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Hypertext In Gopher
2 June 2018
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INTRODUCTION
The concept of hypertext is something that I find deeply intrigu-
ing. It always brings me romantizied fantasies of sci-fi or alien
technology. I want to explore possibilities of writing hypertext
on Gopher. Here I will not be advocating such things as deliver-
ing HTML files via Gopher rather than HTTP; Instead I will talk
about the general ideas behind hypertext, and if they can at all
be applied to Gopher.
WHAT IS HYPERTEXT?
The classical definition of hypertext is text that is non-linear.
In normal texts we read things sequentially, from the beginning to
the end. Hypertext was invented to go beyond the limitations of a
fixed sequence (hence the prefix "hyper"), allowing the reader to
choose his own pathways through the text.[1]
Typically this is achieved by dividing content into nodes. Each
node contains just a single idea or concept, and the nodes are
linked to other nodes. The collection of these nodes forms the
whole text, and the nodes are not considered seperate documents.
As an example, let us say we wanted to write about the history of
computers. Instead of writing a gigantic list of things, we in-
stead could put each key person, each computer, and each new tech-
nological innovation into it's own node.
The interesting thing is that hypertext isn't constrained to so-
phisticated programs or even computers. Books like "Choose your
own adventure" are a good example of this. Hypertext can be writ-
ten in any medium, as long as the writing is non-linear. The im-
plications of this is that hypertext in Gopher is feasible.
PROBLEMS WITH HYPERTEXT
Hypertext poses many new problems that do not come about when
writing in a linear fashion. If done incorrectly, the hypertext
will become a tangled mess of spaghetti. I recommend reading
Davida Charney's essay[5] for a more detailed explanation of prob-
lems that can arise. Issues to keep in mind when writing hyper-
text are:
* Getting Lost
When there is no sense of location or order in the text, read-
ers end up feeling as if they are "lost in hyperspace". Nor-
mal writings have page numbers and chapters, and web pages
have a scroll bar to tell you where you are. In an unstruc-
tured network of nodes there is no way to tell where you are,
and this can make it difficult to find information you are
looking for.
* Closure
In a non-linear writing, there may not be an endpoint. Hyper-
text makes it hard to give one the sense that they are done
reading, that they have reached the end. It is also difficult
for a reader to tell how much left they have to read.
* Readers Might Not Know Where To Go Next
In order to choose an effective path through a hypertext, one
needs to know how the ideas are connected and what can be left
out. But if the reader is unfamiliar with the subject being
disscussed, how can they possibly know these things? It is
traditionally the role of the writer to organize ideas and to
decide what is irrelevant, but in hypertext this becomes the
reader's job.
PRESEQUENCING NODES
My solution to these problems is a technique I call "presequenc-
ing". It is a sort of compromise between linear and non-linear
writing.
Content is still divided into nodes, each holding a single idea.
But instead of each node containing multiple reading paths (i.e.
internalized organization), nodes are organized externally. The
author divides up his content and presents the reader with a mul-
titude of carefully chosen paths through the writing, effectively
reshuffling what he has written to suit different readers.
----------
| Node A |------.
---------- \
/ \ \
/ \ |
---------- ---------- |
| Node B | | Node C | |
---------- ---------- |
\ / |
\ / /
---------- /
| Node D |------'
----------
Fig 1. Normal Hypertext Organization
Sequence 1 Sequence 2 Sequence 3
---------- ---------- ----------
| Node A | | Node B | | Node A |
---------- ---------- ----------
| | |
---------- ---------- ----------
| Node B | | Node D | | Node C |
---------- ---------- ----------
| | |
---------- ---------- ----------
| Node C | | Node A | | Node E |
---------- ---------- ----------
| |
---------- ----------
| Node D | | Node G |
---------- ----------
|
----------
| Node J |
----------
Fig 2. Presequencing
This technique can solve all of the issues listed above. Readers
won't get lost as they are in a specific place in a sequence of
nodes. They can have a sense of closure if multiple conclusions
are written for each sequence. And best of all the reader doesn't
have to sort out everything himself, all the organization is done
be the writer.
The main advantage of presequencing is that nodes can be reused.
An author can draw upon any nodes he has created and can use nodes
that other writers have created to make new sequences of text.
HYPERTEXT IN GOPHER
So how can we use presequencing in Gopher?
First of you would create a Gopher menu that has the title of the
work, a short description or summary of the subject, and a "table
of paths" (instead of a table of contents).
The table of paths would have links to path menus and a descrip-
tion of what kind of reader each path is for. Path menus would
just be a list of links to nodes. You could achieve this be mak-
ing a new gophermap file or even just be adding a bunch of sym-
links into a folder.
Nodes themseleves could either be plain text files or Gopher menus
(if you want automatic references).
CONCLUSION
Now I share a loathing of the modern Web with the rest of Go-
pherspace, and it indeed deserves every ounce of criticism and
contempt. But the web doesn't suck because it is hypertext, it
sucks because of the privacy issues, the advertisements, and the
bloat. Ever since it's creation in the early 90s, the web has
drifted further and further away from the original vision of hy-
pertext.
I want to see more informational reasources being put up on Go-
pher, I want to see Gopher become a viable alternative to the Web.
Perhaphs adding some hypertexual features like presequencing could
help acheive that goal.
--Auzymoto
REFERENCES
[1] The Electronic Labyrinth: Hypertext
By: Christopher Keep, Tim McLaughlin, & Robin Parmar
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0037.html
[2] Gopherpedia: Transclution
gopher://gopherpedia.org/0/Transclusion
[3] Musings on the problems of Transclusion
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog%3a2003/09/10.1
[4] Hypertext in the Web - a History
By: Robert Cailliau & Helen Ashman
http://cs.brown.edu/memex/ACM_HypertextTestbed/papers/62.html
[5] The Impact of Hypertext on Processes of Reading and Writing
By: Davida Charney
http://www.dwrl.utexas.edu/~charney/homepage/Articles/Charney_hypertext.pdf