Writing about thinking about thinking critically

-Critical thinking is the development of cohesive and logical reasoning patterns. Stahl and Stahl, 1991.

-"Broadly speaking, critical thinking is concerned with reason, intellectual honesty, and open-mindedness, as opposed too emotionalism, intellectual laziness, and closed-mindedness. Thus, critical thinking involves: following evidence where it leads; considering all possibilities; relying on reason rather than emotion; being precise; considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; weighing the effects of motives and biases; being concerned more with finding the truth than with being right; not rejecting unpopular views out of hand; being aware of one's own prejudices and biases, and not allowing them to sway one's judgment."
Kurland, Daniel J. I Know What It Says . . . What does it Mean? 1995.

-Critical thinking is "the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, or more defensible."
Paul, Binker, Adamson, and Martin (1989)

In terms of applying my notions towards hypertext creation, I can say honestly that I make the most progress when I constantly evaluate and make more concise, evocative, and straightforward the message behind the hypertext. Stahl and Stahl are absolutely right. Logical and cohesive reasoning powers bring cohesion and fluidity to a web-page. With links sensible and, well, logical, one need never fear that the reader is straying away from the main point or hypothesis. Even if they move out on a tangent, they're always directly or indirectly connected back to the main theme or idea. Kurland brings up an interesting point that I feel is directly applicable to my hypertext page and experience. The idea of open-mindedness as opposed to emotionalism rang the most clearly. With a pre-conceived disposition and mindset, one will stagnate in the constant denial of other ideas and points of view. The last quote about critical thinking I found quite comic yet intrinsically useful and insightful. The "thinking about the thinking to improve your thinking" or whatever just makes sense. The constant re-evaluation and re-assessment of one's own thinking process can only improve one's conceptual capacity and one's ability to recognize the good from the bad in terms of effectiveness, clarity, and other hypertext concerns and issues.

Writing in hypertext is necessarily different than writing a flat essay. My favorite analogy is that of the web. There's a central theme, and branches away that are all interconnected yet still connected to the main theme. Flat essay writing is more of a logical progression centered around a key point. One point leads to another that leads to another and so on. In a hypertext, though, one point can lead to myriad points, each of which could lead to myriad more. The options and ways of imparting information are more numerous and less linear in form. More is left open to the viewer of the web page in terms of their navigation and use of the site. In a linear essay, I guess, the writer is in the driver's seat. In hypertext the opposite is the case, but the creator must make sure that the reader is allowed this freedom of movement and that numerous angles and insights are provided to make his reading of the site worthwhile and mentally expansive.