Xref: utzoo rec.arts.sf-lovers:58416 rec.arts.fine:279 comp.editors:3034 comp.text:8289 rec.arts.books:21014 rec.arts.poems:11579 bit.listserv.literary:577 alt.prose:992 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!lance.tis.llnl.gov!turner From: turner@lance.tis.llnl.gov (Michael Turner) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.fine,comp.editors,comp.text,rec.arts.books,rec.arts.poems,bit.listserv.literary,alt.prose Subject: Re: What do writers want from a word processor? Message-ID: <95746@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> Date: 19 Apr 91 20:57:41 GMT References: <1991Apr17.175001.8402@sjuphil.uucp> <1991Apr18.003213.11557@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1991Apr18.183110.29423@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 44 Nntp-Posting-Host: lance.tis.llnl.gov In article <1991Apr18.183110.29423@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >palmer@nntp-server.caltech.edu (David Palmer) writes: > >> For writers, a word processor should include >[...] >> 6) Annotation mode. Go into this when you want to write (or speak, >> digitizers are cheap, at least for the Mac) a note to yourself. >> (usually I just change to an outline font to make my notes stand out) >> Then have the ability to jump from note to note (maybe as part of the >> search command) > >[....] >I think a person could get very enamored with creating large works in >a hypertext environment, especially the kind that require lots of research >notes to make them work. This brings up a possible point of controversy (he sez, casting his hook far out into the rapids): undoubtedly, many people will become so enamored, but is there an audience for reading hypertext works? Proponents are quick to point out how hypertextual flat text is: it has parenthetic comments (such as this cutely self-referential one), footnotes on the same page, footnotes at the ends of chapters and books, annotated bibliographies, quotes, indices, interpage references, tables of contents, figures and tables, and so on. I think for neutral kinds of reference material, they have a point. But how about the decidedly non-neutral process of making a point or telling a story? Rhetoric and narrative are indispensable for keeping your attention on what you're writing or reading. Does hypertext help or distract in this context? Or does it make any difference? My position: a rhetorical work that bristles with references works best when it tells a story or makes a point-by-point, linear argument. Densely-matted collections of references wouldn't ever suffice. Of course, when I try to convince the hypertext promoters I know of this, they tend to digress, distract, change the subject, free-associate, forget what they were saying, forget what *I* was saying, and avoid finishing sentences. --- Michael Turner turner@tis.llnl.gov