- quality information conveyed through text or graphics
- organized in a meaningful structure
Unfortunately, online content isn't easy to structure because of hypertext. Which begs the question, what's hypertext?
According to the Guide of Cyberspace, hypertext functions like regular text — it can be read, searched and edited — with one crucial difference: Hypertext contains links to other documents.
Think about it. If you're reading TV Guide and a description for a program catches your fancy, you need to pick up the remote, turn on the TV and find the channel with your program.
Something you read in one medium prompted you to interact with an entity totally foreign to your TV Guide.
Forget that your TV Guide is a small, paper book.
Imagine that it's a mini computer. A mini, hyperlinked computer. Now you can click on the description of that program and see that program, all in the same place: In your TV Guide.
Now imagine that the program you're watching is also hypertextual -- that is, it contains links to bios of the characters and the actors who portray them. You can click and read about the characters, then return to the story.
Like the car that the lead character is driving? Click on it, and off you go to a site all about the car ... which contains links to another site where you can purchase the car online ... which contains links to other cars you might be interested in ...
This is the glorious -- and the frustrating -- part about hypertext: The connections. And that's what makes content so difficult to organize in meaningful way.
Online content can be linked to by virtually anyone, anywhere, at any time -- and there's little that you or I can do about it, except try to make things easier on the souls who stumble across our door.
For example ...
In the "People" section of Gamesville, we spotlight many of our more interesting members: We publish interviews with them, photos of their tattoos and other assorted silly things.
Now, imagine a friend emails you a link to our interview with a Gamesville member who also moonlights as a clown.
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