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
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
Vannevar Bush’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) - Bakhtin

Postmodern Literature
Convergence Culture
 Convergence Culture

CENTRAL PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS

DEVICE Sleep
Food

ENTERTAINMENT Air
COMMUNICATION
Companionship

Visual Vocal
Video
Text
Interpersonal
Gaming
Physical/b
ody
language
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)
 REVOLUTION!
- 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

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

2. 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>.