In technological terms, hypertext is a non-sequential and non-linear, multi-centred (heterarchical) text or text system networked in a digital medium. The elements, objects and nodes of the text system are connected by so-called hyperlinks. The programming language used to enable hypertext is html (hypertext markup language). From the reader’s perspective, a hypertext is an interactive network of interconnected texts with embedded links providing interoperability between texts. These links are connecting points, gateways through which the reader can go to any depth on a given topic and navigate the information set according to his needs and interests, without being limited by the linearity of traditional (printed) texts.
Although the concept of hypertext is primarily associated with the world wide web and we mainly encounter hypertexts on the internet, the concept predates the emergence of the world wide web. The first hypertexts were CD-ROMs, software, and digital databases. It was also with the advent of the internet that hypermedia was born, which is an extension of hypertext and includes multiple media such as text, graphics, audio, video etc., and is not just text-based like hypertext.
Today, the concept of hypertext is not only relevant to the IT field but has also triggered a major academic response in the fields of linguistics, literary theory and art theory. In the journalism literature, hypertext (along with multimedia and interactivity) is often referred to as a defining feature of the language of digital journalism. As Ramón Salaverría underlines in his article on 25 years of digital journalism research, unlike static information in traditional media (print, radio, and television), hypertext links in digital media have taught readers how to actively access news. As a result, we are no longer just able to read, listen or watch the news, but also to browse it. Linear reading of texts is now often replaced by non-linear consumption of content.
Hypertext is therefore a fundamental feature of online journalistic platforms such as online news portals or social media accounts of news media. Its importance for digital journalism lies primarily in the fact that it allows for a complex explanation of the subject of the text, the provision of background information, and the referencing of other related texts. And last but not least, hypermedia enables effective multimedia storytelling for digital journalists.
