We are tapping the database of knowledge and thatwas something I always envisoned by Nelson. To try to pin hypertext down will be an illusive process and fantastical. Hypertext is probing the brain of the writer since the writer makes the links and it probes the reader who makes the choices. Shakespeare texts are hypertext with the play on one page and the definitions on the opposite side. High school English texts are hypertext as we use the back of the book to help define elements of the text being read.
Bibliographies are hypertext.
Now with the web, I can make a link and without turning pages or going to a library I can access the material via a hyper link. That is linear not hypertext. But I do love this discussion as it entralls and confuses me and that is just what I need this weekend, like that hole in my head to get rid of this week long headache. I thought I'd throw out a question to get us started . . . For though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.