Blog #6

The most straightforward way in which links reveal is that by pressing on them, more information is presented to you, and therefore revealed. But links do more than just show new information. They show similarities between where they are linking from, and where they are linking to. Simply by existing, the link reveals a commonality between the two points, whether one actually exists or not.(Burbules 104-105) An example of this would be a link from a page on the Great Depression to a page on the stock market in the 1920's.
Links conceal in two different ways. They conceal through omission. The same way that presenting a link can reveal a connection between two points, not having a link can conceal that a link exists.(Burbules 105) For instance, a page about the presence of nicotine in cigarettes that does not have a link to the detrimental effects of nicotine on the human body conceals that such a connection exists.
The other way that links conceal is by limiting the reader to only the connections presented, hiding the fact that other connections exist. Returning to the Great Depression and 1920's stock market example, if the site about the Great Depression only had links to sites about the 1920's stock market, that would lead the reader to assume that the stock market was the only reason for the Depression, hiding the other causes from the reader.


Burbules, Nicholas C.. "Rhetorics of the Web: hyperreading and critical literacy." Page to Screen 102-122. 7 Jul 2008 .