1.2.3 Hypertext on Oct. 9

ABOVE
HYPER ex) hypertext
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HYPO ex) hypothesis
BELOW


Today, I'm going to talk about hypertext.
According to Wikipedia.com, Hypertext "most often refers to text on a computer that will lead the user to other, related information on demand. Hypertext represents a relatively recent innovation to user interfaces, which overcomes some of the limitations of written text. Rather than remaining static like traditional text, hypertext makes possible a dynamic organization of information through links and connections (called hyperlinks). Hypertext can be designed to perform various tasks; for instance when a user "clicks" on it or "hovers" over it, a bubble with a word definition may appear, or a web page on a related subject may load, or a video clip may run, or an application may open."

These days, when we use the Internet, hypertext is one of the most popular functions. The difference between hypertext and just text is that we can access whenever or wherever we are. For example, if you read a book, then usually you read from the beginning to the end. In contrast, when you read a text on the net which includes hypertext, it will not be sequential because you can access randomly although information is provided sequentially.

Let's move on to hypertext scholarship.
Have ever heard of Dadaism? It means ignoring traditional idea of arts or against traditional things. One example of the Dadaism is to believe that there's not only one author because no one can write a book with only his/her ideas. This aspect is similar to hypertext. There's not one author, as well. One of the characteristics is that we can access to the others. In other words, we can visit a web site which is provided by the author by using hypertext.

In old days, literature had huge effects on technology. In reverse, however, technology affects not only literature but also everything in our world recently. As a result, some authors overcome the limitation of the typical text and adjust themselves to the new world. This is what we have to do or at least what we try to do now.

1.2.2 Interactivity on Oct. 4th, 2007.

1.2.2 Interactivity

Actually interactivity is not a quite new idea because it's been existing in our lives, but it's changing.

First of all, we have to find out the difference between 'feedback' and 'interactivity.' According to a dictionary, the definition of 'feedback'is something that someone tells you how well or badly you're doing, and how you could improve. This isn't wrong, but we usually use this term here little bit differently. It means just letting users know what it is. It's quite simple. For instance, when I click on something on the operation system like windows XP, it makes me know it's clicked by making a sound such as a bell sound.
According to a dictionary, on the other hand, interactivity means "a system or program which allows direct communication between the user and the machine." In fact, it gives us something more than the feedback gives. For example, when we click on a button, it gives us a sound that just makes us know that we clicked on it. This is a feedback. In contrast, when we click on a button in a interactive system, the system can calculate the speed of moving and clicking, so it can tell us how hurry we are or what situation we are in. Therefore, it makes us know not that what we've done to the system but also something more than this such as the above example.

There are two kinds of views toward the interactivity. First one is an instrumental view. One of the examples is thinking about how we can useTV as well as PC. Secondly, an ideological view is about what's existing beyond something. For instance, if we've bought something at a store, empoyees at the store would send some catalogs about products which are relative to what we've bought before. In other words, they provide different information to different people.
ideological view