Volume 1, Number 1
<2> Note how the description in the field on the right starts with a general focus. It begins with the artist and suggests that the Picasso captures certain emotions in the work. More context is given as the description moves toward more specific observations about the painting itself. Toward the end the description addresses the distortion present in the figures themselves. The description could benefit from more specifics about the figures themselves; it might be nice to know the title of the painting as well, but the point is that the author has narrowed the discussion toward the painting with a shift in focus toward the figures themselves. It is at this moment that another link is established--anchored with the word "anguish"--for further discussion of the individual figures.
<4> Creating a separate node lets the author zoom in on the painting. Note how this new close-up view is accompanied by even more specific description. The author makes note of the "flared nostrils and protruding tongue." Even more promising may be the way the study's sharpened description prompts the author to refine what was in the general description the essence of emotions into the fleshed-out scream of the horse.
<5> To be fair, the sample has its faults. For one thing, it is too reliant on the previous node which discussed the painting in general. The original sample's movement toward individual figures is implicit in the horses' opening description. However, the nodal nature of hypertexts in most cases calls for more explicit presentation of information and reiteration of relationships and contexts. It's possible that a reader arriving at the horse node may not have previously read the general description. In this case, she would likely be befuddled by the description's reference to multiple figures in a picture completely dominated by the horse's description. The second sample is much like the dependent clause: without the support of the general description, it is but a fragment.
<6> The failure to fully refine the second sample can be addressed by pushing hypertextual nodes toward self-reliance. This should not mean, however, that we should lose track of the interrelations that exist between nodes. Picasso's use of distortion, for example, is mentioned in both samples. Unfortunately, neither descriptions makes an explicit connection with the other on these terms. Perhaps, the kind of work we might ask a hypertextual node's introduction to do might parallel the transition sentence or section. Hopefully an author will make relevant connections and announce the direction the project is about to take.
Select one of the other student samples, move on to the conclusion,
or return to not maimed but malted.
Return to
the CWRL home page,
or to Daniel's home page.
iamdan