Hyperlinking – a godsend or merely a distraction?

Hyperlinking allows bloggers to gain and salvage some level of credibility by supplying sources or information to back up their opinions.  Adding these links allow readers to gain background information or to see how you have reached your conclusion.  Links are vital to any blog but there is such a thing as too much.  Not only is it unsightly on a page but it can leave the reader wondering which way to go.

We all know this feeling.

Venkatesh Rao, a Ribbonfarm blogger, goes to great lengths to explain the hyperlink and its power.  As a non-native speaker, he explains the influence hyperlinking can have on an article by increasing its readibility and ease of understanding.

Sam Anderson dealt with the subject of distraction in an article and spoke of the benefits of distracion. In defence of distraction he said:

That famous cookie is a kind of hyperlink: a little blip that launches an associative cascade of a million other subjects. This sort of free-associative wandering is essential to the creative process; one moment of judicious unmindfulness can inspire thousands of hours of mindfulness.

It begs to question whether or not Anderson has ever sat down to catch up on some news and found himself viewing a page that he has absolutely no idea how we got there!  Clicking a hyperlink can often lead to navigation through a minefield of useless/unwanted/unneccesary information.  Hyperlinking is like a Mexican wave that leads to nowhere….but only when used incorrectly.  Brian Joura, who writes for Assoiated Content, spoke of the intrusion of hyperlinking.  In his case, Associated Content took the liberty to insert hyperlinks into words itself and this article is a tribute to a nice clean article.  Despite it looking nice, the article doesn’t really say anything really worth saying other than outlining his dislike of links.

The following video outlines a way that hyperlinks can be made redunant and highlights how the web and web browser can be used to make pages a little easier on the eyes.

Do people trust blogs?

Blogging has grown in itself as a new form of journalism.  It had been reported that there were an estimated 30,000 blogs in 1998 compared to a whopping 3 million in 2004 yet the readership of blogs is low.  It says here that a mere 17% of web users have even read a blog.

How would you answer?

Allowing anyone to be a journalist can of course be detrimental to the standards of the practice.  Blogging, by its nature, is mostly concerned with comment, opinion and analysis.  However, this can lead to a loss oj objectivity and many blogs are politically, for example, biased.

The above article offers severals reasons as to why the internet is often seen as a less trustworthy source for information and news.

• Anyone can post information to the web

• Sites can be made to appear more credible than they are.

• Many of these sites lack proper editorial standards and are under no pressure the ensure the publication of accurate and unbiased information.

• There are many paroday sites which operate using rumour, hearsay and misinformation.