Rhetorical enterspace: human-computer collaboration in hypertext

Abstract

Hypertext is an electronic network of text fragments which can be explored in random order. As an innovative writing medium, hypertext represents a convergence of technology, cognition, and rhetoric. It offers a new model of human-computer collaboration which can be used to examine language that has evolved from oral cultures through literate cultures to computer literate cultures. As an enabling technology, hypertext provides a computer environment in which to study the impact of the human interface on the human communication process. As a semantic network, hypertext has the means to enable human associative thinking. As a rhetorical drama in a scenario, hypertext lends motivation and direction to human inquiry.