Reflecting on Hyperlinked Environments

Reflection on Hyperlinked Environments

This was a great week of readings. I really enjoyed the “Choose Your Own Adventure” theme of readings and videos. The freedom of choice is something I appreciate. There are two readings that really stood out this week and both were by MLIS students who had taken the class previously. First, the blog post on digital museums was fantastic. Libraries and museums go hand-in-hand with one another and I imagine that both are seeking ways to engage with the increasing rise of digital ecosystems. Charney’s (2021) post was a great introduction to the ways in which museums are currently extending services to patrons digitally. I think the use of AR and VR can go well beyond simple entertainment; rather it can be an extremely useful tool for educators and students alike. For example, it is mentioned that digital museums allow users to learn more than they could have in physical spaces, such as when the display takes the user to the actual dig site (Charney, 2021). Innovations like these can help keep certain aspects of museums and libraries alive. This can even be extended to the physical spaces. Having a VR guided tour of a real, physical museum can be a great way of allowing users to dive deeper into the background or social implications of a museum piece. We should not seek digital services to entirely replace the physical manifestations of libraries and museums, rather they should only serve as extensions that help spread access to those who require it. 

The next blog post was equally as interesting. The Metaverse aspect of the blog was some new information for me. I’m not too familiar with Zuckerberg’s attempts at VR, but the William Gibson quote at the end of it was something that shook me (Martinez, n.d).. Should we strive for a future where we cannot distinguish VR from reality? As librarians, we should strive for digital workarounds that make physical services more accessible, but we never want to fully replace or automate the physical library space. 

As an avid Minecraft player myself, I had already heard of the Uncensored Library. Minecraft is truly a game where almost anything that one can think of can, or has been, done. The Uncensored Library really is a show of global community; one that shows the human drive for information and a will to resist censorship. This, to me, is probably the most acute example of a hyperlinked environment. It is a place that transcends national borders and laws in order to achieve a united goal for the greater good. By helping those in suppressed countries access vital information and news, this hyperlinked environment inevitably also creates a hyperlinked community. The world itself is one large hyperlinked community that is pockmarked by smaller, more discrete environments. These environments are what help people find their niches of information where they can learn and share from one another. Libraries could contribute to the Uncensored Library in ways that non-librarians cannot, such as by sharing access to databases (although the legal aspects of this will be difficult to actually navigate). Librarians can learn from these efforts of resistance and potentially apply them to their own censorship protocols or collections. 

References

Charney, M. (2021, March 12). Revealing the Ark of the Covenant: Digitizing the Museum Experience. INFO 287 – the Hyperlinked Library. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/digitizing-the-museum/

Martinez, M. (n.d.). The Metaverse, Minecraft, and the Uncensored Library. INFO 287 – the Hyperlinked Library. Retrieved July 2, 2025, from https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/the-metaverse-minecraft-and-the-uncensored-library/