Stitch Bitch

As I started to read Shelly Jackson’s “Stich Bitch” I was very confused about just what she was talking about. I was able to grab one major point from the article though… she doesn’t like hypertext.

At first I just thought hypertext was just hyperlinks. But I had to do a little research. Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references hyperlinks to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or key press sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices.

I have to say that I agree with some of the principles Jackson presents in the article. With journalism being taken online now so many more people think that they are writers. You can clearly see this all over the web. Jackson makes the agreement that these writers just add hypertexts to there writing because they haven’t mastered the subject that they are talking about. They find something that elaborates more then they or the subject and add it to there righting. See points this out as not being good writing. Good writing to here is direct, effective, clean, and intended to tell a sequence of events.

I think it isn’t a difference between good and bad writing, but there is a difference style. In a linear style of writing you have a plot begins at point A, progresses through events, which build towards a climax, and then finally reaching point B. For most readers in the linear plot you know where to go next, as well as you know it’s going to have a beginning and an ending. While Non-Linear narratives are usually associated with freedom of choice, it often limits the audience’s mobility.

I think that both styles can work together. Like anything they have to be used in moderation. Even though Jackson points out the flaws of hypertext.

“In hypertext, you can’t find out what’s important so you have to pay attention to everything, which is exhausting like being in a foreign country; you are not a native. Hypertext is schizophrenic: you cant tell what’s the original and what’s the reference.”

I can see why writers use it. If you want to add to the story it is perfect. After reading the article or story the hyperlink can give you more research on what the topic of the story is. I think that the future of writing is going to combine linear and non linear. Writers are going to have to be able to guide their readers with a story and give them the freedom to leave the article to find more information.