week 6 : 3 may
supplemental reading

A reminder that readings may be controversial or out of alignment with your world view. Disagreeing with a reading should prove at least as useful a learning process as reading one with which you agree. Determining why you disagree -- such as identifying flaws in logic or assumptions -- is an important component of critical thinking/analysis. It's a skill that comes only with practice (you can't learn it by reading about it).

Patterns of Hypertext

• Counterpoint
  Two alternating voices
  Examples:
  Interstitial (means "something in-between")counterpoint is exemplied these days by ads - see MSNBC or mail.yahoo.com
• Cycle
  The reader returns to a previously visited node and eventually departs along a new path; cycles create recurrance. A web ring, one form of cycle, links an entire hypertext in a tour of a subject. Reciprocal links (links between two or a handful of sites) would create a small cycle; you'll find this in some blogs.
  Examples:
  webring.com
• Mirrorworld
  Provides a parallel narrative with different voice; there is a central theme
  Examples:
  Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse, LA Blogs
• Missing Link
  Occurs when the hypertext suggests a link that does not exist
  Examples:
  
• Montage
  Several distinct writing spaces appear simultaneously; once you enter one space, your access to the other spaces usually vanishes
  Examples:
  cyberartsweb.org
• Navigational Feint
  Reveals navigational possibilities that may not be immediately pursued; the most common pattern in conventional "web sites"
  Examples:
  Any corporate site, news site, etc.
• Neighborhood
  Association that is created through proximity, shared "ornament" or common navigational networks
  Examples:
  Amazon, Macromedia Products
• Sieve
  Hypertext links that sort readers through layers of choice
  Examples:
  Yahoo.com, eBay
• Split/Join
  Knits two or more sequences together; can consist of overview/tour or "Rashomon" pattern
  Examples:
  Non-hypertext examples might be mystery theatre where the audience decides who "done it" and the ending conforms with audience vote; in hypertext, this involves a complex node structure -- more commonly found in gaming software
• Tangle
  Provides many links with no clear clues to guide choice
  Examples:
  David Siegel (intentional tangle); old Oxo (unintentional tangle) versus oxo.com (now Navigational Feint); Hypertext Syntagmas: Cinematic Narration with Links; Uncle Roger