A New Rhetoric

Besides a change in the role of the author, the author also has to consider a new writing tool—the link. As pointed out by Burbules, “where traditional text depends upon the disciplines of the Outline and the Syllogism, hypertext opens up the additional textual possibilities of Bricolage and Juxtaposition: assembling texts from pieces that can be represented in multiple relations to one another. These two new disciplines, it should be seen, are still disciplines themselves, contrasting in certain respects to the traditional pair (Outline versus Bricolage; Syllogism versus Juxtaposition), but as supplements to them, not necessarily replacements for them. Bricolage and Juxtaposition, more suited in some ways to the forms of hypertext, less linear, more lateral, have their own advantages and disadvantages, as the Outline and Syllogism do.”

Besides concerning himself with language and content, the author of this hypertextual age now has to consider how meaning can be produced via the usage of links, and how he can use these links to allow the reader freedom in exploring the spatial text.