more than just hypertexts!

Is there a difference between hypertext and interactive fiction?

Montfort point of contention is that in hypertext the reader does not "allows the reader to type and contribute text or provides the computer with the means to parse or understand natural language", and also it "does not maintain an intermediate, programmatic representation of the narrative world, as interactive fiction does."

While it might seem like a signicficant difference, i personally feel the difference is pretty small. While in a hypertext, the reader does not contribute text, he contributes the flow of the story by the links he clicks. Similarly, in an interactive fiction, the links are being provided by text.

Comparing both hypertexts and interactive fiction, their boundaries are already preset by the author, what the reader can explore is already defined and no amount of text/clicking will allows the reader to go in a totally off tangent from what the author originally planned.

Is "Carl" strip a cyber text?
I do not feel that "Carl" comic strip can be considered a cyber text. The story does not exactly change with each new click. The story remains roughly the same with just more details being added each time. Each "different" story could be alluded with the idea of just writing another paragraph for the reader to digest.


Let us review what's Crawford defination of interactivity
It is a process in which actors listen, think and then speak.

let's consider this from the audience point of view.
They are enjoying the play.(Listen)
Then they decide which scence they would like to see next.(Think)
Then they make their choice be known(Speak)

How about the play?
The audience make their preference known to the actors(Listen)
The actors follows the path of the tree to the next scence(Think?)
The play is carried on(Speak)

now notice the (Think?) for the actors
Is just following the tree structre to the next scence a process of thinking?
I personally feel that it cannot be considered so, as there is no real thinking on the spot, rather the reaction of the play has already been long ago decided by the author.