The Electronic Labyrinth
HomeContentsTimelineBibliographyIndex

Landow's Overview Types

In "The Rhetoric of Hypermedia," Landow gives examples of six types of overviews which may be useful in a hyperbook (90-94):

  1. The Graphic Concept Map organizes ideas, authors, terms, or other concepts in a hub and spoke pattern. This illustrates the influence peripheral concepts have on the concept in the centre.
  2. The Vector Flow Chart presents directed lines connecting nodes, representing "lines of influence or causal connection" (91). The length of the lines may be used as a measure of the strength or importance of the influence.
  3. Timelines allow for concise chronological organization.
  4. Natural Object overviews consist of anchors superimposed on pictures, maps, technical diagrams, etc.
  5. Outlines "add a graphic component to text by breaking up the flow that characterizes discursive prose" (91).
  6. Source text may act as its own overview in networks which are dominated by a central node or nodes. Landow's example is a poem with hypertext commentary.

© 1993-2000 Christopher Keep, Tim McLaughlin, Robin Parmar.
contact us