Linearity and multicursality in World Wide Web documentaries

Abstract

Are non-fiction Web sites nonlinear like literary hypertexts, or linear like film and print? A study of magazine articles, television documentaries and Web sites by the National Geographic Society reveals that in spite of linking, the Web sites make just as linear reading experiences as the older media, although less creative. The study gives nuance to conceptions of linearity and nonlinearity by studying what linearity really is, thus setting nonlinearity in relief. A number of techniques to tie gaps in the reading line together are identified in films and articles. It is argued that by using these techniques in linking, both better reading experiences and less linearity in Web sites could be achieved.