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What does this mean for hypertext?
In Hypertext 2.0, hypertext is defined as ‘composed of blocks of text and the electronic links that join them’ (Landow, 3). George P. Landow also makes a very apt description of hypertext using the metaphor of a rhizome. What he means is that it is structured like a network, being acentered, nonlinear and nonhierarchical, having multiple entryways and exits, functioning by short-term memory, and resembling a map. It is also multivocal and decentered, having multiple voices and centres of focus. Its rhetoric uses the concepts of Bricolage and Juxtaposition to bring together the fragments in a collage. In hypertext, the influence of gaps are even more significant than in print text. The absence of linearity means that more things are not said, more things are made implicit. The main element that facilitates all of these is the link - the defining technical feature of hypertext. It serves as a navigational tool that brings together not only the whole intricate structure (internal links), but also unlimited other information on the web (external links). Since hypertext is found in the domain of the electronic era, it is able to tap into computer technology like random access of information.
