Someone who sits down to read a book encounters rather limited choices throughout the reading experience. He or she can read from beginning to end, or skim the content to try and find something of particular interest, or perhaps take a peek at the end to see what happens to the heroes of the story. The choice of stopping to read at some point is also always available. Few people will choose to read a book in a non-linear fashion. Reading a collection of essays is a somewhat different experience. The choice of in what order to read the essays is in the hands of the reader who might, for instance, choose to read the short essays first, or simply one whose title catches his or her eye. In footnoted texts some readers read the footnotes as they appear, while others leave them for the end, and even others (myself included - does that say something about me?) read them first to get a feel for the ideas being discussed.

Thus there is no clearly defined distinction between choice in hypertextual writing as opposed to no choice in traditional linear writing. But there can be no doubt that the hypertextual context allows for more choice, and a wider range of choices. And that means that the reader has to become more active, has to approach the text with a willingness to encounter it and explore it. This process of exploration is closely related to currently popular constructivist educational thought. The reader, instead of having knowledge dished out to him or her in a pre-processed, one size fits all, manner, becomes more like an explorer who seeks out the available information in a given landscape. The process of exploring increases the reader's involvement with the text and suggests the possibility of greater identification with it. It also legitimizes a personal reading of the text, allowing the reader to follow the ideas which are meaningful to him or her, and disregard other parts. Ultimately, because there is no pre-defined linear reading which is the proper reading, any path that any reader follows is valid.

This also permits a certain amount of playfulness which I have learned to make use of as these columns have developed. Side-comments that may have limited interest to the formal topic sometimes bloom into lengthy digressions which may not be of interest to anyone, but are there for the taking. Literary and musical allusions that might, in a print medium, be left as undeveloped hints can be linked to the real thing somewhere on the web, in this way (hopefully) enriching the reading experience.

Go to: ... keep the reader on his or her toes, or
Go to: ... no before or after in cyberspace, or
Go to: Web Essays - The evolution of a (personal?) medium