The document discusses the history and evolution of hypertext and its implications for literacy. It outlines three waves of hypertext development and argues that traditional understandings of literacy are inadequate for digital discourse. The author advocates redefining literacy based on navigation through nodes and links in a hypertextual archive, rather than print-based definitions of literacy. Examples are provided of early and modern hypertext applications like Wikipedia and an online story. The document questions how education can enable critical participation in an increasingly mediated world.

1. What the Geeks Know: Hypertext and the Problem of LiteracyStuart MoulthorpUniversity of BaltimorePresented by Olivia Porter

2. What the Geeks KnowCatching waves- history of hypertextMisreading reading- NEA: Reading at RiskWhat the geeks know- hypertext operationalises the deconstruction of writing.Literacy in Babylon- god is dice.

3. Hypertext- a definitionHypertext is text displayed on an electronic device that allows users to immediately access other text by navigating through a series of references (hyperlinks) between documents. Rather than the reader sifting through the text, travelling toward the desired pages, the hypertext document brings those words to the reader. Gives readers more control to shape their reading experience than ever before.

4. Hypertext and LiteracyTraditional understanding of literacy is inadequate for new and complex digital discourseMoulthrop (2005) argues that we should define hypertext on the basis for a new version of general literacy

5. Normal text vs. hypertextNodes + LinksSteinmetz and Nahrstedt, 2011Examples: Wikipedia & Fantastic Idahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertexthttp://www.coder.com/creations/tale/tales/cgi-bin/tale.pl.cgi?STORYDIR=Fantastic_Ida&PAGE=2Steinmetz and Nahrstedt, 2011

6. Dalgaard and Liestol identify three waves in the history of hypertext1st wave: Nelson, Engelbart, and Van Dam Concept + first experimental systems.2nd wave: Personal computers + the popularization of the internet Widely distributed systems + first examination of their uses and implications.3rd wave: World Wide Web Refinement of existing technologies.

7. Hypertext as reality, not novelty (3RD wave).Archive: “a communication environment in which virtually all texts are exposed to automated search, retrieval and hypertext reference” (Dalgaard, 2001)Archive refers to any application of hypertext.Earlier accounts of hypertext: “remediation”’ (Dalgaard, 2001)Moulthrop sees the need to re-examine earlier approachesThe ‘archive’ and digital media in general have yet to establish legitimacy

8. Misreading reading2003- US National Endowment for the Arts: ‘Reading at Risk’In another half century, there will be no paying customers for fiction and poetry, aside from compulsory assignments in schoolroomsAmericans will be less inclined to think critically, vote, or take part in civic life.The report is confined solely to books, fiction, poetry and drama. Electronic archives, audio books, weblogs, USENET groups, WIKIs, or MUSs and MOOs were not included in the study.The findings of this report are indicative of a larger problem.

9. Misreading readingElectronic media is seen as a threat to conventional print publishing.Demonstrates the ignorance towards digital technologies, as well as the problem to see the electronic archive as a possibility for literacy to evolve continuously

10. What the geeks knowEncounters between old and new media are inherently adverse and never assured of balanced resolution Innovation in communication seems to be inescapably problematic.The epistemology of electronic text is radically different from conventional writing.According to Miles “hypertext belongs not to an economy of scarcity but to a mode of excess.”The archive doesn’t know sufficiency, only surfeit.

11. The concept of ‘universal without totality’ offers a promising way to unify theory and practice in thinking about the archive.Universality- discourses or methods available to all.Totality- claims to the absolute truth.Postmodernism discarded both

12. Literacy in Babylon‘The Lottery in Babylon’ published in 1941.A fictional civilisation in ancient Babylon which reorganises its epistemology around a municipal numbers game. Anything that happens in the city, good or ill, artificial or natural, is thought to be determined by repeated throws of the dice, iterated on some vast and unknown scale. Perhaps God does not play at dice with the universe, but then again, perhaps God is the dice

13. Literacy in BabylonLiteracy can no longer be ceded to print culture aloneA new definition of literacy founded on pathwork in the hypertextual archiveHe concedes that such a change in agenda will not automatically fix the widespread misunderstanding of mediaBut he is confident that those ideas will tend to exceed initial expectations

14. Other digital literacy programsPrograms are now developed around increasing participation and engagement in their target groups and incorporating skills development in new emerging digital technologies (ACMA, 2000)How should education respond to the challenges of an increasingly mediated world?How can it enable young people to become active, and critical participants?

15. Digital media and learningHenry Jenkins- The White Paper’- ‘Confronting the Challenges of Participatory culture: Media Education for the 21st Century’Project New Media Literacieshttp://www.newmedialiteracies.org/the-literacies.php

16. The Deadly Choices At Memorial, ProPublica 2009http://www.propublica.org/special/interactive-inside-memorial-medical-centerBlack Saturday, ABC 2009http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/

17. Discussion questionsToday’s readers analyse multiple representations from a variety of disciplines, including texts, photographs, artwork, and data. How do we write for a medium when we can’t predict what the reader might click?

18. Discussion questionsHow can texts that incorporate hyperlinks prevent reader disorientation?Advanced computer technology for storing and retrieving information - and the electronic ‘hypertext’ of words and images- is changing both the experience of reading and, according to some scholars, the very nature of what is read. Do think your reading habits have changed? How so?

19. The machine is us/ing us (Wesch 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

20. References(2011) ‘Australlian Communication Media Authority (ACMA)’,The ACMA digital media literary research program, viewed 16 May 2011, <http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc-PC_311472>Buckingham, D. (2003) Media Education: literacy, learning and contemporary culture. Cambridge: Polite Press.Carroll, I (2009) ‘Black Saturday’, ABC, viewed May 15, http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/Fink, S (2009), ‘The Dealy Choices at Memorial’, ProPublica, viewed May 15 2011, http://www.propublica.org/special/interactive-inside-memorial-medical-centerJenkins (2009) NML White Paper 2009, New Media Literacies, viewed 16 May 2011, <http://newmedialiteracies.org>Lenhardt, A & Maggen, M (2007), Teen Content Creators and Consumers, Washington Pew Internet and American Life Project, viewed May 2010, <http://www.pewinternet.org>Levy, P (2001) Cyberculture, Minneapolis U: Minnesota Press.Livingstone, S (2003) ‘The Changing Nature and Uses of Media Literacy: Working paper’, London School of Economics, viewed May 16 2011, http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/ewpNumber4.htmMegill, K (1997) ‘Fantastic Ida’, Coder, viewed May 16 2011, <http://www.coder.com/creations/tale/tales/cgi-bin/tale.pl.cgi?PAGE=1&STORYDIR=Fantastic_Ida>Nielsen, J (1995) Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond, San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.Postman, N (1969) Text address at the Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 1968.Steinmetz and Nahrstedt (2011) ‘Hypertext and Hypermedia’, Chapter 1: Introduction, History of Multimedia Systems, viewed May 17 2011, <www.cs.sfu.au/CC/365/mark/material/notes/Chap1/Chapt1.html>(2011) ‘Hypertext’, Wikipedia, viewed May 16 2011, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext>(2011) The Black Sheep Agency, viewed May 11 2011, <http://theblacksheepagency.com/explore/>Wesch, M (2007)‘The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)’, viewed May 17 2011, < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g>