Xanalogical structure, needed now more than ever: Parallel documents, deeplinks to content, deep versioning, and deep re-use

Project Xanadu, the original hypertext project, is often misunderstood as a n attempt to create the World Wide Web. It has always been much more ambitious, proposing an entire form of literat ure where links do not break as versions change; where documents may be clo sely compared side by side and closely annotated; where it is possible to s ee the origins of every quotation; and in which there is a valid copyright system - a literary, legal and business arrangement - for frictionless, non -negotiated quotation at any time and in any amount. The Web trivialized th is original Xanadu model, vastly but incorrectly simplifying these problems to a world of fragile ever-breaking one-way links, with no recognition of change or copyright, and no support for multiple versions or principled re- use. Fonts and glitz, rather than content connective structure, prevail. Serious electronic literature (for scholarship, detailed controversy and de tailed collaboration) must support bidirectional and profuse links, which c annot be embedded; and must offer facilities for easily tracking re-use on a principled basis among versions and quotations. Xanalogical literary structure is a unique symmetrical connective system fo r text (and other separable media elements), with two complementary forms o f connection that achieve these functions - survivable deep linkage (conten t links) and recognizable, visible re- use (transclusion). Both of these ar e easily implemented by a document model using content lists which referenc e stabilized media. This system of literary structure offers uniquely integrated methods for ve rsion management, side-by-side comparison and visualizable re- use, which l ead to a radically beneficial and principled copyright system (endorsed in principle by the ACM). Though dauntingly far from the standards which have presently caught on, this design is still valid and may yet find a place in the evolving Internet universe.