>.