THE NEW LITERACY?: THE CHALLENGES OF HYPERTEXTUAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article outlines the impact of forms of communication technology on our understanding of the concepts ‘literacy’ and ‘literacies’. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the personal computer on modern forms of communication, and thus, by implication, on our definition of literacy. The unique quality of the hypertextual structure which underlies computer‐based communication challenges many traditionally‐accepted notions of the nature and structure of written communication. In this way, computer‐based hypertextual communication has profound implications for our definition of literacy itself. In the near future it will not be possible to define ‘literacy’ in terms other than those associated with computers, and, more particularly, the asynchronous, nonlinear nature of hypertextual design.