This 2025 edition of David Kolb's "Hypertext as Resistance" is a timely one that speaks to a contemporary audience inculcated and influenced by the very digital technologies he discusses in the original version. At the time of its publication in 1996, the Web browser had just been introduced two years previously and not yet mainstreamed and domesticated as it has become today. The general cultural response to the Net and then the early Web was one of optimism centered around their democratizing and liberating potential. Sanford Kwinter, who figures Kolb's counterpoint in the essay, in the negative perspective that the Web would only bring oppression and the homogenization of the public of the Web was unusual for the time. In this essay Kolb is responding hopefully to Kwinter's negative judgment. Readers today can see that some of Kwinter's criticisms have borne out, and some of this dire predictions have come true. Kolb agrees with Kwinter's general analysis but proposes a different tactic. In the end the forces proves either completely correct.
To bring this important dialogue to public notice today, the Electronic Literature Lab has worked directly with Kolb to update some of the content and add information the author felt important to include. Specifically, he rewrote the Introduction and added a Post Script. Some of the lexias were edited for clarity and usage. Additionally, the interface has been redesigned to reflect contemporary design practices though it retains the way in which the author had originally organized the four major topics and signified them by colors. Typeface has been updated to capture the esoteric nature of the dialogue. The mix lines and curves reflect the dialectic taking place in the essay. The code has been rewritten in Semantic Markup to improve access for readers who require assistive technologies. CSS styling is used to make the work responsive and better readable on mobile devices. These changes to code and content results in a new version and edition.
The original version has been retained and will continue to remain accessible to the public as an important early edition that provides commentary on this very early period of Web culture with specific ideas and goals, as well communication practices.
