Updated: 8/25/2003; 1:45:51 PM.
Stuart Myles' Radio Weblog
        

Thursday, July 10, 2003

A discussion of hyperlinks, which introduces some nice memes. Links may be static (from one particular document to one particular document) or dynamic (e.g. in a separate "linkbase" - i.e. database - but not physically part of either end). They may be strongly authored (applied by human hand) or weakly authored (built through a computational model). Hypertext and linking are idiosyncratic, both because authors have points of view (which may become encoded into automated systems) and also because readers have their own contexts that they bring to the texts.

The article then asserts that hypertext - the most modern form of communication - is very much like oratory - the oldest form. That's because each relies on rhetorical devices to presuade a consumer of its worth. The web offers many persuasive means of obtaining and retaining the scarest commodity of all, human attention. However, the oldest and most stable is the hyperlink.

Finally, the article presents its categories of links. These are Authorizing ("About Us", "Customer Service"), Commenting ("Press Releases", "Testimonials"), Enhancing ("More Details", "Site Map"), Exemplifying ("Specific Examples"), Mode Changing ("Online Survey"), Referencing/Citing ("Bibliography"), Self-Selecting ("For Seniors Only", "Europe"). Some of these are very relevant, however, some are a little awkward (e.g. Exemplifying or Mode-Changing).


5:49:33 PM    comment []

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