So What?

These are not the limits of the possibilities. The tricks shown here are very rudimentary ways to begin bringing web hypertext up to the level of reader programs like Storyspace, meant to encourage further literary and stylistic experimentation. As discussed in part one, if writing is the primary tool of the cyborg then hypermedia, and web hypertext in particular, is the natural form for it to take. The pseudo-obligatory Matrix reference was dodged earlier when Baudrillard was mentioned, so it falls here instead: as with the last line of the movie The Matrix, "where we go from here is a choice I leave to you".

Other Features

If you are interested in exploring more possibilities with hypertext, try searching for plugins for your browser. Browsers like Mozilla Firefox may be added onto through "extensions", coded browser plug-ins that attach onto the existing browser and add functionality. In his book Hypertext 2.0 Professor George Landow relates how Derrida's focus on intertextuality "describes extant hypertext systems in which the active reader in the process of exploring a text, probing it, can call into play dictionaries...that connect individual words to cognates, derivations, and opposites." [Hypertext 2.0, page 33] Plugins already exist for Firefox that allow the user to look up words in as many online dictionaries as they can access simply by right-clicking on the unknown word; from the OED alone it is possible to gather a wealth of historical and etymological information that extends far beyond the definition originally sought.

Particularly with the development of tabbed browsing (essential for maintaining an uncluttered window) it is extraordinarily easy to open a new tab to start a more in-depth investigation of a question; even the ubiquitous "Google it!" response to questions is a boon to intertextuality. The modern computer user may be content to simply surf the net, but those with the time and energy to investigate the currents under the web's surface will find their experience much more rewarding.

Lastly, although I did not research this question, if cyberspace itself can be mapped, individual site visualizations in the style of the Storyspace web viewer cannot be too far behind.

Stylesheets: Dark | Dark (No Links) | Simple Dark | Owen Style (Light) | Light Side | Plain Text Style