A hyperlink is a simple enough tool, but now that I've been blogging for a couple of months, I've come to realize the immense power it brings to the medium. When I hyperlink, I participate in what Richardson (2010) identifies as "connective writing", a new genre that calls for careful reading, clear explanations and communication for the purpose of learning. Those hyperlinks are what separates true blogging from simple posting and/or straightforward journaling.
Links are the driving force of the internet and Web 2.0: they are what make the web, web-like! "Hyperlinking is the foundation of the web. As users add new content, and new sites, it is bound in to the structure of the web by other users discovering the content and linking to it" (O'Reilly as cited in Berger & Trexler, 2010, p. 5). This article on internet pioneers shows that hypertexting, or the ability to jump between documents, was at the heart of the idea for the world wide web.
The irony of this post is that I had a heck of time finding good hyperlinks about hyperlinks, which goes to show that linking is so ubiquitous that it becomes something we take for granted. This blogging project has given me the opportunity to pause and reflect on the value of the hyperlink and how it can enrich our learning experience.
References
Berger, P., & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a digital world. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
Griffin, S. (2000). Internet pioneers: Tim Berners-Lee. Retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/lee.html
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousands Oaks, CA: Corwin
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