1: Three stories:

1. At a conference in 1992, Stuart Selber and I notice Ted Nelson, inventor of the term "hypertext" and keynote speaker, standing by himself, drink in hand, at the pre-talk cocktail party. Overcome with our proximity to greatness, we introduce ourselves and tell him how influential his work has been on our careers. During a pause in our fawning over the Big Name, Stuart mentions, "Johndan's dissertation research is on postmodern theory and hypertext."

Nelson grunts, rolls his eyes, and starts looking for someone a little more down to earth to talk to.

2. In 1998, InfoWorld, a computer industry trade magazine and Web site, published a "linking policy". In effect, InfoWorld prohibited others from linking to articles on InfoWorld's Web site without prior written permission. After much protest, the policy was rescinded. Recent Wired magazine reports indicate that the issue may be back in the courts soon (and, in any event, companies are rapidly moving to defeat the ability to link to content on their sites through databases and programming tricks).

3. During a session at CCCC in the late 1990s, Jay Bolter begins a comment to a room full of people with, "Hypertext..." He pauses, then says half-jokingly,
"Does anyone remember hypertext?"