You say you want a revolution

Summary
Stuart Moulthrop’s 1991 essay, “you say you want a revolution”, discusses hypertext and how it relates to the laws of media as presented by the McLuhan brothers. Moulthrop starts the article by discussing hypertext in general and examining what other writers say about it (693). He discusses the idea that hypertext is just another movement that will fade out and the likelihood of this. His main focus is on a hypertext program called Xanadu which would work as a world hypertext chain. Moulthrop discusses populism and its relationship to the problems seen potentially in the hypertext/cyberspace world. He then closely examines the 4 laws of media and how they relate to hypertext. He concludes that hypertext enhances the links between communications and print media and allows us to get a better experience, renders traditional texts slowly obsolete , retrieves literacy by reawakening the generations to the joys by having this more interactive experience, and when taken to its limit create a sort of digital revolution. Moulthrop’s essay was published in Postmodern Culture and his audience is the readers of this journal. He is currently a professor at University of Baltimore and has written a great number of essays and hypertexts. (iat.ubalt.edu)

Inquiry
I will admit I was excited about this article because of the title. I love the Beatles song and I found the article interesting as well, however; I have a few problems with it. I read this one after reading and writing the previous blog so when I saw how this one was all about hypertext, I felt kind of slow. However, I still don’t really understand what it is. I find that it seems to be a way for many people to communicate across the globe through the internet. Nevertheless, I haven’t heard of it until reading the readings for today and I don’t know what it really is. I do understand some of his other points though. Firstly, on page 693, he says that the “baby boom professional class will always desire the next thing.” I think this is very ironic since a large number of my elders in this class repel technology to extremes and it is truly our generation that wants the next and the best. I began to better understand hypertext when he examined it through the laws of media. I found the fact that hypertext is a combination of communications and print media helpful in understanding what it does. I also find it fascinating that unlike many others, Moulthrop acknowledges that “a mix of print and electronic media will be around for at least the next century.” (698). Towards the end of the essay, the irony discussion of “postwar” was also fascinating to me and I wish it had been examined further because I think it poses an interesting point .

Discussion Questions
The final question he poses “which heads do the changing, and which get the change?” examine this further and try to find a potential answer to this.

How does this help you better understand hypertext?

How does this article compare to the others we have read, specifically the “end of books”?

Do you think that hypertext ever really had the potential to revolutionize the industry?

Is there anything in specific that you enjoyed in this article, add details and explain it

The End of Books

Summary
The general purpose of this essay, The End of Books, is to help the reader understand what is available in the world of books. Coover presents the argument that the age of print books is coming to an end due to advances in hypertext books. This leads to having to rethink the entire industry and allows writers to step out of their comfort zones and enter the new hypertext world from scratch. (707). His intended audience was the readers of the 1992 New York Times Book Review. (705). Coover is still alive today and he is a professor of Literary Arts at Brown University. (brown.edu). Coover understands what he is talking about and having studied the literary arts so critically, knows what the options are. He also is attempting to reach the audience of college students in encouraging them to try out this new field. His final point becomes that due to this continually changing field, nothing can ever truly be finished. People can always add to and adjust the world to fit their new designs.

Inquiry
First, I want to examine his title. The End of Books was written in 1992 and clearly books are still being published. However, the Kindle was just released in 2007, 15 years after the article was written. Many books are now being published online as well as in print. The realm of “hypertext” is still a foreign term to me and I greatly enjoy reading. This makes me question how much of an impact this field really is making on the industry. The second portion of his argument, which comes up towards his conclusion regarding the never ending path that books can now take I see as seriously flawed. If books can go on forever, they are going to eventually become ridiculous. He says that he uses this “hotel” where people can edit and move characters and manipulate the world inside. He wanted this to continue for “a century or two.” (708). Eventually this will cause the story to become disjointed and readers will lose interest in the story. This is similar to TV shows that run stale and are cancelled once writers run out of ideas. However, this is seen very successfully in the fan-fiction world where authors team up to write stories that could potentially never end. He asks if it is the “obligation” to continue stories for long periods of time and I find this to be not true. For example, when reading, one often just desires to know the ending and never knowing what is going to happen would eventually get old.

Questions:
What do we know/can we find out about hypertext and was it ever popular?

Have you read online books and how do you see them as compared to print books?

Would you like a never-ending book or TV show, why?

Do you think books will ever be replaced entirely, is it even feasible?

The Test Post

a post with the intent to test our blogging aptitude.