Interactive hypertext for interactive readers With each new technological progress the roles of the writer and those of the reader change; sometimes it's a small change and other times it can be a drastic transformation. In this modern age it seems that the role played by the reader or audience is changing significantly. I don't think there has ever been a time in history where there has been as much interactivity as there is today. The main reason for this change in the role of the reader is the rapidly growing amount of hypertext used. In the 1960s, Ted Nelson was the first person to coin the popular term “hypertext,” but I prefer to refer to Bolter's description. Hypertext, as described by Jay Bolter in Writing Space, is layered writing and reading, where you can click on links within a narrative or article. These links function as reference points and can function as footnotes or references to what you were reading. They can also take you to a completely different type of web page all together. Bolter also emphasizes that it is important to realize that the second web page you are linked to is not always subordinate to the first. On page 33, Bolter describes hypertext as similar to the “prewriting” that children learn to do in school. I think prewriting is what I've always called a mind map, which is simply a map drawn like a spider's web to show how each idea is interconnected to all the other ideas. Hypertext may be related to intertextuality, but it is not the same thing (178). Intertextuality is the interrelationship of all texts on the same topic, language or culture, while hypertext are references within a text and allusions between texts. I think it's important to see changes in the role of the reader in hypertext fiction and reference web pages that incorporate hypertext. Reference web pages that use hypertext give the reader more interaction and power, and that in turn gives the author much less supremacy. Hypertext in reference websites can be very useful as it allows someone to click on a website and have numerous links to an unlimited amount of information and knowledge. This makes me wonder if people who have ready access to the Internet will become smarter, over time, thanks to the accessibility of hypertext..