Chapter Fourteen

Placement

Chapter Fourteen is a slightly more theoretical chapter than any of the previous three. Although it offers a few practical suggestions in terms of thinking about Web building, the majority of that information is found in Part Four. Because this chapter looks at the medium of the Web and asks some questions about how hypertextuality and interconnectivity are intrinsically collaborative, it might be particularly well-suited for a computers and writing course or a class which explores computer-mediated communication as its subject matter.

Authors' Suggestions

One practical application for the "collective action" material found at the end of this chapter is to use this as a springboard into teaching proposal arguments. If you can get your students thinking about how to mobilize the audience on the Web by including interactive devices, you'll find that students are often more willing to engage with the assignment. Using search engines on the Web, it's relatively simple to find e-mail addresses for the president, a congressional representative, a city council, a corporation, or anyone else that students might make a proposal to. We've found that the dual factors of writing for a "live" audience and the ability to make a difference by getting people to send e-mails in support of a proposal can combine to motivate students. If you're teaching proposal arguments, we strongly suggest that you consider making them Web-based so that your students can incorporate some of these devices.

Although the real-time collaborative elements of the Web are still just beginning to develop, we're convinced that they will soon become quite common and extremely useful in educational settings. Any number of interesting possibilities might arise from having class Web sites that include real-time discussion areas. We'll continue to monitor this trend closely, so stay tuned to the Connections Web site for information about the latest whiteboard and Web collaboration developments.

For More Information

There are any number of additional resources about hypertext that are available in printed form and on the Web. Here are a few to get you started.

• Anderson, Daniel. "From Browsers to Builders: Student Composition on the World Wide Web." http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/browserstobuilders/ (4 Aug. 1995).
• Bolter, Jay David. "Literature in the Electronic Writing Space." Literacy Online. Ed. Myron C. Tuman. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. 19-42.
• ---. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
• Joyce, Michael. "A Feel For Prose." Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. 227-246.
• ---. "The Ends of Print Culture (a work in progress)" Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. 173-184.
• ---. "Siren Shapes: Exploratory and Constructive Hypertexts"." Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. 39-60.
• Landow, George P. Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Johns Hopkins UP, 1992.
• ---. "The Rhetoric of Hypermedia: Some Rules for Authors." Hypermedia and Literary Studies. Eds. Paul Delany and George P. Landow. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.81-103.