nSight Workshop
Writing & Editing
for the Web

Writing & Editing Hypertext

 

 

Context of Hypertext

 

Editing Hypertext

 
Hypertext Extras  
Hypertext Brainstorm  

 

 

 

 

The Context of Hypertext

While Web text shares many characteristics with good print writing, some new questions arise:

What is the most important content to present in the initial screen load?

What sticky content would bring viewers back to your site?

How do you provide information-rich links yet retain viewers?

How can you establish consistency on a site with many content contributors?

How can your keep your content fresh?

 

 

 

 

 


Editing Hypertext for the Web


Hypertext – the ability to link content to other articles, sidebars, photos, audio or video clips anywhere on the Web – can expand a single article into a goldmine of resources. Together these links form a web of information rather than a linear piece.

Web extras might include these links:

• Timely articles on related topics
• Slide show or photos of topic in more depth
• Video clips of speeches, interviews
• Bios of writer or subjects
• Web sites of groups mentioned
• Timeline
• Quiz or poll
• Info graphics or detailed data
• Glossary
• Official documents like court proceedings, company reports, or agendas
• E-mail links to writer or public officials so readers can respond
• Links to social media

 

 

 

 


 

Hypertext Extras


These interactive pieces take advantage of hypertext.

Tulane University's Online President's Report
http://pres2001.tulane.edu/

Wesleyan University Virtual Tour
http://www.wesleyan.edu/virtualtour/

Guardian Unlimited Interactive Guides: Shaun White’s Double McTwist http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2010/feb/19/winterolympics2010-vancouver

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


Hypertext Brainstorm


Readers like human interest, so think about hyperlinks or Web extras that would make this story more three-dimensional and vivid.

 

Julianne Malveaux PhD '80

Applying Economics as a Tool for Change

http://alum.mit.edu/news-views/alumni-profiles/alumni-profiles-archive/malveaux

When Julianne Malveaux arrived to study in MIT's renowned economics department in the late 1970s, she was in for a surprise. Besides eminent economists such as Robert Solow HM and Phyllis A. Wallace, who pioneered the study of racial and sexual workplace discrimination, she found a critical mass of black graduate students—some 12 or 13 of the 30 PhD students.

With roots in the Black Power movement and two economics degrees from Boston College, Malveaux was in the right place to hone what she calls tools of change. "The study of economics is the study of allocation—who gets what, when, and where," she says. "It seemed like a good way to understand why there are so many disparities in allocation."

A commitment to exposing economic disparities in America has guided her life. She has been a frequent television commentator and prolific writer noted for her commentaries on race, culture, gender, and their effects on economic life. Malveaux's syndicated columns are collected in two anthologies: Sex, Lies, and Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist and Wall Street, Main Street, and the Side Street: A Mad Economist Takes a Stroll.

Why is she mad? "Anger is a sign that something is wrong, and something is wrong when the world's largest economy produces such unequal results," Malveaux says. "There is so much child poverty, and people are still living in trailers after Hurricane Katrina. If you look at the numbers, you can't help being angry."

Now in her third year as president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, NC, which was founded in 1873 by emancipated slaves, she is focused on building enrollment and the endowment. Her savvy restructuring of a multimillion-dollar loan has freed money for new projects, allowing Bennett to break ground on three buildings last fall.

Though her primary focus is education, in her writing she continues to address critical concerns such as equal pay for women, health-care reform, and the overarching issue of patriarchy. In her personal time, she enjoys designing her own clothes, collecting African and African-American art, and being with her mother and siblings.

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