[ISEA2004] Paper: Noah Wardrip-Fruin – What was Hypertext?

Abstract

More than 30 years ago, Ted Nelson (who coined the term “hypertext”) articulated a vision of computers for media — “designed, written, drawn and edited, by authors, artists, designers and editors.” A far cry from AI hype, hypertext was also not a synonym for “node and link.”

  • Noah Wardrip-Fruin (USA) is a new media scholar and artist. He has recently edited two  books, both from MIT Press — The New Media Reader (with Nick Montfort, 2003) and First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game (with Pat Harrigan, 2004). As an artist his work focuses on new media text, including The Impermanence Agent (a storytelling web agent that “customizes” based on reader browsing habits) and Screen (an immersive VR text that interacts with the reader’s body). His work has been presented by the Whitney and Guggenheim museums, as well as discussed in reference works such as Information Arts (Stephen Wilson, 2002), Digital Art (Christiane Paul, 2003), and Art in the Digital Age (Bruce Wands, 2004). He has presented his scholarly and artistic work in journals (Leonardo, PAJ),
    at scientific gatherings (ACM SIGGRAPH, ACM Hypertext), at art and culture conferences (ISEA, Digital Arts and Culture), and in regional new media exhibitions (Boston Cyberarts, New York Digital Salon). He is a director of the Electronic Literature Organization.

Full text (PDF) p. 199-200