HYPERTEXTUALITY  
  in Mediapolis, De Gruyter, Berlino & New York, 1999.  
  by Sergio Cicconi  
 

Hypertexts somehow derive their structures from the structures of conventional printed texts --whose elements are combined according to a sequential logic. Thus, even hypertexts should be thought of as imperfect tools for the representation and reproduction of our experiences. Yet, exactly because of their dynamic, non-linear and rhizomatic character, hypertexts -- even the only-verbal ones-- seem to be more suitable for representing the fast intertwining of our thoughts, their moving through intersections, jumps, and links, their constant re-constructing and re-organizing the most heterogeneous features of our experiences. And this is particularly true when we consider that hypertexts are multimedial "objects" and can therefore represent --even though in a still simplified and synthetic way-- not only verbal but also non-verbal (for the moment only visual and acoustic) features of many of our experiences.