David Kolb, Professor of Philosophy at Bates College, Maine, USA, gave a fascinating talk today, entitled “Ruminations on Argument in Mixed Company”. He explored the possible advantages that hypertext might play in argumentative texts which seek to persuade the reader, as encountered in philosophy, and much other scholarly writing. What new affordances might hypertext offer that is hard, or even impossible, to do on paper? What are the new literacies that this implies on the part of writer and reader? Kolb illustrated his points with hypertext examples, and drew parallels with architectural theory’s grapplings with place, form and function.

Further details on Kolb and his work at: http://kmi.open.ac.uk/kmi-speakers/kolb/abstract.html