How Writing Hypertext is Different than Writing for Print: Part II
Critique of Jay David Bolter's "Hypertext and The Remediation of Print"
In Bolter's Hypertext and the Remediation of Print, one advantage of hypertext that is touted over conventional writing is its ability to allow the human mind a more suitable outlet for our associative thought pattern. In contrast to the linear and hierarchical format of print, hypertext allows our meandering notions to be placed in a chain, branching out from the primary or core notion. While this may certainly be the case, and regardless of the fact that hypertext may smooth the process, increasing the efficiency of such a writing style and preserving a greater amount of creative content, associative drafting and scripting has long been available outside the technology of hypertext.
Drafting and outlining in the most conventional sense follow a strict pattern of linear composition. Numerous methods of brainstorming have been encouraged in society that allow for and even reinforce the notion of associative thought. One might use the example of an author beginning to scribble out ideas for a novel on sticky notes. At this stage he has no concept of a story or timeline, merely features that he feels might be appropriate for his project. Each idea is placed on a sticky note, allowing him the freedom to arrange, re-arrange, and branch off from his core plot with ease.
Additionally, this grants the ability to insert new ideas and concepts without imperiling the more polished aspects of his work, while the new notions remain in a trial stage. Thus we see at least one example of how a new technology, while greatly enhancing one's ability to perform an advanced task, does not necessarily imply it was the first attempt to achieve such a task.