Argument or Research?
As information seekers, readers get information from a variety of sources from which they draw conclusions--I call this a form ofargument. From the readers' perspective, this notion of argument seems much like doing research. With arguments on the Web, the immediacy of following suggestions and citations makes reading separate documents much less a discernable act. As soon as readers encounter a new possibility, they can follow it, while the reason for wanting to see the new information is still fresh, while the associations remain vital. Following links in this manner produces a line controlled by readers. That line resembles the reading of an argument more so than the gathering of information through research.
The difference between doing research and creating arguments is in the physical nature of research using printed works as sources. Research with printed material involves physically gathering many works and reading through each of them. Where references appear in the printed works, in most cases, readers complete reading the work from which the work was cited before moving on to reading the work cited. Similarly, if the author of the printed work suggests other areas readers might be interested in, it requires another physical gathering of that new information. By the time the new information is gathered, the reason for pursuing the information has faded, the associations are less vital.
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