What is hypertext? Hypertext is simply a non-linear way of presenting
information. Rather than reading or learning about things in the order
that an author, or editor, or publisher sets out for us, readers of
hypertext may follow their own path, create their own order-- their own
meaning out the material. This is accomplished by creating "links" between
information. These links are provided so that readers may "jump" to
further information about a specific topic being discussed (which may have
more links, leading each reader off into a different direction). For
instance, if you are reading an article about marine mammal bioacoustics,
you may be interested in seeing a picture of a dolphin. Or you may want to
hear the sound it makes (~80K). Or you may even be interested in seeing
what a marine mammal sound "looks like" in a spectrogram. You might even
want to find out more about sounds made by other animals in the sea, thus
leading you on a completely different, detailed path. As you can see by
these examples, this medium is not limited simply to text. It can
incorporate pictures, sound, even video. So it presents a multimedia
approach to gaining information-hypermedia.
Read more about hypertext
Coded by Paula Montalto