Penguinista on Hypermedia

Why Doesn't Anybody "Get it"?

SO what is hypertext anyway? The term "Hypertext" was first coined by Ted Nelson in the context of Project Xanadu (founded in 1960 and claiming to be the first-ever hypertext project) to refer to a means of "linking" information together. (To digress already, the Xanadu project has been criticised for failing to invent HTML, but Nelson says that Xanadu was actually trying to prevent HTML, which doesn't express the result for which Nelson is calling. Nelson doesn't really explain what he's after very well.) For better or worse HTML, and more to the point, hypertext, now drives the World Wide Web, which itself is nothing more than a vast amount of information hyperlinked together. While viewing a piece of information, you may note a hyperlink (I use this term interchangeably with "hypertext" herein, although hypertext always refers to a text link while hyperlink is broader and may also refer to an image link), which provides more information related to that which you are already viewing... in fact, this article has already used four (and there are more to come, naturally). So ends the preamble.

Essentially, I think that many web authors are not making the best use of the hypertext media.

While writing for the web, a web author, like myself, has an option that was never available before under traditonal modes of publishing or broadcast. I can provide hyperlinks which give you more information about a certain facet of the topic I'm covering, or which point you toward the background used to create the article. If you want to know more about Ted Nelson or Project Xanadu, to which I've already referred, I've made it as easy as possible for you to go and learn more about them from the actual sources (twice now, actually). Previously, this type of additional information might have involved the use of footnotes (as in print media) so that interrested parties could check the source if so inclined. Obviously, this is more work for all concerned, especially for the reader who is interrested in finding the additional material. Through hypermedia, I can point you toward the supplimental information with a minimum of effort, and you're more likely to actually look it up since it's considerably less effort to do so than would previously have been required of you.

The implications are obvious: halfway through my argument, you may decide to click a link and go off to read whatever you find at the other end of it. You may return here, or you may not. Ever.

Ah, there's the rub. According to thesis #7 of The Cluetrain Manifesto, "hyperlinks subvert hierarchy." You may never read the end of this article: you may leave the site entirely. I hope you are still reading now, but I may never know. If you choose not to read on, it may be because this is not interresting, not informative, or not as pertinant as whatever link you choose to follow from here. "Wait!" cry the masses - "Don't you need the site traffic? Don't you need the click-through revenue? If you're not here for money, why bother?"

Power to the People!

Believe it or not, there are reasons to create websites that do not involve money. Read The Cluetrain Manifesto, and works like it sometime. You may even elect to buy the book, which is subtitled "The End of Business as Usual." Are you beginning to see the theme? We are tired of being told what to read, and I don't wish to dictate what you read, even though I'm clearly making some suggestions. Am I being editorial? You bet... and you can disagree if you like, and hyperlink clear on outta here. I've given you the power.

I've given you the power. We're onto something here. Hypertext subverts heirarchy, remember? Hypertext gives you - the reader, the browser, the surfer - the power to link away from here and never return. I the web author have given it to you. Objection: "That's just the nature of the Internet: all web pages are like this." Well, as someone else has said before me, "It ain't necessarily so." I've visited a good many websites by now, and I will suggest to you that most major online news outlets (for example) that produce an online article will give you a minimal number, if any, links outside of their domain.

Let's say that XYZ News does a story referring to Sun Microsystems, and decides to give you a hyperlink. In the majority of cases, the link will be to a Nasdaq stock quote for SUNW, usually provided by their own financial news department. Much less often will they give you the link directly to the Sun Microsystems Website. They may have given you a little more information, but chances are reasonably good that it wasn't what you wanted - especially if you don't know anything about the company, which makes the stock quote relatively meaningless. Hyperlinks may also be provided for previous articles which the news provider in question has compiled regarding the company or other subjects related to the article at hand. Most glaringly, the hyperlinks in each of these cases are prevented from being subversive, since you haven't really left the site from which you started. You may skip around from one section to the next, but you're still trapped in the heirarchy.

I don't feel I need to name any names to back up this observation - just go where you would normally go for news, and look there to see how it's done. Have a look at four or five of your favorite news content providers online... or you may just realize the validity of this observation merely by thinking about it for a minute or two. I must pause here and grant that there are a few online news providers that would provide a link to the Sun Microsystems website in the example I've given, but they are sadly in the minority. For example, Wired actually links outside their domain, though not in vast quantity within a given article. Of the news providers that link away from their own site, the trend is to put the information in a sidebar or only at the end of the article to be sure you've read it before linking away. It's almost as though these sites don't trust the reader to finish the article before moving on to what they are really interrested in - which begs the question of why they should want to force their content upon the reader if it isn't relevant or good enough to keep him reading until the end. (These sites may also arrange the link in a way that means you still haven't left the site - more on that later.) Other notable exceptions exist in certain communities - notably open source advocate sites which provide news by linking to news stories at other sites. A host of well-known examples come to mind.

Ted Nelson's call for "Xanalogical Media" asks for something entirely non-heirarchical. Hyperlinks as presently in use are not entirely non-heirarchical; rather, they are links from any given point within a heirarchical structure to any other given point within the same or another heirarchical structure. They are subversive in that they do not require you to adhere strictly to the heirarchy. I am not advocating the total ban of heirachical structures, since a heirarchy in this sense can simply be a means of organizing data. What I am advocating is the provision of a simple means of subverting heirarchies of this type; even your own. In particular, I'm advocating the provision of numerous links in and out of your heirarchy. Especially out, since that's the one under your control, after all. This will undoubtedly mean more traffic flows away from your site, but if they don't come back it usually means you weren't giving them what they wanted. Put the user first: let him or her subvert the heirarchy; give him or her the power. I may want you to read this entire article through, in order, and then click through additional material I have "approved" from other sites, in a certain order (e.g., the article as it appears and then all the hyperlinks in chronological order). I could have published in a manner that forces this hierarchy, but I haven't. I've given you the power.

Subverting a Subversive Media

Do hyperlinks subvert heirarchy? Yes, if they're used properly. If a careful web author considers his audience, and asks himself what hyperlinks could be provided to most help the site visitor, he may hit the heirarchy-subversion target. Then again, he may not. If he puts issues of perceived importance to him and to his site ahead of issues of import to his visitors, he will usually be cautious to limit the number of links away from his domain. The fact that you're in his "domain" ought to be a clue. You're visiting mine right now. Some domains are easy to leave; others, well, not so much.

Hypertext is a subversive media, but here's the problem, and the reason I ask why nobody "gets it." As a webmaster, I may want to keep you at my site, in my domain, because I believe that traffic on my site is of utmost importance. (You should already be seeing a problem here). If hyperlinks are subversive, I've got to subvert their subversive function to keep you in my domain. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. First, I will limit the number of external hyperlinks I provide as much as possible, and be extremely cautious about those which I do provide. I will be cautious about where I place the links, so that you won't leave my page before I'm done saying what I want to say.

All this is pretty basic stuff, but it's not all I can do. Perhaps I decide that I want to take advantage of the Internet's hypertext format, and decide that I want to link other sites or other content, but I just don't want to lose you from my site while doing it. If you're familiar with HTML syntax, you may recognize my first weapon: target="_blank". That's all the HTML code I need to add to a hyperlink tag to force it to open in a new browser window when a user clicks it, rather than replacing my page in the current browser window. My page would stay open when you click the link, even though the new window opens overtop of the one containing my site. You only think you've left my domain - I still have you, even when you close the window containing the external site. For the record, opening links in a new browser window does have merit when it's used properly. To be done right, I need to anticipate when the user specifically does not want to leave my site, and use the feature in this context only - for a good example, try clicking "hypertext," if you haven't already.

Hold on though, I'm not finished listing ways to subvert the subversives. I can use frames to keep you, especially in combination with a little Javascript so that when you click the link, you get not only the page that was advertised but also a frame along the top, bottom, or side with my logo and a few navigation "aids" to get you back to my site. I've let you get content from outside my domain, so I've lengthened the leash, but I've still got you.

These are three simple ways to hang onto you - there are others. Perhaps you've been to sites like this, and are beginning to recognize how webmasters keep you in their domain even when you think you're free. For the record, I still visit such sites regularly - they often provide the vast array of news articles which I want to see, and some do it very well... but I know they've got their clutches into me, and it's just a little irksome.

Hyper-Subvert Now!

Why don't people get it? They (whoever "they" are) keep talking about "new media" throwing around this phrase for the Internet as if they understood it. Most often in the way it's used, they should probably say multimedia, but really all they mean is that they've found a new way of reaching consumers with their message. "New media" is a term used in connection with advertisers and other people who don't want you to escape their domain, but in essence all they're talking about turning the Internet into interactive television. The Internet is new media, though: it's a hypertext media, and as such, it has the potential to subvert heirarchy. So let it... that's my plea to fellow webmasters. Please let hypertext be what it is, and stop trying to subvert the subversives. They mean you no harm, they just want to be free to come and go from your domain as they please.

To be clear that I'm not an anarchist, some allowance for exceptions can easily be made. Where a site has a single purpose, usually commerce, it makes sense to maintain a little more "control" over the hyperlinks. If you've gone to such a site, you know the goal is to get you to buy, and nothing else... but at least it's up front, out in the open. You know it, and they know you know it. I would still appeal that such sites offer links to other locations which provide information about their product or service: third-party, independant reviews, for example, or illustrations on why the product or service is desirable. However, this may prove difficult for a webmaster to do in some instances, and it is understandable if he doesn't want to link a competitor to achieve this goal.

Some websites use "Next" links in a helpful and creative fashion, such as when a long article is split between several pages. Clearly this is preferable to downloading a single huge file, and this is not the type of heirarchy which is under discussion. Often there is a proper progression through a story or website which makes perfect sense, and doesn't need subverting. Drop by National Geographic and see what they've done with some of their educational material: very creative, and the special features progress logically from one page to the next.

When considering the launch of the Penguinista.org website, one question that came up was how and why the site would be any different from all the others that have gone before it with similar purposes. After all if you aren't doing anything new or different, there's really no point: you're just adding to the clutter. It was determined at that time that one characteristic of our online content would be that they should be thoroughly hyperlinked. (This isn't the only way that we're trying to distinguish ourselves, by the way!) It is one of our aims to make as thorough use as possible of the hypertext media, to try and use it to its full potential. The end result is that each article also becomes a collection of links to additional resources and related material, in addition to providing the actual content of the article. We've even been known to update articles with additional relevant links as they come to light. More than this though, the practice begins to set an example in the use of hyperlinks: one which puts the user first, and one which we sincerely hope will catch on. Incidentally, we've also tried to be helpful in the way we've implimented hyperlink formatting to give users an indication of where "special" links will take them (as noted above). You can read more about this on our FAQ Page.