If one were to think of writing in the early days, he or she would find it was infinitely different from present day, both stylistically and methodically. It has gone from pictures to symbols to words and combinations of all three. People have used writing as communication for hundreds of years, as well as used it to document important moments in history and get their voice out there. Writing has taken a very important place in society, and has been utilized and refined numerous times. Yet, it was the advances of modern technology that really took writing to a whole new level. As the Internet was refined and hyperlinks were developed, they provided a new pathway for both writers and readers alike to share and gather thoughts and works.
In the earliest of times, man would orally pass along what stories and traditions were practiced by his or her people. When a form of writing was finally developed monks would sit and hand write books, but due to the amount of labor and tediousness books were hard to come by and those that could be bought were expensive. Most of the time only the very wealthy could afford to purchase books that were handwritten, and for a while only the rich were literate. With the invention of the printing press came a new wave of literacy and word craving amongst the public. For the first time the printed word was available to anyone. When the first word processors came to be, it caused a new phenomenon for writers. Instead of using a typewriter to type they could use a keyboard, and instead of having to start over a page or carefully white out a letter if they messed up they could easily move, delete, copy, and paste full paragraphs at a time. This made the writing and editing process quicker and easier, and when the Internet was finally fully developed a whole new generation of writers was ready to unleash their thoughts into the world.
With the development of the Internet came the growth of hypertext. Hypertext is essentially like, “the electronic equivalent of the footnote used in most printed books for hundreds of years” (Bolter 27), but instead of having to search for another book that will hold the information that the footnote cites, the reader can simply click on the hypertext and have that reference page show up for him or her to read. Hypertext allows a user to go online and read about a certain topic, and to then expand on that topic by clicking on what is called a “hot” web page and being immediately transferred to the page that he or she wanted to go to. Hypertext consists of small links called hyperlinks that are grouped together by topic. These topics “exist in a writing space that is not only a visual surface but also a data structure in the computer” (Bolter 29). Hyperlinks enable writers to be completely topical in their works, and it allows them to connect various other pieces of information to what they have.
Because of this new way of writing the style and format of writing has changed as well. Prior to hypertext everything was extremely linear. Writers wrote books, which were then published and sold to readers who read them, and if the reader wanted more information they could get it from looking into another book that they got. Instead of this linear thought process, hypertext encourages a new associative train of thought. Instead of just going through this one -way line of thought a reader can figuratively think in many different directions. Due to the topical grouping of hyperlinks the reader may decide which direction he or she goes in. He or she could read one thing and go in a completely different direction than another person may, but that is also what makes hyperlinks so much more convenient and easy. It provides many paths, and each person is able to choose which way to go.
In Professor Wesch’s youtube video titled, “The Machine is Us/ing Us”, he explains hyperlinks are more flexible. They can be moved around and changed.
He also explains HTML, which is designed to define the structure of a web document, as well as the various other structural elements that were added and created for the use of HTML. He then goes on to explain XML, which was designed specifically so that form and content could be separated within a web document. With XML all of the structural elements were created to define the content of the document instead of the form, allowing the data to be exported, free of formatting constraints (Wesch).
Along with posing a very interesting and quick background of hypertext, Wesch also points out a very interesting concept. With books, it is not a give and take relationship, but instead a one-way road, where the reader gets out of a book only what it has to offer. With hypertext and databases, every time a user searches something online, or every time they add something to the World Wide Web, the “machine”, or web, will save that information and log it. It caters to the user’s interests, and uses the ideas given to it by a person to expand and grow. In this video, Wesch points out that, “When we post and then tag we are teaching the Machine. Every time we forge a link we teach it an idea” (Wesch). In terms of clicking and adding, humans click on various web pages all over the world 100 billion times per day. If this has been happening for years one can only imagine how infinite and vast the World Wide Web really is. There are incredible amounts of information just waiting to be discovered, and it has been written, edited, and published by humans on average, everyday computers. There is no more printing press, no more handwritten word or oral tradition. It no longer matters how a person is doing financially. Getting works out to the public is only limited by a writer’s own creativity.
If what Wesch is saying is true, and based on the direction and advances in technology over the past few years, the Web and everything on it is definitely a positive direction for writing to be going. With websites such as Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, users are able to blog about anything between their daily life and a specific hobby or study that they are interested in. Blogs and web-pages can be open to anybody interested in reading it, and in that way a person can get his or her works out not just to local bookstores around town, but instead to the entire world, because everything is virtual. Hyperlinks bridge gaps into other countries, and two people from opposite sides of the world could end up sharing thoughts with each other without ever physically meeting.
Writing has become very virtual and technological in the past decade, and while books may seem to be becoming less and less popular, it is a known fact that many people prefer to have books to hold, turn the pages of, and keep. Some people prefer that type of writing, whereas some people are almost completely digitalized. It is also interesting how, as they begin to compete with each other, print and font are starting to look more alike. If one were to check a newspaper online and than read one in print he or she would find that it is the same font, with the same headings, and all of the same features. This similarity between the two is evidential proof that while books appear to be a “dying breed”, in reality books have and will be around for a while, but the World Wide Web is just another, more innovative way for a reader to get and share information.
Writing is becoming more and more digitalized as the years go by, but while that may be the case, one may find that hypertext is extremely useful when trying to find out a lot of information about a topic. It can also be found that networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with friends, share thoughts and ideas, and network on even a professional level. Writing in print isn’t disappearing, but merely expanding into a whole new realm, a territory that can be explored by anyone. It is bridging gaps that writing sometimes failed to cross before, and it is creating a new way for society to get in touch with each other and with what is happening in the world.
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