Hyperlinks

The hyperlink of digital hypertext is a text organizing device which allows the creation of alternative structures through texts organized as networks. This paper examines the inherent keyness of the hyperlink by comparing hyperlinks to statistical keywords derived from text through computational means. The argument is made that because hyperlinks are selected by a human author for a discursive, coherence promoting purpose, they possess an inherent keyness and are key words, but do not necessarily correspond with the statistical keywords of the text.