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problem'> by hypertext theorists be explained? And how can it be avoided? Or is it not
desirable to avoid it, but should it in fact be welcomed as an active expression of the
condition ofpostmodernity in the act ofreading?
Threatened by the networks, databases, and electronic libraries, which are becoming
commonplace, we cannot help butpity the reader who is told to "enter and explore" to locate the
answer to his problem. Now he has an even greater problem; much more than being "lost in
hyperspace': he might actually be in danger ojthe paralysingvertigo that is said to afflicted
astronauts engaged in extravehicular activities when they confront the endless depth ofspace
that stretch beyond comprehension in alldirections. "Enterand explore" isa condemnation, not a
solution. (Joseph T. ]aynes)JI
It is important to note here that Jaynes assumes that a reader enters a hypertext to find
"the answer to his problem". In tune with early hypertext research he starts with the
assumption that the hyperspace the reader gets lost in is the space of a factual hypertext
that the reader approaches with well defined aims and questions.
There are indeed fundamental differences in reading behaviour between factual and
fictional uses of hypertext which is important to have in mind when dealing with the
issue of hypertext fiction. The first collects factual information and arranges it in a
hypertext format to make it more easily accessible, the latter uses hypermedia systems as
a creative tool. When Vannevar Bush outlined his first idea of hypertext in his seminal
essay "As We May Think">, it was the ease with which a large mass of factual
information could be stored and organised in a personalised way that was on his mind.
Creative use of hypertext is a very different thing, and one has to be very careful not to
apply too readily to creative use concepts that are true and obvious for factual texts.
30 A comprehensive, though rather unreflected pro-hypertext ("The impulse towards hypertext grew
out of dissatisfaction with the limitations oflinear writing, echoed in the intuitive conviction that a less
restrictive medium would rermit writer to express complex relationships and structures with greater
clarity and precision" P.285 discussion of the ,problem and suggested solutions offers Mark Bernstein's
essay "The Navigation Problem Reconsidered, in: Hypertext I Hypermedia Handbook ed.by Emily Berk
and Joseph Devlin (N ew York: Intertext Publications / MacGraw Hill, 1991), PP.285-298. See also:
Johnson-Eilola, Jordan, "Reading and Writing in Hypertext: Vertigo and Euphoria", in Literacy and
Computers: The Complications oj Teaching and Learning with Technology, ed. by Cynthia L. Selfe and Su
Hilligoss (New York: The Modern Language Association ofAmerika, 1994), PP.I95-219.
31Joseph T. Jaynes, "Limited Freedom: Linear Reflections on Nonlinear Texts", in The Society ofText,
Hypertext, Hypermedia and the SocialConstruction ofInformation, ed. by Edward Barrett (Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1989). PP.I55-161, P.159.
32 Bush, Vannevar, "As We May Think", no page numbers.
Chapter 2 - page 35