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Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
directions

Trigg's notion of semantic direction, in contradistinction to link direction, is wonderful. Often when writing hypertext there is a link direction established by virtue of the process of writing - I think this then that and so I write this and link to that - but often times what is written forms a kernel that semantically is prior to the first node written. My solution is to saturate the link, providing numerous contexts of connection. However some sense of semantic direction through a work would be intriguing.

However, semantic direction may take a battering in what could be described as polysemantic hypermedia, and it remains problematic to what extent a semantic direction is significant of itself. It could well be that semantic direction gains significance only when sufficient nodes and links are followed to form a syntagmatic sequence, in which case it may be that the principal of structure is, once again, syntagmatic rather than merely binary.

Adrian Miles: Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
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Journal of Digital Information