Dissecting the Hyperchunk
The true “hypertext” is dwindling…in place of the hypertext, we have what might best be termed the “hyperchunk” - the succinct slice of high-quality information designed to be stored in a database, linked from all over, understood quickly and in relative isolation, and often acted upon within a few minutes.
The article goes on to discuss the idea of a hyperchunk as being part of a larger ecology of hyperchunks all competing for attention. While the article article rightly emphasizes the importance of making your hyperchunks self-sustaining, the article misses the boat by claiming that what affects “competition” within the space is simply the quality of the content: it’s how one is locates those chunks in the first place. Most hyperchunks are linked to from other hyperchunks, giving it a context–we’re not just using Google to find every chunk on the web (though for some we do). Site and author reputation do matter; links do matter.
There are two new books, both called “The Attention Economy” — this one and this one — so we’ll probably be hearing much more about this kind of stuff (though I’m wondering how it will differ from some of the ideas in meme theory).
It’s always interesting to me to see biological theories co-opted into other realms. The study of evolution and ecology are continually plundered for new ideas, from meme theory (originally discussed by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene) to foraging theory (the basis for information foraging/scent of information theories), and so on. I enjoy seeing it when ideas that weren’t such a big deal in one field — Dawkins just tossed off the idea of memetics in passing, and foraging theory isn’t hot stuff in the world of ecology — go flourish elsewhere.
More on attention on the web:
The Attention Economy and the Net from First Monday