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Not Maimed but Malted is an essay about the use of hypertexts in freshmen composition. It marks several points in recent discussions about the role of graphical elements in composition. Initial questions about potential dangers of moving away from more purely verbal compositions are countered by calls for composition instruction which incorporates the non-linear and visual potential of hypertexts into new forms of writing. In addition to recounting the critical debate over of the role of hypertexts in the classroom, samples of student hypertexts are examined to illuminate the discussion.

The nodes pictured here lead to critical reviews of student hypertexts and sketch elements of an emerging hypertextual rhetoric. You can move down to the student samples section by clicking here, or reach the reviews of student work by clicking on the images above, or you can reach them in the course of reading through the general discussion which begins below.

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Not Maimed but Malted

We've come a long way in four years. When Academic Computing published Marcia Peoples Halio's, "Student Writing, Can the Machine Maim the Message?" in January of 1990, Halio's suggestion that student compositions written on PC compatible machines were better than those written on a Macintosh demanded some pressing study about the differences between the two platforms. For now, I'll point to my own critique of Halio's disparagement of font play, as well as the article "Computer Teachers Respond to Halio," in which teachers of writing questioned her methods and results. I'll also note that, while the dominance of Microsoft's Windows and other graphical computing environments has rendered much of Halio's discussion of the differences between the "playful" Macintosh and the "serious" IBM moot, it is still important to make an examination of Halio's attitude toward play in the composition class.

The distance we've come in the last four years prompts us to reevaluate Halio's article not in the light of platform distinctions but writing differences. Stuart Moulthrop and Nancy Kaplan pick up on this new focus in "Seeing through the Interface: Computers and the Future of Composition." In addition to providing several critiques of Halio's methods, Moulthrop and Kaplan move the discussion toward the examination of writing itself, and take issue with Halio's privileging of the typographic. Halio attributed the disparity in student paper quality in part to the graphic orientation of the Macintosh; For Halio,

because of the emphasis it places on easy production of graphics, the Mac may appeal to writers who find it easier to express themselves in images than in words. Indeed, many students in the Macintosh sections created highly expressive images which they used as gilding for their papers. But do we want to change the traditional goals of freshman comp, which have always been to help students to express themselves in words? Care must be taken as we include the technology in our programs to define clearly (or redefine) what we consider to be acceptable expository prose to be. (19)

Moulthrop and Kaplan take up the challenge presented by Halio and offer their own advice for redefining acceptable prose and for including graphic and hypertextual elements in our thinking about writing. They close by calling for a new way of seeing, a reexamination of rhetoric beyond the typographic. A similar call is made by Jay David Bolter in Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. The rest of this project will try to answer that call.

[return to top] One way to rethink rhetoric beyond the typographical is to critically examine hypertextual compositions and come to terms with their areas of success and failure. In the Spring of 1994 students in my freshmen composition class constructed research paper hypertexts. Students used a Hypercard template to link texts, sounds and images in order to present an in depth exploratory research project. The samples chosen reveal both promise and problems. In part, I attribute this to the difficulty of learning new media. It should be noted as well that even traditional texts come with relative measures of success and failure. The point of examining the samples is not to claim the unqualified success of these hypertext projects; rather, I am trying to look at the shortcomings and the accomplishments of the projects in order to draw some conclusions about hypertextual rhetoric and style.

components and nodes in hypertexts
Hypertexts can organize information into components or nodes. This sample shows the potential for dividing a topic into several subtopics which can be further developed. It also reveals some problems in terms of nodal style.

the need for words in hypertexts
Using images in hypertexts can distract from the importance of and need for well written text. This sample shows the false sense of presentation that can accompany the use of graphics in compositions.

the mixing of texts and graphics
Hypertexts allow an author to use text to provide commentary on images. This example shows the way that text and image can accompany each other in productive ways.

text, graphics and nodes in conversation
The full potential of hypertexts includes mixing images and text with the possibilities of nodal organization. This sample reveals the way an image can raise or further a point of argument and link to a new node for refinement. It also suggests potential problems with hypertextual nodal style.

Finally, I'll try to draw some conclusions about the various calls in the dialog concerning the future of writing and the use of hypertexts in the computer classroom.

Works Cited

If you have something to contribute to this project, or if you can help me by offering a review, or if you just have a comment or question, fill out the form below and submit it to me. Thanks.