Here is the author! Hyperlinks as constitutive rules of hypertextual communication

In this paper, we examine the importance of hyperlinks in revealing the presence of the hypertext author and his decisive role in defining and controlling the dialogue with the user/reader through the hypertext. This is essential in order to adequately describe all the factors involved in hypertextual communication and how this communication takes place. In hypertexts and hypermedia, hyperlinks on the one hand define the possible directions of hypertextual communication and, on the other hand, their strategy of manifestation shapes the user's process of interpretation. Because of these two important ‘powers' hyperlinks have, and on the basis of John Searle's distinction between constitutive and regulative rules, hyperlinks can be defined as constitutive rules of hypertextual communication, set by the author, needing to be activated by the reader, and determining different utterances in the interaction happening during the navigation between the author and the user/reader. In the paper, after having described the semiotic-communicative structure of hyperlinks and the process of interpretation they require, the character of constitutive rules of hyperlinks will be illustrated by analyzing different dialogues generated by different hyperlinks in two particular kinds of hypermedial applications: hypertextual transpositions of classic literary texts and hyperfictio

Digital Literary Landmarks of Aotearoa New Zealand

Digital literary forms in and of Aotearoa New Zealand have yet to be adequately historicised, and such works – and their authors – risk being lost to New Zealand’s literary history. Addressing the added challenge of doing history in the digital age, I offer an analytical survey of early digital literary works in or of NZ based around the categories of fiction, poetry, performance, and videogames. Cultivating a digital literary history serves us well not only in situating individual works of creative media in our collective cultural heritage but also in situating New Zealand amid broader networked culture.  

Reading in Web-based hypertexts: cognitive processes strategies and reading goals

Hypertext is a multi-linear electronic, textual and interactive environment to present information. The objective of such an environment is that readers may browse through linked, cross-referenced, annotated texts in a multi-sequential manner, and thus, it is believed, to improve the learning. However, early and current research findings have revealed some mixed results concerning the alleged advantage of hypertext on learning over paper-based documents. Researchers have identified the lack of research about the cognitive processes and the strategies that readers use during reading as one of the main factors for such results. As a result, there is a need and scope for further research in modelling the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension and the reading strategies in a hypertext environment. This research addresses some of the gaps in the field by proposing a model that represents the sequence of events that take place during reading in a Web-based hypertext environment. Also, emphasis is placed on the strategies that readers use during hypertext reading and on the potential effect of different reading goals on reading comprehension. The evaluation of the model and the other hypotheses is conducted in two experiments using qualitative and quantitative methods. The first experiment employs the think aloud method. Forty two subjects participated. The results demonstrated that the proposed model precisely describes the sequence of events that take place during hypertext reading. They did not reveal any significant difference between different reading goals and understanding. They revealed four reading strategies: serial, serial overview, mixed, and mixed overview, and they identified three factors that influence the selection of hyperlinks: coherence, link location, and personal interest. The second experiment is an independent samples design experiment with ninety subjects. The results confirmed those found in the first experiment. The current study makes a contribution in the field of hypertext reading by proposing and evaluating a procedural model and by making this model graphic. By doing so it addresses some of the voids in the field, expands our understanding of the reading processes and the reading strategies, and provides practical guideliness which are enhanced to promote design supporting effective learning processes

Soft cinematic hypertext (other literacies)

This research demonstrates the role of academic hypertext theory and practice to humanities research, and uses this as a model to explore the specificity of digital humanities practice in the contexts of scholarly writing. This establishes terms to reconsider cinema from the point of view of a hypertextual logic of wholes and parts, which is then used to develop a new form of online interactive video known as softvideo

Reading in Web-based hypertexts : cognitive processes strategies and reading goals

Hypertext is a multi-linear electronic, textual and interactive environment to present information. The objective of such an environment is that readers may browse through linked, cross-referenced, annotated texts in a multi-sequential manner, and thus, it is believed, to improve the learning. However, early and current research findings have revealed some mixed results concerning the alleged advantage of hypertext on learning over paper-based documents. Researchers have identified the lack of research about the cognitive processes and the strategies that readers use during reading as one of the main factors for such results. As a result, there is a need and scope for further research in modelling the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension and the reading strategies in a hypertext environment. This research addresses some of the gaps in the field by proposing a model that represents the sequence of events that take place during reading in a Web-based hypertext environment. Also, emphasis is placed on the strategies that readers use during hypertext reading and on the potential effect of different reading goals on reading comprehension. The evaluation of the model and the other hypotheses is conducted in two experiments using qualitative and quantitative methods. The first experiment employs the think aloud method. Forty two subjects participated. The results demonstrated that the proposed model precisely describes the sequence of events that take place during hypertext reading. They did not reveal any significant difference between different reading goals and understanding. They revealed four reading strategies: serial, serial overview, mixed, and mixed overview, and they identified three factors that influence the selection of hyperlinks: coherence, link location, and personal interest. The second experiment is an independent samples design experiment with ninety subjects. The results confirmed those found in the first experiment. The current study makes a contribution in the field of hypertext reading by proposing and evaluating a procedural model and by making this model graphic. By doing so it addresses some of the voids in the field, expands our understanding of the reading processes and the reading strategies, and provides practical guideliness which are enhanced to promote design supporting effective learning processes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo