While going through the required readings I found myself smiling a lot and coming to the conclusion that everything Bolter was saying is a massive understatement and hypertext is not just the remediation of print, it is a massive step forward in the EVOLUTION of print (and text). Let me give a few reasons why.
Hypertext (more specifically the language HTML) has totally revolutionized documents and text itself. With HTML you get a fully immersed experience that goes far beyond simple words on a screen. Hypertext advances the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), which is the principal behind printed text. An underlined link can transport you into an entirely different medium (be it voice, image, video etc..), that link may not even take you to another website but can activate a control on the page (especially with HTML 5.0) that opens up a brand new experience. It is like a choose your own adventure book on steroids, the user is complete control of their experience in an HTML environment and the possibilities are endless and incredibly engaging.
As an example lets look at this simple blog post. This is a text based medium in a hypertext environment. Just by looking on the toolbar above you have options to put various other mediums. There are links (
), you can insert videos from any number of sources (
), for example:
If you create your own blog, you can actually add iFrames to your posts which allow you to embed other sites content directly into your post! For example, I can add a VoiceThread to allow the user to speak, I could add a Padlet to get their opinions and I could add a google form to request information. All of this is possible in a simple text environment that has simply evolved due to the insurgence of HTML 5.0.
Now another thing Bolter fails to mention (how could he have, given the date when his book was published) is the collaborative aspects of hypertext. With hypertext you get online word processors like Google Docs (or its precursor in 2005 Writely). With these collaborative platforms you can actually write documents together, with people from all over the world. I think all of us here have benefitted from this, especially in the MET program given the various locations of students and the focus on group work. As an example, I was a member of a group that was doing a project on mobile collaboration. The members were located in Canada, Brunei and Bangladesh. The time difference between Canada and Brunei is 15 hours! This didn’t mean a thing because we collaborated in a hypertext environment using Google Docs/Sheets and another text based application Slack. How amazing is it that text has evolved to the point that not only can we edit it, but we can collaborate with others and share it immediately.
Now I would like to say that in my opinion the choice of platforms used was by far the most relevant aspect of this course. Using an online blog site (which is truly an example of the evolution of text) as the platform makes this course extremely relevant and helpful to our development. Regardless of the dated nature of the readings (a limitation of printed or static work) I think we have all improved seeing what hypertext can accomplish.
JamieTooze
July 14, 2018 — 11:31 am
Hi Michael,
Great post. I especially liked your take on the collaborative aspects of today’s hypertext documents. Long gone are the days of transcribing the text (and often translating the ideas) of your group members’ work at the 11th hour into one document to be slipped under your instructor’s door. I for one feel applications such as Google Docs or UBC’s Workspace 2.0 are the best thing since spellcheck.
The benefits of writing tools such as spell check and grammar checks can be widely debated but I think it is safe to say that auto correction devises such Microsoft’s pioneering AutoCorrect or WordPerfect’s QuickCorrect truly changed the landscape of writing. These innovations simplified the editing process and increasingly they are making the word processor a collaborative partner in the writing process. College writing labs are turning to online grammar checking systems to provide initial and ongoing editing support to undergraduate and ESL writers. (Dianati & Cavaleri, 2015). AI-powered systems such as Grammarly report that their goal is “focused on improving the substance of communication” (Grammarly 2018). Today it aids the writer through correcting spelling errors and ensuring subject-verb agreement, but in the near future with advances in supercomputing (IBM’s Summit is 1 million times more powerful than the fastest laptop) AI and the Cloud is going to turn our word processors into our word editors and then our coauthors as our systems will be making suggestions on word choice, themes, style and point of view. My only question is will our systems remember to include their wet-ware collaborators when they publish their award-winning novel or groundbreaking research.
Dianati, S., & Cavaleri, M. (2015). ‘You want me to check your grammar again?’ How online grammar checkers can complement our feedback to students.
IBM – See the story behind Summit, the world’s most powerful supercomputer. (2018, July 14). Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/summit-supercomputer/
Grammarly. (2018). Retrieved July 14, 2018, from https://www.grammarly.com
NathanLott
July 17, 2018 — 11:31 am
I totally agree with you with your comment about hypertext being the evolution of text. I often wonder where we will go next with hypertext in education and I think we are seeing this starting to emerge now. Hypertext allows for links into multimedia, but in any virtual environment I think what we are starting to see is this space becoming immersive and virtual. Over the past 3 years I have seen a huge trickle down with technology in regards to AR and VR into education and we are just seeing the results of this movement in our practice.
If I think about the broad definition of “text” that this course has brought about then what are the application for “text” in an immersive 360 degree visual multi user environment. Last year I had my students create a Salish Longhouse in Minecraft together. Not only did they have to build the house to rigid design principles but they had to label each component of the longhouse and be able to speak on those elements in a video. Now they could easily have created a poster board presentation on the topic but does the “text” on that paper displayed on a board with visuals have the same impact and process as creating “text” in a multi use virtual environment. I believe that presentation in the virtual environment used “text” in a new way. Photos, videos, and graphics are all text but can text be defined as existing in virtual reality as well. When text is created in VR, a place where you can walk around, see, hear and interact, could it be a new evolving meaning of that word. I don’t know the answer but I do know that VR and AR are powerful new tools that we will see in our classrooms a lot sooner than we think.
michael yates
July 17, 2018 — 6:02 pm
I think the power in hypertext is the ability to embed anything into it. I think we will be rid of the applications that bind text and soon anything and everything will be in a hypertext environment! Loved the project you did with your students, the ability to create 3d models and then explain them is definitely better than doing it on a poster! The text is indeed interactive and can adapt, I think static text is just so last decade :).