abstract

background

theory

praxis

models

course

multilinearity
visual rhetoric
theory in practice

references

The organization of an academic hypertext is very important because of the relationship hypertext establishes or invites between author and reader. "Both writing and reading on the Web are defined by the expectation of interaction. To design a website, the writer must conceive of the pages as a structure that might be explored in a variety of orders by different readers with different needs" (Bolter, 1998, p. 4). Any theory of visual rhetoric that is relevant for hypertext needs to address or account for this interaction. With Shauf (2001), we come at the interaction through careful attention to the spatiality of the argument, or through organization. In Mary Hocks' (2003) visual rhetoric, the interaction is more explicitly addressed in a category she calls audience stance. She defines audience stance as "the ways in which the audience is invited to participate in online documents and the ways in which the author creates an ethos that requires, encourages, or even discourages different kinds of interactivity" (p. 632).

The author of an effective multilinear academic hypertext would would likely draw on both Shauf's (2001) logic of space and an interactive stance toward a variety of readers. An important problem arises, however, when it comes to the expectations of linear organization and clear presentation in an academic essay (Bolter, 1998; Kolb, 1994). The more one works to create a multilinear hypertext that deploys configured language (Drucker, 2001), the harder it becomes for the reader to square her expectations of an academic essay with the academic hypertext. Hocks (2003) captures this issue in web development through her category of transparency, "the ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages. The more the online document borrows from familiar conventions, the more transparent it is to the audience" (p. 632). While theory can describe dimensions of visual rhetoric, real advances in the integration of new media in academic writing will only come through experimental hypertexts that draw on these dimensions and push them to their limits.

visual rhetoric | integrating the visual | configuring meaning

abstract | background | theory | praxis | models | course