Linear and Non-Linear Activities

Reading and writing are linear activities. When you read a book or write an essay, you start at the beginning, and continue straight through to the end. This is linear reading (linear means on a straight line).

Linear text forces the reader to be passive and puts the writer in control. This enables a writer to build up a body of evidence to support his or her view, then lead step-by-step to the logical conclusion. A poet or a novelist can set a scene, then surprise us with a new twist of the plot, or by a series of images. But there is no interactivity between the reader and the text. You must follow a story from start to finish, otherwise it wont make much sense.

For one thing, you don't always read or write linearly. You might glance at the headlines on a newspaper page, then read a sentence from one story, followed by a paragraph from another. This is called scanning. Yet, each story is meant to be read from start to finish. Sometimes, you may be asked to read another chapter or article before you go to the next section. Or, you might come across a mark that directs you to read a paragraph from the bottom of the page (a footnote ), or mentions another book or article entirely (a reference ). When writing, you might think of something else and write it on another piece of paper, or save in a different computer file.

If you follow every note or reference and start reading other articles, you might find references that point to yet more articles. Follow these, and you may find that your reading takes you away from the topic of the original article. If you follow each and every reference you come across, you may never return to the original text.

When you do this, you are starting to read non-linearly.

The Way Our Mind Works

Hypertext and hypermedia are designed to be read or viewed non-linearly. There is no right or wrong way to go through the material. Each link might tell you more about a topic or an object, and you can follow the links in any order. There is usually an entry point to a hypertext, but you often need not even start there. Often, the reader is encouraged to interact with the work itself by contributing to the information pool, or by guiding the system response.

Hypermedia goes beyond even non-linear, multi-linked hypertext in that it enables you as an information provider to weave graphics, sounds, and even video clips into a rich, multi-media tapestry that involves the readers left- and right-brain, at the same time.

This is much more the way our mind works. Because each of us has a different balance of left- and right-brain thinking, hypermedia has something for everyone. Not only can you follow the logic of a thesis and absorb the factual details, you also can get a feel for a subject while developing a broad overview of the topic.

Go back to the lesson