András
Benedek - Sándor Ferencz
Hypertext:
is it something given?
[*]
A
recalcitrent problem of hermeneutics is the enigmatic question whether the text
is 'given', and if it is not what is 'given'
in
and
by
the text. One way to approach the problem is to argue that in case of
alphabetical traditional printed texts, the text itself is at least
syntactically given: it is literally fixed and accessible. Its literal
accessibility provides the basis on which its interpretations build up creating
the semantic dimensions of the text. The structure and the texture of the
interpretation of the text consist of actual internal relations between
elements of the text and actualized external links to extratextualities.
However, what makes it a text at the first place, as opposed,
say,
to an oral performance, is that -- as a written record -- it is given.
According
to the Ong-Havelock paradigm
[1]
radical conversions of our way of thinking, alterations and alternations in the
forms of human knowledge come about with the change of the media of the
physical records of cultural and mental cognitive activities; hence, the
emergence of the new computational media of networking projects transformations
of the same magnitude. As a result of the extension of the paradigm to new
forms and records of knowledge such as the hypertext, (HT), controversial
expectations about transformations of our knowledge and the nature of our
cognitive behaviour are based on changes in the physical media of records and
the consequent changes in recording techniques, methods of reproduction and
communication of information. The extension of the paradigm implies that a
study of what hypertext really is should start with the question in what sense
it is 'given', and, if it is, what is given
in
and
by
the text.
We
address these questions because we believe that the answers help to classify
HTs not only as distinct forms and records (representations) of knowledge but
rather as different cognitive
environments
to which we have intersubjective access. As different types (modus) of
environment we wish to make a distinction between
supertext
(ST)
which is
a
final, closed
record
of knowledge
and
cybertext
(CT)
which in spite of its relative stability
in
its completeness as
a
"
record
of knowledge" is never accessible for us. We argue that CTs are not only
environment like, but just as real environments they are
transformed
by our activities as we gain and mediate information
from
and
within
them. Though the nominal advantages of the disctinction may be controversial
the conceptual distinction is nevertheless indispensible to clarity about the
issues at stake. In order to grasp more fully the import of our distinction it
is instructive to reconsider some basic notions that lie behind the concept of
HT.
Terms
of classification
To
spell out the contrast between traditional texts and HTs we discuss first the
media of their form of record (1.1-1.2) Second, we shall specify the space of
cognitive dimensions the links of these new "texts" belong to (2.1-2.3) and
third, characterize the nature of links and relations (3.1-3.3).
1.
Media
1.1 The
media of HTs consist of computational
hardware-and-software
that stores and mediates characters (bytes) providing a
uniform,
transferable
and
reproducible
form of existence for higher level data (such as sound, alphabetical text,
images etc.) and operations (like log-in and search procedures for example).
One can describe the "texture" and the structure of the computational media
which gives the material of higher level structures and "textures" (e. g.,
alphabetical characters, codes of JPG or GIF files, or elements of standard WAV
files), but it is important to note that the structure and texture of the
computational
media
are not identical with the
structure
and
texture
of the HT. The distinction between the structures of the medium and the
structures of the text is already there in case of conventional texts. An
example for the texture of the medium is the microstructure of a formatted disc
as compared with the microstructure of an audio-CD, (or data CD) the structure
of the medium can be the macintosh format of a flopppy disc as compared with
the IBM format; while the texture of a HT can be traditional alphabetical text,
or the audial and visual texture of the given multimedia; the structure of the
HT can be its internal organization, architecture etc.
1.2 An
oft-noted nature of the media of HTs is that it is not only capable of the
reproduction of alphabetical text but also of the representation of visual,
audible and complex perceptual experience in a common environment. It provides
intersubjective, objectively reproducible records of events, human activities
and various other sensual and operational information. The observation that in
case of the new electronic media in general, and HTs in particular, pre-literal
forms of knowledge become
reproducible
with or
without
alphabetical mediation is of utmost importance. As Nyíri points out this
fact lies behind such phenomena as "secondary orality" and the decay of literal
attitudes.
[2]
We argue along the same lines but what we would like to emphasize here is
rather that the
media
itself
provides an
active
and
interactive
environment. We claim that the quality of
reproducibility
that guarantees intersubjectity (
via
object-like external accessibility of texts and passive non-textual
information) is more and more dominated by a new quality:
internal
accessibility.
[3]
2.
Cognitive space and its dimensions
What
we call
dimenson
is the scope of relations and/or operations of different order that may hold or
act
in
the HT. We construe the cognitive space as a composition of these dimensions as
fields or subspaces.
2.1
The strictly hyper-textual 'dimension'
The
first
field,
or
'dimension',
can
be called
strictly
hyper-textual
to
the analogon of the strictly textual relations of a conventional text which are
constituted by literal aspects of the text in a primary or rudimentary sense.
This dimension consists of all physical syntactic and structural relations
there are between the literal and non-literal (visual, iconic, audible etc.)
elements of the main body of the HT and the operational links which are
actually initialized
within
the informative environment of the "text". A genuine characteristic of HTs
(super and cyber) is that certain links and relations of its elements as
operations
are built into the HT: they are accessible as marked or selected items in the
informative body of the HT. In terms of the terminology proposed below they can
be internal links, e.g.,. operational relations between different elements of
the HT (texts, pictures, audiovisual materials); or external links which behave
like pointers: they are initialized
in
the
HT
and refer to (or are references of) extratextual domains that can be called
from within the body of the HT. This strictly hyper-textual
dimension
can have its own complex texture and structure once we introduce a distinction
between textual and structural relations (see below).
2.2
The interpretational dimension
The
second
dimension
can be called
interpretational
.
It consists of all possible semantic relations and operational links there can
be between "textual" (i.e. strictly hypertextual) and between the strictly
hypertextual and extra-hypertextual elements outside the physically accessible
informative environment of the HT (the literally, audio-visually and
operationally given "text"). No doubt, the second dimension assumes the
cognitive space of human agents who construe these relations. It can also be
considered as an intentionally dependent dimension, insofar the mental
realization of a link or relation in this dimension is considered, being a
human activity, as inherently intentional. Let us note here, that
interpretation of the information presented and represented in the hypertextual
environment apparently requires much more activity then reading and
understanding a colloquial text. In our sense it involves (in addition to the
deciphering, decoding and/or understanding of alphabetical text) such
activities as interpretation of pictures, sounds, complex perceptual
experiences. One can say exactly in this sense that the space of
interpretation in case of HTs gains new dimensions. New intra -"textual"
semantic relations emerge: in addition to relations between texts and texts,
texts and printable pictures and figures, new relations between words and
complex virtual realities, or between sound and algorithmic procedures become
possible. Since such an 'interpretation' is partially defined by the goals of
interpreter who comes 'in between' the semantically related elements
connections in the new dimensions are also more clearly value oriented (or
value governed) activities. The interpreter is not only the 'praetor' and the
'mediator' of the "text" but the creator of new "encyclopeadic readings". These
readings however, being "readings" of pictures and simultaneous processes are
highly
parallel,
and are not even locally linear. (Genuine encyclopeadia are locally linear, and
relatively purely parallel with respect to illustrations.)
2.3
Pragmatic dimensions
Traditional
texts as well as HTs are also involved in human activities such as the use of
indexes to find implicit relations, or the technique of logical search. We may
call the scope of these techniques the
internal
pragmatic dimension.
This
field consisits of all kinds of practical human activities which are needed to
relate different functional elements of the HT, from the proper use of function
keys to running more sophisticated jobs on a network. One can clearly use the
term practical knowlede here and point out that certain elements of this
knowledge can be recorded in different forms of relations in the first dimension.
On
the other hand, both traditional and HTs have
external
pragmatic dimensions
.
This field consists of all the relations and links that the given HT has
as
a whole
with extra- and intra -"textual" elements. For example it is located under a
given column of library classifications as a CDROM; it falls under certain
regulations because it is erotic; it can or can not be accessed by certain
groups etc.
An
important set of relational qualities of a HT in its pragmatic dimensions is
its relation to the social norms of its constitution and maintanance. The
explanation of this quality requires a few preliminary remarks on the nature of
links HTs can have.
3.
The nature of links
To
characterize the nature of the links (and relations) we introduce the following
distinctions: we shall talk about external and internal links, real and
nominal, potential and actual, active and passive links.
3.1
Internal and external links
An
internal link (or relation) connects two items of the strictly hypertextual
body of the HT, that is, relates elements of the informative environment of the
HT. A link is external if it starts in this environment but ends outside the
strictly hypertextual body of the HT. (The link itself while being internal or
external may still belong to different dimensions, e.g., to the first strictly
hyper
textual
dimension or to the second dimension of interpretations.)
3.2
Real (physical) and nominal (logical) links
A
link is real if it exists (e.g., physically in the media of the HT including
network connections). It is nominal if only a labelled well defined job or
operational task exists for the (physical) realization of the link. A real
(physical) link may not even belong to the first dimension, it might be a
physical process or relation at the sub-hypertextual level of the computational
media, but it may also exist in higher dimensions. Similarly, nominal links may
refer to tasks to be caried out in different dimensions. A special subset of
real links is what we normally call open or on-line status of a connection and
the same applies for nominal links that represent optional, or off-line
functions in various contexts.
3.3
Potential and actual links
To
avoid foundational issues of cognitive psychology one may separate mentally
existant relations as 'actual' relations from merely potential relations
independently of the real / nominal distinction. We would like to leave open
the door for the obviously far reaching consequences of this distinction.
3.4
Active and passive links
A
link is active if at least one of its connected elements is being changed. It
can change as a result of the work of distant colleagues as co-authors, or as a
result of the work done by students who are present at the same platform; or as
a result of the work of recording devices of instruments that carry out
measurments etc. In turn, a link is passive if it connects stable, permanent
elements of the environment.
Classification
of hypertexts
Our
main purpose is to separate what we call
supertext
from
what we call
cybertext.
Paralelly one can introduce two overlapping class of qualities of the potential
users which still describe different properties and attitudes: we suggest to
call them
super-
and
cyber-literacy.
The import of these distinctions is that we can separate two different
tendencies in the development of HTs which though come together in
contemporary HTs, may soon depart in the future. The classification also gives
rise to different (complexes of) questions concerning the 'givennes' of HTs.
Supertexts
STs,
contrasted with traditional texts, have (built in) (real and actual) passive
links in the first dimension but as opposed to cybertext they do not have
active links. [They may have external links however, in the first and in the
higher levels as well.] The status of its passive links for example can be open
or merely optional.
Cybertext
Making
distinctions between (external and internal) passive and active, real and
nominal links we suggest that the CT is a genuinly new quality as compared with
both traditional text and "supertext", because
it
is not given.
It is not given in any dimension. While it is accessed it is permanently
changing even in the first strictly hypertextual dimension since it is
constituted and construed by the active, open links that act (directly or
indirectly) on and in the "text".
Problems
of the two different classes of HTs
Both
STs and CTs are
internally
accassible environments
from a cognitive point of view, but CTs are
exclusively
intarnally accesssible. However, while STs may also be objects just as books
are objects, CTs as
artificial social environments
are
transformed
by our activities as we gain information from them. The process of knowledge
acquisition and exchange of data transforms the information stored within the
public environment of CTs.
We
list three sets of problems we consider as problems of the two different classes:
Problems
of givenness for STs
1.
Standarsd of ST-literacy are not yet given.
2.
The new dimensions of interpretation dissolve the traditional syntax /
semantics distinction.
3.
Wittgensteinian topics of perceptual knowledge acquisition emerge as
opposed
to the "givenness" of purely textual information.
Problems
of givenness for CTs
1.
Problem of the identitiy of genuine CTs as permanently changing
environments.
2.
The preconditions of the social existence of these artificial environments
are unknown.
3.
Standards and norms of CT-literacy are not (yet) given and as it is often
argued (in a social sense) cannot be given.
4.
Since the cognitive environment is created by the
game
of users, new
"language games" shape the environment.
Conflicts
of STs and CTs
The
present day tendencies in the development of STs and CTs in fact may turn
against one another. The development of better and better STs requires more and
more money. On the other hand CTs may happen to be relatively cheap. They can
be simple but can live, even in a parisitic manner on the already existing
network infrastructure.
STs
and CTs in the external pragmatic dimension are also subjects of different
often conflicting (scientific, artistic, commercial, leagal etc.) norms. We
hope that the further elaboration of the problems we drafted in terms of our
distinctions can help making these norms more explicit and promotes their
public discussion.
References
Ong,
Walter J. (1982/1991),
Orality
and literacy,
London New York, Routledge.
Ong,
Walter J. (1981),
The
presence of the word,
Minneapolis, University
of Minnesota Press.
Ong,
Walter J. (1977),
Interfaces
of the word,
Ithaca, N.Y, Cornell
University Press.
Havelock,
Eric Alfred (1963)
Preface
to Plato,
Cambridge, Belknap
Press, Harvard University Press.
Havelock,
Eric Alfred (1986)
The
muse learns to write,
New Haven, Yale
University Press.
Havelock,
Eric Alfred (1982),
The
literate revolution in Greece and its
cultural consequences,
Princeton, N.J, Princeton University Press.
Havelock,
Eric Alfred (1976),
Origins
of western literacy,
Toronto,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Nyiri,
J. C. (1995), "Wittgenstein as a Philosopher of Post-Literacy"
in:
Culture
and Value: Philosophiy and the Cultural Sciences
,
Papers of the 18th International Wittgenstein Symposium. Kirchberg am
Wechsel: .
/http://isis.elte.hu/~nyiri//
Nyiri,
J. C. (1996a), The Humanities in the Ages of Post -Literacy
Budapest
Rewiew of Books,
Autumn 1996 (vol.6, no.3), pp.110-116.
also
as: Nyíri Kristóf: Bölcseszettudományok az
írásbeliség után.
Világosság,
Budapest
1996/6 pp.3-16. /http://isis.elte.hu/~nyiri//
Nyiri,
J. C. (1996b), "Electronic Networking and the Unity of Knowledge"
(Interdisciplinary Workshop on "Electronic Networkink and the Philosophy of
Culture"
Otterthal /Austria/ November, 22-24., 1996. )
Obermuller,
Eva and Pohl, Margit (1996) "The geat Hypertext Swindle"
(Interdisciplinary Workshop on "Electronic Networkink and the Philosophy of
Culture"
Otterthal /Austria/ November, 22-24., 1996. )
Golden,
Daniel (1996), "Cybertextualism"
(Interdisciplinary Workshop on "Electronic Networkink and the Philosophy of
Culture"
Otterthal /Austria/ November, 22-24., 1996. )
[*]
Lecture delivered in the Interdisciplinary Workshop on
Electronic
Networking and the Philosophy of Culture
at
Otterthal /Austria/ November, 22-24, 1996.
[1]Cf.
Ong (1982/91), Havelock (1963, 1976, 1986)
[2]
Nyíri (1995, 1996), Ong (1970)
[3]
In fact we start to 'read' even the most simple HTs by internal operations
recorded on its medium as in the case of a simple front page of a WEB-site or
icons of a CD-ROM.
Mail to the authors