Hypertexts as Conversation

Hypertexts can be like interactive conversations: "Such discussions tend to diverge into backing and commentary even when they begin by focusing on one argument. But there is an important difference. In presenting an argument by the mixed method, the form and links would be carefully crafted and relatively linear. In a discussion there would be lines in many directions, meta-discussions, odd angles, dead ends, and other questions and connections that would not appear in the strict presentation of an argument. These other kinds of movements and connections are not dross to be purged when strict form is achieved; they are part of that informal discourse that always surrounds argument and gives it a purpose. . .  Hypertext provides a way to make that unformed discourse more visible than it normally is, since that discourse is usually disciplined out of sight by professional norms (and by lack of space). But multi-dimensioned space is what hypertext has in abundance, and it can slip sideways away from the professional norms." (David Kolb Socrates in the Labrynth).

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