Bibliography | Annotated Bibliography | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Renee's Academic Realm\ My Works\ Essay 2 \ 6

Conclusion

To sum up everything, I have managed to cover the rhetorical effects, the formal or structural effects, as well as the aesthetics of content and design that a link is capable of. What I hope to have demonstrated in this essay is that links are not as 'neutral' as they seem as they can take on many meanings and functions. They are not merely information nodes or 'shortcuts' to more important information because we have seen that "they imply choices; they reveal assumptions; they have effects - whether intentionally or inadvertently" (Burbules). My research on this topic has revealed that there are not too many papers dealing with this topic solely (because I have difficulty finding relevant works). This is quite puzzling because in my opinion, all the hypertext theories that so many theorists and writers talk about could not have been possible without the notion of the link. What I would like to propose here, extending Burbules' argument, is an appreciation of the meanings and effects of links because with "the apparent inclusiveness of the web and neutrality of the associations it establishes, such an awareness needs to become a particular virtue of hyperreading" (Burbules) as well as hyperwriting.

Other Interesting Essays on:

The Writerly and the Readerly Text: Kevin | Mei Peen | Mike
Internet Users vs. Readers of Print Text: Lilin | June
1 | Introduction 2 | Links Have Effects 3 | Rhetorical Effects
4 | Structural Effects 5 | Aesthetics 6 | Conclusion

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