Automatic Links for a Web of Text

We tend to think of text as a linear representation of speech. Perhaps it is, some of the time (we'll show some historical examples). Documents are typically how we encounter text, however -- with structure and relationships beyond the linear. Layout in particular defines critical meaning that would be difficult to convey by other means. Historically, advances to textual & meta-textual representation have been slow to change and be adopted. The codex, table of contents, page numbers, index, standard typefaces -- all of these are crucial inventions that make text more meaningful. These have taken centuries to develop, although we now take for them for granted. The rapid growth of web text over the past quarter century gives us a new set of text properties to add new dimensions of meaning. The *link* is a device that allows us to layer meaning and relationships in entirely new ways. Textual links provide cross-document references, and pointers to authoritative sources and indexes. Links are often layered around the central text in lists and indexes to allow navigation at various scales. We will try to put the link, along with linking services such as search engines, into perspective with traditional print-based non-linear text features, to show how the link expands and redefines how text is consumed and construed. In addition to providing a historical perspective on the impact of links on text, we will demonstrate novel varieties of *dynamic links*. In combination with an active platform for reading (e.g. the browser), dynamic link construction provides a new way to increase the reach of texts, connecting them with resources and documents that may not even exist when the text was created, to create a qualitatively new reading experience.