This has been an interesting discussion thus far, and I think it's
about time I put in my two cents' worth. In some ways I agree with
Ulrich, but I also agree with Judith's reply to that. Very
diplomatic, don't you think ;-) Dealing with Ulrich first ...
There's been much talk about 'linear' and 'non-linear' arguments and
the role of hypertext versus hard-copy texts in this regard. I must
admit that the possibility of exploring any document either linearly
or non-linearly had not previously entered my head. In my experience,
when doing research, all of my reading is done more or less
non-linearly. Very infrequently do I find a book that is completely
relevant to what I'm studying, and I have to skip chapters and/or
sections within chapters to concentrate on the relevant information.
I may find the book makes references to other chapters or books or
journal articles which contain information that I'll need, and so I
follow those up. The same applies with articles on the Internet.
I don't always follow the links in hypertext documents, because I get
lost easily. I'm a classic example of the male who can do only one
thing at a time. Don't disturb me when I'm cooking, because things
are likely to get burnt! Multi-tasking was never my strong point. So,
when reading hypertext, I like to follow it through from beginning to
end (skipping out the non-relevant bits), before going back and
following the links.
Are these examples I've given linear or non-linear? As far as I
understand it, they're a bit of both (am I too PC?). Reading a
chapter or section of a book at a time would be linear, but skipping
to other parts makes it non-linear. Following a hypertext document
from start to finish would be linear. Following the links would be
non-linear. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
What I think Ulrich was getting at, then, is that it matters very
little whether you're reading hypertext or hard copy text. Judith
also touched on this in her discussion of the different types of
learners. Some people will scan documents non-linearly, exploring all
the different paths and making notes of links and references etc.
Others, like me, have to concentrate on one thing at a time. Whether
this makes my research linear or non-linear depends, I suppose, on
how you look at it. (Now I'm being post-modernistic!) It doesn't
matter in what format the text is.
"Much ado about nothing" may have been a bit harsh. As Judith pointed
out in her reply, this topic has to be 'something' for it to have
sparked such an interesting debate. It is definitely worth
exploring the in's and out's of web publishing, because I have a
sneaking suspicion that this could be the publishing format of the
future. We need to investigate the impact web publishing is having,
and I must commend all at Internet Archaeology for the stirling work
they've been doing. All comments are, therefore, worthy of
consideration as this is a new field.
Si
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Simon Hull
Department of Geomatics
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch
7700
Ph: +27 21 650 3570 (w)
+27 21 685 3185 (h)
http://foxbat.sur.uct.ac.za/postgrads/shull/shull.html
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose."
Jim Elliott
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