Think of every lexia as one of Derrida's "bites". It is detached, it's own self-contained, free standing object. Yet together these bites mimic conversation and the oral mode of communication by allowing the reader to interact and communicate, in a sense, with the text. Print technology forces us into a linear, highly impersonal mode of reading. We read to get the writer's intended meaning rather than gaining our own meaning for the work. We fall into the gaps letting the writer control us, jolt us from place to place, idea to idea, as we watch helplessly as a trusting, willing bystander.
Hypertext reclaims the power back for the reader, a decentering of sorts. We are having a converstion right now, in that you could stop talking to me, tune in or tune out depending on what I have to say has meaning and validity to you. To allow for this selective bite-wise chewing of ideas allows for Derrida's idea of decentering be manifested. To go from a passage about murder to Derrida in a matter of milli-seconds for you to choose what to read, what to experiece. It is an ongoing conversation thatyou ultimately have the control over. And thus, the power of hypertext is revealed. Brian Bassett's story has been used here to show you this power. The success of this project lies in the hands of the individual, the reader, in YOU. Your decisions, you input into the discussion, your formulation of the narrative of Brian Bassett, of Nick McDonald, of his mother, these all contributed to shape your own personal reading of this text. How this work affected you is unique to you. Remember this, and remember...
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